This book has been on my TBR list since before it was published. Full disclosure - I'm a friend of the author. I've known her for several years and love her sharp wit and dry, dark humor. I also love her writing voice and style and I knew that I'd enjoy this book. So why did I wait so long to read it? Easy: I have very little time to read anything with my eyeballs and I didn't want to use a text-to-speech reader for this book. Sanne and Meg sound like Cari and when I'm reading with my eyes, I hear their voices. Normally, I'm fine with text-to-speech for British English books, I even have a special voice downloaded for them but it just didn't cut it with this one. I needed to let my imagination give them voices. So it took me a very, very long time to finish the book.

It was well worth the wait and I've already gotten the second in the series opened up and ready to go.

But before I go to it, I just want to share a few words about why I find Hunter's writing - and No Good Reason in particular - so engaging and good. I've seen other folks mention how real her characters are, and I agree completely. It's so important to be able to connect with the characters in a book you're reading. You have to care about them and believe that they're real to truly become engrossed in the story. But that's not it for me. I absolutely love the way Cari writes a scene. She brings it completely to life: the smells, the sounds, the colors, everything. But not in a way that the reader feels bogged down in it. Just enough to drop us there, next to Sanne or Meg and force us to experience what they're living. Not many authors whom I've read over the past many years can do this as well as Cari Hunter.

Yeah, she's my friend but a friend who wouldn't want me to say anything flattering just to help her sell a book or to make her feel better. She's got an insane amount of integrity - particularly when it comes to her writing. So if I didn't believe what I'm writing here, I wouldn't bother taking my time to do it.

But don't take my word for it. If you like gritty, dark crime stories with very human characters, download a sample. You'll know right away if it's going to be for you. ( )

No Good Reason is the first book I've read by the author, and I loved every minute of reading it. Everything about this well-paced thriller kept me guessing about the who's, the where's, and the why's. Through the reactions of the main and minor characters, Hunter realistically captured emotions such as anger, disgust, anticipation, and sadness.

I found Sanne and Meg to be fearless in their commitment to helping others. However, I'm stumped by their commitment towards each other. Sanne and Meg have so much chemistry that even the minor characters mention it to them. So why aren't they an official couple? Hmm... Cue in book 2, [b:Cold to the Touch|25074297|Cold to the Touch (The Dark Peak, #2)|Cari Hunter|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425666962s/25074297.jpg|44759520]? Overall, I recommend this book to mystery/crime fans. I look forward to reading the other books in this series and Hunter's other works. ( )

Sanne goes out for a run and comes across two boys trying to help an injured woman. The two main characters are Sanne, a detective and Meg who is a doctor in A&E. This is a crime drama set in the Derbyshire Peak District which makes a nice change. The women are also a couple but not officially although everyone thinks they should be! I liked these ladies and look forward to their next adventure. ( )

That was definitely different. Not the mystery part or the thriller part, I've read lots of good stories like this one before. It was the romance part of the story that was written differently.

The two main characters in the story were Sanne, a Detective with a homicide unit, and Meg, and ER Doc at one of the local hospitals. They've been friends since they were kids and are both lesbians as well. One of the reasons that it was different was that they'd been friends for so long, it wasn't like some of the romance books where they'd been friends as kids and then gone their separate ways and 'found' each other again. But had been continuous best friends. And that's where the hints that were scattered throughout the book and the innuendos that maybe there could be more between them started. All of the relationship stuff between them though was super, super subtle which I really liked.

I think that the subtly could have also been based on the fact that this seems to me to be the first book in a series (The 'Dark Peak' series?) about the area? (or maybe about the characters).

I liked a couple of the other characters just as much if not more than Meg and Sanne too. Sanne's boss Eleanor was a very cool character with what seemed like lot of layers, and Nelson, Sanne's partner on the force was a hilarious and awesome character too. I think that I was supposed to like Emily, a co-worker at Meg's hospital a bit more than I did, but, she did grow on my a little as the book went on.

It was a little hard to get into at the very beginning of the book (but eventually I did), partially because of where it was taking place I think. It was technically written in the same language that I'm writing in right now, English, but, a very different English. And I had to get the hang of the different slang, etc. But, after a little bit it did start flowing and the differences in sayings and slang faded into the background and I was able to easily focus on the story.

It was a great book. A mystery with a bit of a romance, whereas a lot of lesbian fiction mysteries seem to be romances with a little bit of a mystery.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )