2.5⭐️s rounded down. Overall it was heartwarming and had a good story line, but it just missed the mark for me. 

It felt sort of high level and not taking you *into* the story - jumping in large gaps on the timeline and with the characters - to repetitive events on Aidan’s and Holly’s relationship and her mistrust. It made it feel kind of surface level. It also didn’t make any sense why Melinda said nothing about Holly’s situation until the end especially when she assumed Holly already did. Just super convenient and not realistic or logical. 

 I got really annoyed with the weird words and nicknames like him calling her “little one” like she’s a child (which was soooo creepy when you thought about it), again with the weird “bodacious” like in the author’s other books. And as someone who’s had breast cancer, while it may be petty, a mammogram can’t find irregular cells - only a biopsy can do that. The mammo detects irregular masses and tissue changes only. The rest of what she explained was fine, but that felt a little unnecessarily sensationalized rather than being accurate.

Light easy story, though felt fairly cliche and very hallmark-ish. Also who uses the word “bodacious” in rural Indiana?? So weird….

I liked the concept of the Bethnal Green tragedy since I’ve read about it as a peripheral event but not actually about the details and with the focus on it itself. However, the writing felt a little stiff at times, the dialogue felt forced and unrealistic. The audio was really stiff as well and I’m not sure how I feel about the ghost writing thing. 

And I started to really dislike Nellie as a character with how petulant and self centered she ended up being, blaming and accusing everyone around her at being at fault immediately without considering how she was devastating them in doing so. I fully get that grief has a wide range of emotions and reactions but to consistently jump down everyone’s throat in bitterness at every scenario that didn’t go the way she wanted, not just the deaths, was super annoying. 

This book was a little bit of an anomaly for me in what I usually read but when Netgalley sent it over, it sounded interesting and a little of something I hadn't read before. It's set in 1932 Glasglow, Scotland in the midst of the gangs and crime of the day, is a crime drama/mystery/thriller and has a bit of a slower, methodical pace in how it unfolds.  

Initially I struggled to get into it and considered setting it aside. There was a ton of backstory and setting, explaining the different gangs and how they interacted, painting the scene. There were also a lot of nicknames of people and gangs to keep track of, and some Scottish slang I didn't know, but once it got into the story line, all the detail made it feel more rounded and gave me context. So while being slow and a lot to wade thru initially, I found my self getting more invested in what was going on after maybe 30-ish percent. 

I thought it was well written, you understood both the environment and the scene, the dialogue was good, and I was invested in the characters and their purpose or emotion in the story. The characters were complicated, while there was good/evil, some of the lines were a little blurred and there were flaws in each of them, which made them feel realistic. And while I wouldn't say the ending villain was completely unpredictable, the details were. 

Overall, I enjoyed it and liked a little change of flow/storyline from what I typically go for. Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine. 

I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit - it was just what I needed I think. It’s a light murder mystery, with lots of fun sarcastic and dry humor, doesn’t get super dark or emotional or angsty like many murder mysteries with a slight romantic bent. It just felt light and refreshing in many ways. 

I enjoyed how the characters weren’t all stereotypical or hated each other, and that in the gossip/misunderstandings it was dealt with in a realistic way and they gave each other the benefit of the doubt quite often. It didn’t have all the brooding angst and hot and cold of some character relationships. It wasn’t super unpredictable but I didn’t mind it since it was more the unfolding of how/why than who. 

Loved this one. It had a perfect mix of romance and mystery/thriller, and the trio of Nate, Nikki and Marigold was so endearing. The opposites of Nate and Nikki and the dry humor with them made for great chemistry and storyline. Also lots of fun seeing the characters from other series pop up too. 

A well written story but there was so many characters it was really hard to keep them straight at times, and it was just a lot slower than I care for. I did like that there were diverse characters, and the complicated ones, though I can’t say I really *liked* most of the characters. There were a lot of layers to them though. 

4.25⭐️s. Loved the family contrast and references to My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and enjoyed that Zoe’s family was so welcoming and caring unlike the typical trope of outside-the-circle relationships. Very refreshing. 

I enjoyed the progression and how Chase and Zoe learned the difficult parts of marriage and dealing with dysfunctional family, and supporting each other. 

I related so much to both Lyndi and Beau on different levels. Enjoyed this one a ton. Loved the dynamic and second guessing, and the blunt honesty between them when it came down to it.

Also loved all the friends’ support they all had. And it was fun to see the cross over of Grant from the San Diego series. Really well done.related so much to both Lyndi and Beau on different levels. Enjoyed this one a ton. Loved the dynamic and second guessing, and the blunt honesty between them when it came down to it. Also loved all the friends’ support they all had. Really well done

Took me awhile to like Zac but it was a sweet story with a lot of great moments. Enjoyed all the tie ins with the other characters and the different roles in the military