Waking Olivia by Elizabeth O'Roark

Waking Olivia
by Elizabeth O'Roark

Add to Goodreads | Purchase on Amazon
Published by: Amazon Digital Publish Date: March 12, 2016
Genre: New Adult
Rating: 4.5 Stars
A college track star with nothing to lose.
A coach who may lose everything to save her.

Will Langstrom has a failing farm, his father’s debt and a struggling college track team. The last thing he needs is Olivia Finnegan, a beautiful but troubled new transfer student.

Olivia Finnegan is her own worst enemy, with a past she can't seem to escape, and the last person she wants help from is a cocky track coach she can never seem to please.

Refusing to be pushed away, Will is determined to save her.
And determined to resist an attraction that could destroy them both.

I read this book as an ARC quite some time ago via NetGalley, but I just realized I never reviewed it on here. It was one of my favorite New Adult novels, so I knew I needed to get this review up on my page.

This is a character piece with a well-built relationship arc between Will and Olivia written in. I could tell the author spent a lot of time planning the narrative before she began writing. That's the mark of a truly great writer, in my opinion.

Both Will and Olivia are fully-realized with back stories that shape themselves and their relationship to one another. I liked the comparison to Olivia as a track star and the fact that in her sleep, she literally runs away from her demons, sleep-running only to wake up and not know where she is. Will decides to help her by letting her sleep at his family's farm so that he can prevent her nightly escapes. He truly cares about her and wants her to succeed in track and in life.

The romance between them was slow brewing which made it more believable and less taboo than most authors have the talent to portray. I was rooting for them the whole way through.

If you like new adult fiction, do yourself a favor and read this one immediately. You won't regret it.

Cross Your Heart by Kierney Scott

Cross Your Heart
by Kierney Scott

Add to Goodreads | Purchase on Amazon
Published by: Amazon Digital Publish Date: April 25, 2018
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Three young girls are missing. All of them cold cases. All of them forgotten. But when Detective Jess Bishop identifies a disturbing link between them, she’s determined to find out what happened, and fights to re-open their cases. At the scene of each abduction the kidnapper left a clue – a small bag of candy – in place of the missing child. And then a fourth child is taken. Eight-year-old Ava is snatched from her hospital bed and when a bag of candy is found in her room, Jessica knows it’s the same kidnapper. As the pressure to solve the case pushes Jess and her team to breaking point, Jess takes a personal risk she fears she’ll live to regret. But she has no choice. Out of hospital, Ava can only get sicker: Jess is running out of time. Can she find Ava before it’s too late?

I typically like thrillers about detective work, cold cases, missing persons, and protagonists with a past. This book had all of those elements, so I was looking forward to reading it.

Immediately, I felt as if I should have read Book 1 in the series prior to reading the Book 2. I received this one as an ARC and was slightly confused about the references to the first installment, including what exactly happened to Detective Bishop to cause the mutilation to her hand. The author mentioned she cut it on glass while trying to escape from the perpetrator in the first book, but it was very foggy and unclear. I would have liked more of an explanation to tie it to her issues of PTSD in present day.

While she was on leave from her injuries, Det. Bishop spent time looking over cold case files. She found 3 cases in which there was a common denominator: blue cotton candy under the fingernails of the deceased children. Predictably, upon her return to work, none of her colleagues believe there is a serial killer out there targeting children by giving them blue cotton candy. Even more predictably, the next day, a fourth child is taken and blue cotton candy is found at the scene.

With those obvious issues with the beginning of the story, I was tempted to stop reading. I was worried that the plot would be transparent and wouldn't keep my interest. However, I pressed on.

Ultimately, I never saw the ending coming. The identity of the killer was surprising and unique. I enjoyed that twist.

While I found the story driven and surprising, I only gave this 3.5 stars as I don't think I'll be reading any more books in the series. I fear I'd have to go back and read the first one in order to really know what's going on in the overall arc.