A review by powerlibrarian
Unforgiven by Rebecca Zanetti

4.0

Gemma Falls is a single mother who’s been on the run from her child’s abusive father for years–ever since she found out she was pregnant and made her escape. She manages to orchestrate a temporary job for herself as a professor at a university outside of DC, but her new life is far from easy. She doesn’t have much money, and a fellow professor, a handsome Brit, is paying her far too much attention. It turns out that he has secrets of his own–ones that put the both of them in grave danger.
This book was not at all what I was expecting! While Gemma’s backstory is one of the plots of the book, the main premise surrounds Professor Jethro Hanson, a former MI6 operative who now works as a professor. A serial killer who he hunted in his previous life has crossed the pond to target him–and whoever he cares about. Unfortunately for Gemma and her daughter, that now includes them.
This book has a lot of twists and turns in the plot. A few of the twists literally had me gasping in surprise. Like I said, this book wasn’t quite what I was expecting, genre-wise. Unforgiven features quite a bit of the investigation background of trying to catch the serial killer. Jethro and his former colleagues are investigating the recent killings, looking into Gemma’s past, etc. and the genre turns into a bit of an investigative thriller. I was a little confused at times, since there are several different teams and investigative units involved in the plotline–some which work well together, and some which don’t. This is the fifth book in the series, and I suspect that I might have better understood the dynamics of the different teams and characters had I read the other books first.
That said, in this book, we’re introduced to couples from the previous books, along with a hint of what their romantic thriller storylines were. It’s cleverly done–we’re given enough of a taste to be intrigued to check out those books, but not so much that their stories are spoiled.
The romance between Gemma and Jethro takes a backseat to the action and adventure of the storyline. That said, their relationship is sweet, and I loved the misunderstandings–particularly when they first meet, and they both have assumptions about one another. Trudy, Gemma’s four-year-old daughter, is absolutely adorable, and the budding father-daughter relationship between Trudy and Jethro is cheek-pinchingly cute.
Ultimately, Unforgiven is a fast-paced, thrilling romantic suspense novel with lots of intrigue, adventure, a hint of angst, and a sweet romance.

*Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ebook to review*

This review appeared first on https://powerlibrarian.wordpress.com/
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