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A review by turquoiseavenue
Standoff by Patricia Bradley
3.0
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Revell at Baker Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts below are my own.
This is a solid three stars read in my opinion for romantic suspense with the biggest points given for suspense, setting and educational details. I really enjoyed learning more about the Natchez Trace and its surrounding area. Bradley does an excellent job of bringing the cultural, historical and scenic aspects of the location to life. The suspense builds over the course of the novel and a little over halfway through, the book really snagged my attention. Another great feature of this novel is how Bradley integrated the various roles of the park ranger service positions. As a result, I learned many things I did not already know.
What kept me from tipping this book over into the four star category were the characters and the ending. The amount of characters and multiple viewpoints in the beginning of this story left me a little confused and jumped around too often for my taste. I was not able to connect well with the main characters in this story, unfortunately, but I really wanted to! Brooke came across as a bit immature at her supposed age and the narrative that her parents did not support her becoming law enforcement was too repetitive. While I understood why Luke did the things he did to protect his undercover status, I felt he did not have enough internal conflict over lying to someone he considered a good friend and was developing deeper feelings for thus making him appear shallow. However, I did appreciate his heroism and protective nature over Brooke. As for the ending, well, it wrapped up really fast with a romantic suspense novel cliche and left little to be savored for me.
Overall, the book was good and just that. For me, it redeemed itself about 2/3 of the way through when I felt hooked and wanted to know how the suspense played out. The romance aspect strengthened and I enjoyed the deeper dive into the characters feelings and thoughts. The suspense was great right from the start, and moved along well while the plot was pretty strong. And again, the historical, educational and location aspects were really enjoyable. As a result, I Am looking forward to giving the second book in this series a read when it releases! This book is appropriate for readers 16+.
This is a solid three stars read in my opinion for romantic suspense with the biggest points given for suspense, setting and educational details. I really enjoyed learning more about the Natchez Trace and its surrounding area. Bradley does an excellent job of bringing the cultural, historical and scenic aspects of the location to life. The suspense builds over the course of the novel and a little over halfway through, the book really snagged my attention. Another great feature of this novel is how Bradley integrated the various roles of the park ranger service positions. As a result, I learned many things I did not already know.
What kept me from tipping this book over into the four star category were the characters and the ending. The amount of characters and multiple viewpoints in the beginning of this story left me a little confused and jumped around too often for my taste. I was not able to connect well with the main characters in this story, unfortunately, but I really wanted to! Brooke came across as a bit immature at her supposed age and the narrative that her parents did not support her becoming law enforcement was too repetitive. While I understood why Luke did the things he did to protect his undercover status, I felt he did not have enough internal conflict over lying to someone he considered a good friend and was developing deeper feelings for thus making him appear shallow. However, I did appreciate his heroism and protective nature over Brooke. As for the ending, well, it wrapped up really fast with a romantic suspense novel cliche and left little to be savored for me.
Overall, the book was good and just that. For me, it redeemed itself about 2/3 of the way through when I felt hooked and wanted to know how the suspense played out. The romance aspect strengthened and I enjoyed the deeper dive into the characters feelings and thoughts. The suspense was great right from the start, and moved along well while the plot was pretty strong. And again, the historical, educational and location aspects were really enjoyable. As a result, I Am looking forward to giving the second book in this series a read when it releases! This book is appropriate for readers 16+.