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A review by lezreadalot
Dirt Nap by Carolyn Elizabeth
4.0
“We were broken once, not that long ago,” she said softly. “Now we’re whole again, but not the same. We’re stronger. We’re better.”
3.5 stars. This was a fun time; an entertaining romantic crime/thriller that definitely delivered on the emotional front. I liked it a little better than the first book in the series, which I thought moved a bit fast. In this, Corey and Thayer have been together a bit longer and are deepening their relationship, while they both get tangled up in the case that surrounds Corey's latest body at the morgue. They're also both having friendship/work related problems with the men in their lives, some of which are connected to the main plot. But the best part of this, what I liked the most, is the relationship. It's such a wonderful, swoony romance, and I love a relationship where both women are just mutually, fiercely protective of each other. There are some scenes where they're in peril and some hurt/comfort scenes that absolutely melted my heart. Thayer especially gave me heart-eyes. I just loved them a lot. I didn't find myself particularly hooked on the case (I kept getting people mixed up) but the romance more than made up for that.
I did find, though, the the sexist problems that both characters had to deal with were resolved way too easily, like an afterschool special. Spoilers ahead.
Spoiler
On one hand, the way Corey started yelling at Collier about the way Steph is treated on the force, after knowing Steph for like two seconds, was really forced and unnatural. I wish that conversation had had more lead up. And on the other hand, the way things are resolved with Watson Gregory (or whatever his dumb name was) was so unbelievable and way too easy, especially after he'd been THAT disgusting and disrespectful. I mean, I guess it's kinda wishful thinking; I too would love it if I could give all the gross misogynists in my life a badass dressing down and then they'd immediately turn over a new leaf. And I respect Thayer sooooooo much for wanting to give him that second chance, even after he was so nasty to her. But, yuck. It just felt a liiiittle too unrealistic for me, how quickly it happened.Listened to the audiobook as read by Lori Prince, which I did really really like. Her Thayer voice: swoon. The voices for the guys were a little too exaggerated, but those were fine as well. Even though this probably needed more action/mystery to really be considered a romantic suspense, I still really liked it, and I'll come back to the series soon.
Content warnings: