A review by mollyreadsandcrafts
Redirection by Gregory Ashe

4.0

•major spoilers• 

When North's ex gets accused of murder, North and Shaw get caught up in the lies and uncovered truths of their own social circle. Being thrown into their complicated pasts also causes problems in their present as North and Shaw struggle to figure out the future of their own relationship. 

In general, I liked this book. There are a few things that I did not like. North is struggling with moving on from his toxic relationship with Tucker including all the emotions that it brought up and how it affected his relationship with Shaw. He pretty much hits rock bottom in this book, and honestly I have very little empathy for him and the way he treated Shaw. But Shaw is nowhere near perfect either. He's working on his boundaries and trying to listen better to what North wants instead of pushing his priorities onto him. It's hard seeing them go from a pretty decent relationship to this friends with benefits stage where North doesn't treat Shaw well, because he has problems if you didn't know, and Shaw letting him because of his guilt. They end up in a better place, but I'm not sure the road to get there was worth it. It'll be interesting to see how their relationship unfolds in the last book. 

It should be no surprise that I'm very disappointed about the incident with Tucker. Not even that it happened, but how it was handled and executed. North spends a majority of the book being awful to Shaw, sleeps with his abusive ex, and then magically sees the light and wants Shaw back? Meanwhile his whole come to Jesus fight with Tucker is done completely off page? And when he comes back to Shaw, he never even explicitly states what he did, he just says he was with Tucker and that it made him see that he wanted to be with Shaw? Excuse me, but no. North was with Tucker, he enjoyed himself, he consciously made the choice to hurt Shaw and his feelings after treating Shaw like a sex doll the entire book, and now he wants him back. That's not good enough for me. We saw them hook up with other people before, but they also weren't actively sleeping together at the time so it hit different. And the worst part is Shaw just lets it all happen because he loves North so much. Even if he's walked all over, he'll let North treat him badly and call the shots, basically do whatever he wants because he feels guilty for overstepping in the past and doesn't want to upset North. I won't say it ruined them as a couple for me, but it's pretty close. I don't buy into their relationship or their romance nearly as much now, it lost a lot of its meaning and merit in how that entire situation was handled. 

So needless to say I'm not a North fan and I don't see myself becoming one again. I'm finishing the series but it lost me a bit. I adore Shaw and I know he isn't perfect either, but he would never hurt someone like that. His actions come from him wanting to be a good person and the best for everyone, where North's come from a place of selfishness. 

Okay to get off that soap box and talk about the mystery because other than that I actually liked this book. The case was really interesting because it was so tied to North and Shaw's social circle. I didn't really know where everything was going to end up because every time they talked to someone, more truths got brought to light. So many people had motives which kept it intriguing. All the while, Ronnie is hanging over everything they do with the anxiety contributing to North's downfall. I didn't see the end coming, and because of the incident it all the much worse. 

So yeah, this book gave me some Big Feelings. Mostly disappointment. Maybe I'm being a little dramatic because it's still all fresh in my head and I don't know how they end up smoothing things over, but I do want to see how that all happens. I do want what's best for both of them, but honestly to me that doesn't necessarily that means they should be together. There's lots of North and Shaw left with the next book and then Iron on Iron, so I'm hoping I get some satisfaction on where they end up and some hope they have a better future. 

Read if you like: 

• romantic suspense                              

• private investigators            

• friends to lovers               

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