Known – Kendra Elliot

July 25, 2018July 25, 2018 Book Chick1 Comment

25596593 | GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: After a brutal snowstorm in the Cascade Mountains, Chris Jacobs discovers two things he never expected to see: the charred shell of a cabin, and Gianna Trask and her sixteen-year-old daughter huddled in an SUV, having barely escaped from their burning vacation rental.

Still scarred from a childhood ordeal, Chris knows there’s something sinister about the scene—it’s the stench of burned flesh.

Forced to wait out the blizzard in their rescuer’s retreat, medical examiner Gianna Trask wonders if her hidden past has finally caught up with her. When a body is found in the destroyed cabin’s ashes and a forest ranger is brutally murdered, both Gianna and Chris must confront their secrets if they want to escape the violent threat lurking outside.

In the fifth book in the Bone Secrets series, Kendra Elliot leads readers on a dangerous, twisting journey of two lives forever changed by a fiery snowstorm in the mountains.

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My thoughts: Out of the five books in this series, this one is certainly the weakest. Off course I’m happy for Chris, since he is the character who have suffered the most and certainly deserves a HEA. We met Chris for the first time in the third book “Buried” which is also my favorite in the series. Known however, I found predictable, with halfhearted twists and somewhat stupid plot. I like medical thrillers but this is nothing like that. It is more or less some bad stuff happening to good people and together with the police, they are waiting it out until the bad guy does something wrong and messes the whole thing up. Somewhat dull, gray and fleeting. No real depth. A meek try on a heavy, hard to predict, mystery.

There is no real suspense either and it is pretty boring actually. I think it is my connection to Chris that made me actually read the whole thing and in the end find it “okay” but not so much more. And the bad guy in the book was so stupid and embarrassing that I’m surprised Elliot let it go on for as long as she did in the book. There was not ONE smart decision buy either crook or author through out these 348 pages. Just saying.

This was for now the last book in the Bone secrets series and I don’t know if Elliot is going to publish more. If so, I will probably read them to. The series as a whole is really good and I don’t want to let this bad apple destroy a potential fantastic follow up.

Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

A merciful truth – Kendra Elliot

May 26, 2018May 28, 2018 Book Chick1 Comment

| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Raised by a family of survivalists, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick can take on any challenge—even the hostile reception to her homecoming. But she’s not the only one causing chaos in the rural community of Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. At first believed to be teenage pranks, a series of fires takes a deadly turn with the murder of two sheriff’s deputies. Now, along with Police Chief Truman Daly, Mercy is on the hunt for an arsonist turned killer.

Still shunned by her family and members of the community, Mercy must keep her ear close to the ground to pick up any leads. And it’s not long before she hears rumors of the area’s growing antigovernment militia movement. If the arsonist is among their ranks, Mercy is determined to smoke the culprit out. But when her investigation uncovers a shocking secret, will this hunt for a madman turn into her own trial by fire?

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My thoughts: I found Kendra Elliot through recommendations on GoodReads and her Bone Secret series (which I only have one book left to read in) is the first I read and I really liked her books. Some was better than other and I do find Elliot to be somewhat of an unstable writer but I still felt sure on starting one of her other series. You never know what you will get, you know. Well, after this second book in the Mercy Kilpatrick series, I will probably not continue it.

I like the story line and the (for me) mostly unknown topic. I don’t know a lot of preppers, government haters and people trying to survive on what nature has to give. Now I can’t say that the information in the book is 100% true but I do hope that Elliot is that kind of author who research or has personal knowledge to putt in her book.

I started the second book with the thought that I wanted to know what will happen Mercy next and how the relationship with Truman turned out. Quickly discovered that there is A LOT from the first book I have forgotten. And that is certainly not good in any way. I gave the first book three stars so I did like it, but not apparently enough to remember it. So that was kind of an bummer. Elliot do explain some of the stuff that happened in the first book so it did refresh my memory. But the most vital information (can’t say due to spoiler) they never talked about in the book. And I didn’t quite remembered the details from the first book. So I had to look it up. Not a good thing.

So to sum it up, the book was okay. It’s easy to read and it was somewhat exciting. But the plot felt forced and I was not really surprised when most of it came into the light. There was some tries to cast fake blame on other characters but I did not fell for it and my suspicions on how it all hanged together from the start. Even though the reasons was not that clear.

I seriously need to stop wasting time on series where I didn’t fell for the first book. More often than not, I do not like it and end up not finish the series.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Thriller/Horror

A Merciful Death – Kendra Elliot

August 20, 2017August 20, 2017 Book ChickLeave a comment

29986740 | GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home. Now a predator known as the cave man is targeting the survivalists in her hometown, murdering them in their homes, stealing huge numbers of weapons, and creating federal suspicion of a possible domestic terrorism event. But the crime scene details are eerily familiar to an unsolved mystery from Mercy’s past.

Sent by the FBI to assist local law enforcement, Mercy returns to Eagle’s Nest to face the family who shunned her while maintaining the facade of a law-abiding citizen. There, she meets police chief Truman Daly, whose uncle was the cave man’s latest victim. He sees the survivalist side of her that she desperately tries to hide, but if she lets him get close enough to learn her secret, she might not survive the fallout…

My thoughts: I really liked the story. I liked that preppers had a big part of the story. I know what a prepper is but the complete meaning of it was new to me until I read Fan the flames by Katie Ruggle where the female lead character had grown up as an extreme prepper. The culture intrigued me and that is mostly why I wanted to read this book.

However I wasn’t that happy about the characters. They felt kind of detached at times and some of the history never was told to you as an reader, which would have made somethings a little clearer. And I totally dont agree with the ending of the book. Tho no cliffhanger.

Overall it is an great book with some mistakes. After my experience, the first book in a series are often not that good as it could be and i´m still interested to read more about Mercy, and perhaps get some answers on stuff that you didn’t get in the first book. I do not like to end a book with questions but here it do not do anything since they are minor and just my own curiosity. Another reader would probably not even have those questions when the book ends.