Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Crimson River

“Promise not to be mad at me if I get us lost?”
He stepped close and brushed a kiss against my forehead. “You get us lost. I’ll get us found.”

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵 5 blue stars!
Lyla, the hopeless romantic, is married to her coffee shop, the workaholic of the family. The one left out as her brothers and sisters get married and build their own families. The one day she’s forced to take a break and go on a hike, she’s attacked by a stranger, strangled, and left alone in the forest.
Vance has been chasing his demons for years before a lead takes him to Montana, to Lyla. He just got out of a relationship, and has no intention of jumping into another one, but his attraction towards Lyla is undeniable and as the days go by it becomes impossible to stay away, but time is running out and must find the man who attacked Lyla, not only for her sake but for Vance and his closure too.

“Thanks, Blue.”
Lyla’s head cocked to the side. “Blue?”
I winked.
“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed. And those striking blue eyes—eyes worthy of a nickname—sparkled”

Vance was so sweet, so caring and gentle (sometimes not 😏) with Lyla. He always knew what she needed.
“Lyla’s eyes flooded again, and like before, she dabbed at the corners, stopping any tears before they could fall.
“You okay?” I’d keep asking that question. While I was here, I’d ask every day.”

His MOUTH, oh god the dirty mouth he has. “Take it, Lyla. Take the whole fucking thing.”

“Thanks, Blue.”
Lyla’s head cocked to the side. “Blue?”
I winked.
“Oh.” Her cheeks flushed. And those striking blue eyes—eyes worthy of a nickname—sparkled”

“And that my favorite color was blue.
Lyla’s blue”
🤭🤭
“Fuck me.”
“Say please.”
As a fellow hopeless romantic, I absolutely adored Lyla. She was so soft yet so strong. I loved how despite being trusting and kind she was not a pushover or spineless.

“Do you ever feel lost in the crowd?” I asked.
“Sometimes,” she whispered. “Is that how it is with your family?”
“Not lost. Just outside.”
Watching the Edens take Vance in as one of their own made my heart all mushy. This book had me giggling, sobbing squealing and pulling my hair out. Vance and Lyla were so perfect together and I loved their dynamic. Seeing all the previous couples with their kids made me tear up. Griffin and Winn Seeing Knox and Memphis with their kids, Talia and Foster and Jasper and Eloise again made me feel like coming home.

“Jasper’s arm was draped around the back of Eloise’s chair, his hand on her shoulder. He was rarely far from her side, and if she was close, he touched her in some small way. Jasper didn’t touch Eloise to possess her, to control her. He touched her like she was his tether to the earth. Like without her, he’d drift away on a breeze. He loved her”.
“There was a lot of love at this table”

THE PLOT TWIST OMG?! I was not expecting that at all. Devney Perry did not come to play with the romantic suspense.

“I love you, Lyla.” Those gray-blue eyes were as bright as stars. It was a color I’d seen in them before. I just hadn’t named it yet. Love.
“I love you too.”
“I love you so fucking much.” His hold on me tightened. “I couldn’t breathe when we were apart.”

“About this wedding.”
“Yes,”
“You want it this summer.”
“Preferably.”
“Deal.” His gray-blue eyes locked with mine as a smirk spread across that sexy mouth. “But you let me get you pregnant first.”
“You’re on, Sutter.”
The cliffhanger had me screaming. Can’t wait for the next book.

Content Warnings

andeng's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

symonnereads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Mystery
Small Town Romance
Strangers to Lovers
3.5/5 Spice

When Lyla's twin forces her out of her coffee shop for a day off, she ends up in the wilderness when everything takes a turn for the worse. Hiking alone while commiserating about the state of her life, Lyla comes upon a hunter who she believes is friendly who turns out to be anything but..
Vance Sutter comes to Eden with a burdened soul and more questions than anything else. Four years ago his mentor murdered his wife and children and turned Vance's world upside down. When Vance gets a lead on his former partner's cold case when a woman is strangled in the woods in Montana, Vance meets Lyla Eden and the two try to figure out why and how his former best friend and mentor could do such terrible things to his own family and to the woman Vance can't seem to stop from falling for.

Things I enjoyed: The storyline itself is well written and fairly paced.
The chemistry between the two main couple is passionate to say the least. The pacing of the couple was great. I liked that the angst was well written without the use of the miscommunication trope. The spice was well written for the most part. Devney's use of "fuck, but..." was weird and repetitive.
The side character's from the series were always a pleasant part of the story.

Negative: He's a cop.
I also didn't love the villain aspect because the evidence was so irrefutable that Vance couldn't really have any doubt that would make Cormac innocent. It would have been better if Vance somehow felt even a bit off about the case. The case made it so it didn't feel like Cormac could possibly be innocent. Vance did have doubts as in how could my best friend do this but there wasn't enough for me.

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