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A review by symonnereads
Crimson River by Devney Perry
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Addiction, Death of parent, and Drug use