J. E. Lorin

"When you tell a person who likes to read that you don’t, you might as well be saying you no longer speak the same language. Williams frowned at me like I’d just admitted to clubbing baby seals for sport."

It was a delight to blend mystery, police procedural, psychological thriller, and the paranormal with romance. Recommended.

Both lead men are well-written. The protagonist Finn is fun because he’s flawed, focused, gifted with an unusual talent that’s as much a curse as it is a show more blessing, and awkward/stumbling at the right, endearing times. Mark’s protectiveness at the beginning was downright sweet, and I ended up loving the guy too – everything from his comforting home and his loyal dog and his worried sister, to his loyal dedicated and charming look at romance.

My favorite romance is when it slowly unravels where the reader can actually sense and live in palpable build-up that makes more sense than instant lightning bolts (Unless it’s a fated-to-be-mated, since those can be fun for a different reason). This one rocked with that – you had pre-existing friendship that mean more, but they’re only now revealing their actual feelings to each other. A sweet relationship that endured in my mind because it was genuine enough to be convincing. More on the charm than the steam in this case, but it all goes together as a satisfying package. If I could describe the romance in this book, it’s “comforting.”

The storyline was actually good with genuine suspense, trauma, and violence. The mystery isn’t an easy solve, although I was starting to suspect the villain at the end. I liked how realistic the author kept the guilt so many characters would feel with all this stuff, since this is something that would likely happen off-page if it happened in actual life too. I also dug that the author provided an extended view of what happened after the main mystery, showing how it affected the character and his relationships. Throw in a great supportive best friend, a neat brotherly bond that develops, and you have a sure winner here. show less

Okay, every suspense/police procedural writer should read this. You know how, way, WAY too often, you're reading a suspenseful book and things keep happening that make you roll your eyes? Like, hmm, our hero just broke a leg and some ribs, and, when he's released from the hospital two days later has hot monkey sex without pain or problem? Yeah, none of that bullshit in here. No miscommunication, no silliness, no unnecessary jealousy or stupidity. This was a down to earth, show more paranormal-yet-realistic, superbly good quality book.

I guessed the perp early on, but things weren't terribly predictable, and nothing at all felt forced. Unrelated things came together perfectly, and everything slotted away in the end, with a long wrap-up.

My only niggle is a personal preference, and that was all of the respectful checking in and not pushing our MCs did. Sounds counterintuitive, but I prefer more "take action," wildly passionate encounters, but that's again my thing. show less

2,25 stars

I didn't hate this book. I think even dislike would be going too far. But I didn't really like this either. The book as a whole was like a glass of room temperature water. You'll drink it if you're too lazy to get up for a refill, but you'd really prefer an ice cold bubbly one.

The reason I even finished this book was probably just the anticipation of the story picking up and a hope for a surprising twist. Then, when the killer was exactly who I thought it would be from the first show more mention of the character, and when even the relationship with the love interest only got lukewarm (no pun intended) at best, I was only reading to finish the damn thing and not have wasted hours on another DNF.

On the surface the story wasn't horrible or anything, but there was something about the writing that just didn't click for me. I generally don't prefer first person narration, but I can enjoy it if it's well done. In this one, the narration felt somehow emotionless and I had a really hard time empathizing with anything or anyone. It sort of felt like someone was recounting a memory they had no emotional connection to anymore, but they were still trying to tell you what they think they felt at the time.

Another thing that made this a poor choice for me was the romance. I just really didn't feel the chemistry between the main characters, even though I did appreciate the fact that the story focused more on the emotions instead of plain old lust. I think I would have enjoyed this more with out the sex scenes altogether, because those felt pretty flat.

So, nowhere near the worst thing I've ever read (not even the worst I've read this year) but I don't think I'll be picking up anything more from this author. show less

Now and then, I come across a story by a new-to-me author that unexpectedly takes over my brain. I abandon other books I'm currently reading and devote all my time to it. The Finder was such a story. It is all from Augie's point of view, and a great illustration of how different a character is in their head as opposed to how others see them. This story has a mystery ability, a troublesome history, secret love, and a killer on the loose, and although the end is leisurely, I appreciated that! show more

My only criticism of the writing, and it's minor, is the several times Augie would think something, and then nearly the exact same thing was spoken to or by another character. There was no point to it, really; prescience isn't his thing. This ebook is remarkably nearly free of typos. I noticed one missing word, and one wrong one (stupid synonyms). I delight in this because the darned things nag at me, so hurray for great line edits! show less