Kylie Brant

I enjoyed this mystery/thriller about a serial killer who kidnaps and kills young girls, leaving their bodies to be found dressed in leotards and ballet slippers. It's an especially well-written look into the ways the lives of families are affected by tragedy and how they cope (or don't). It did take a while for me to keep everyone straight, since it switches among several characters, but once I did, I could appreciate the structure and the way things unraveled. This was my first time show more reading anything by Kylie Brant, but I don't think it will be my last. I'm also not so secretly hoping she decides to write a series featuring Mark Foster; I would love to read more featuring him. show less

With all the glowing reviews it's received, I expected to love this book. Unfortunately, I found the story tedious and I just couldn't get into it.

From the start, we jump around from one character to another, and from one timeline to another, with lots of history and backstory and unnecessary (to me) detail. There is just too much going on. We have a psychopathic girl, who is now an adult, and we meet her in both stages of her life. We meet the people in her life, then and now. We meet the show more cops involved in her case, then and now. We also have a random escaped prisoner and various cops chasing him down. Then we go into the cops' personal lives and get to know them. Rather than build suspense, it all felt disjointed, taking away from the immediacy of what could have been a compelling story.

Lots of readers have loved this book, but it just didn't work for me. show less

Dangerous Passions boxed set of 12 (Nina Bruhns)

Having read three of the 12 novels and novellas collected in this boxed set I have to say it is definitely worth the price. This is a great way to read new stories by a few favorite authors and meet some new ones. The books that I read were “Bridger’s Last Stand” by Linda Winstead Jones, “Shadow of the Hawk” by Julie Miller and “Dangerous Curves” by Nina Bruhns - I am looking forward to reading the other nine soon! Within the show more three love stories that I read there was adventure, attempted murder, high speed road chases, an archaeological dig in a rain forest, and some mystical happenings…not in the SAME story…but that will give you a brief sampling of what this boxed set has in just one fourth of its over 2000 pages. This is a boxed set I would recommend to anyone who likes interesting fast paced love stories with sexy alpha heroes.

Five Stars show less

Fieldnotes:
McKenzie Bridge, Oregon, Contemporary (p. 2009)

7 Sets of Skeletal Remains

1 Forensic Anthropologist (formerly Runway Model)
1 Outdoor Outfitter (formerly Army Ranger)
Too Much Pointless Bickering, that detracts from
Maybe 3 Scenes where the Protagonists seem to Like One Another

So Much Trauma that No One Seems to have Dealt with Appropriately
1 Meddling Mother
Countless Antiquated and Infuriating Misogynist Internal Monologues Masquerading as "Rugged and Manly"
1 Great Set-down that is show more Sadly Never Repeated

Surprise! Biographical Paintings
Dermestid Beetles
1 Readily Apparent Plot Twist (Mildly Obscured by the Weight of Reader Expectations and Stilted Language Choices)
1 Shoot-Out
Chekhov's Ice Caves

The Short Version:
This one is going to end up in the Not-for-Me pile. The mystery aspects I enjoyed (although I would have liked for there to be slightly more insights from the actual forensic anthropology that is Cait's expertise) -

Cait Fleming is competent and largely unflustered by those (read: everyone in town) who think she must be an idiot because of her teen runway model career. She is an unabashed science nerd and doesn't shy away from thorough investigation. Nor does she have the "overconfidence" outdoor outfitter Zach Sharper accuses her of - which is based on no actual evidence or actions/words of hers and more based on the fact that he doesn't want to guide her because of his preconceived notions and sullen adolescent resentment at being roped into doing so by the sheriff.

That is essentially typical of their interactions. Cait is doing her job while he stands around snarling about how angry he is that he can't go hermit in the woods. He's constantly mad about her doing her job - especially angry about the audacity of her asking for elimination prints when he found the remains initially... He's also constantly mentally accusing her of using her looks to "manipulate" men into answering her questions - but a) there is no evidence of that on page and b) their preconceptions are their own doing. All of this is firmly "his issue" and not one he ever bothers to examine or dismantle. Other than his abs, I'm not sure what he has going for him.

Their constant bickering really detracts from the "romance" side of things as it isn't fun / masking sexual tension - it's pretty much just ugly.

The big twist was pretty apparent to me. I had "Sweetie" pegged pretty early on and guessed the other culprit relatively late in the book, but the "why" wasn't really explored at all which is the part I tend to be most interested in. show less