A review by thestorydragon
All the Missing Pieces by Catherine Cowles

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

 Pros:
✨Carefully handles intense topic of S/A and kidnapping

Cons:
✨Insta-Lust Relationship
✨Pacing (Romance and Mystery not properly balanced)
✨Mystery (Investigation takes a back seat, so villain comes out of nowhere)
✨Toxic MMC (Angry alpha-male)

Despite having all the trappings of things I should love, this book was not for me. A suspense romance, we follow both true-crime podcaster Ridley and town sheriff Colt as they work to solve a case that, unbeknownst to each, connects them. The more Ridley uncovers, the more danger threatens.

Wow, this was not good. And what tears me up is it had so much potential. The concept is cool, the foundation works, but the details made me wince and cringe. I have no idea why Ridley would think she’s safe rolling up into town in her converted van, making waves, and not being concerned that the murderer would find her camping spot. For someone who prides herself on her safety measures, that was insane to me. Things went on a roller-coaster ride from there. Ridley had odd, lust-filled reactions to Colt that felt contrived and out-of-place. Every time these two interacted, I cringed. I so wish they had simply worked together without the attraction, grown to trust one another and be friends over the course of the case, then left off at the end with an implication their relationship would grow further. Instead, we have Ridley’s nipples constantly peaking as she obsesses over Colt’s raspy voice and broad shoulders. Colt’s chapters were completely pointless. They were basically only there to show him pining over Ridley and sexualizing her, then explaining her trauma to readers as he processed it himself, calling her “brave”, “strong”, “independent” and more to excess. Just in case readers weren’t already aware of just how strong, brave, and independent she was. No plot movement whatsoever. There’s even a part where he says he can’t focus on the case because he’s too busy looking at her tank-tops and her legs. I gagged. His emotional range swung from anger-fueled alpha-male protectiveness, and shame/regret for overstepping boundaries due to the alpha-male rage. It was irritating. And toxic.

The mystery had me semi-invested up until the reveal, which came out of left field. And this was a symptom of a larger problem, which was that the genre mash-up didn’t work. The romance wasn’t believable, but it overtook the mystery so far as page time is concerned. However, the mystery was the only thing propelling the plot forward, which made everything feel disjointed and which threw the pacing off. This wasn’t helped by the writing, which could have used another round of polishing. It also utilizes so many cliché phrases that the character voices never sound distinct or original.

I was genuinely excited for this one. And the narrators, Andi Arndt and Sebastian York, did a good job. However, this was beyond disappointing.