**spoiler alert** 'The Secret of Cypriere Bayou: Shivers' (Intrigue) written by Jana Deleon (Audible) narrated by Shauna Pennington ? (couldn't get he**spoiler alert** 'The Secret of Cypriere Bayou: Shivers' (Intrigue) written by Jana Deleon (Audible) narrated by Shauna Pennington ? (couldn't get her full name, as it was very briefly mentioned in the opening credits, but not written on the cover, nor anywhere else mentioned).
Usually I like this author's books, but this one? Not so much.
(sigh) I hate to rain on anyone's parade, however this book is light years away from the author's usual and usually fun niche of rollar-coaster, hair-raising rides featuring sleuthing, gun-toting, mystery-solving grannies! Those are fun!
This one? A whole different trope (Hallmark Romance, anyone?) and one that's just not in my wheelhouse. At all. (I didn't realize that when I bought the Audible version. Got hooked into the mysterious looking cover art and the promise of gothic & spooky & mystery)
This falls into some kind of pseudo-spooky, "haunted house" wannabe, in a Louisiana bayou* scenario, with a predictable damsel-in-distress trope, a writer looking for inspiration from a house she's only seen in her dreams but also it's one connected with a horrible crime in real life...(of course it is).
*(Louisiana bayou settings are some of my faves! Having spent several different times in New Orleans, and other surrounding areas, I appreciate those locations as well as the often haunting atmospheres thereabouts)
So, even though the FMC has a gun and knows how to use it, she is also severely claustrophobic, has horrible nightmares, makes stupid mistakes regarding her own well-being and safety (and that of others), often letting her libido govern her thoughts to the point of distraction...and who repeatedly gets "saved" by the hulking hot caretaker of this estate. (of course she is)
Annnd, the gorgeous hunky hulk is also attracted to her. (of course he is)
"blushing damsel"? "a man's man"?
(*rolling eyes*) Gimme a fucking break! I think I'm gonna hurl...(gak!)
Reads like a millenial version of Nancy Drew for a YA target audience. (except for "Nancy" has a gun. Plus, there's mutual sexual interest (which is almost non-existent except for a couple of moments), and the blatant misogyny of the caretaker (ex-cop), and the casual racism pertaining to this FMC's ancestor's slaves...yada, yada, yada... ...it's all so relentlessly thrilling (not). (it's really incredibly boring)
(*more eye rolling*)
Not my cup of tea... mine has a shot of JD in it, for that quick bite & slow fire going down (grin).
Sorry, Jana (not really) but I'm going back to your other genres, which are a lot more fun!...more