Bones & Roses by Eileen Goudge

Bones and Roses

by Eileen Goudge

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Published by: INscribe Digital - August 5, 2014
Genres: Mystery / Thriller
Source: ARC from Publisher
Rating: 2.5 Stars

NOTICE: I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

"Tish” Ballard thought she’d seen it all. Almost four years sober after flambéing her real estate career in an alcohol-fueled blowout, she’s finally in a good place in her life when the discovery of skeletal human remains rocks her world and plunges her headlong into solving a decades-old crime. Now she must delve into the darkness of her own past, including the one-night stand gone horribly wrong with Spence Breedlove, who happens to be the lead detective on the case. When the truth comes out at long last, Tish finds herself pitted against an enemy who will stop at nothing in a fight for her own life.

I want to start out by saying that I was excited to read this book, or any book, by Eileen Goudge as I simply loved her book, The Diary (which I highly recommend reading). This book, however, did not meet my expectations.

The blurb leads you to believe that Spence and Tish have a bad relationship due to something that happened in their high school past - but what it really is - is immature, high school drama. I could have done without that. It really didn't lend anything to the story. Tish could have easily set off on her own investigation in spite of the police and still have a conflict between her and the lead detective, just because she was overstepping her bounds. That would've made more sense.

And speaking of romance . . . what guy in their right mind dumps a perfectly nice, pretty model in order to maybe get the chance to date a random hometown girl with a chip on her shoulder like Tish? I'm not sure. I just didn't buy it. I didn't feel any chemistry between the two. I felt that the author was trying to force something that wasn't there.

The mystery itself was interesting, and there were some twists, but they didn't really make much sense after the fact. Usually in thrillers, after a twist, the reader puts the puzzle pieces together and understands why that twist took place. I just didn't feel any of that in this book.

I was disappointed in this book, to say the least, and probably won't be checking out any of her new ones set in the same town anytime soon. I may check out some of her older ones, though.