*These Small Hours by Gloria Herrmann
Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense, Romance
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by LarkspurKeep writing…or die trying.
Charlene Vanderberg is a bestselling author whose world is turned upside as she experiences writer’s block for the first time. She now faces a deadline to redeem her career after her last book, a sappy romance, flopped. Charley had only wanted to try her hand at a different genre, one with a little less murder and mayhem, but had ended up creating some disgruntled fans. That’s when the words disappeared, and Charley found herself unable to write a single sentence.
After being plagued with crippling writer’s block for months and about to hang up the towel, Charley’s agent Pamela has convinced her that a change of scenery would help get her creative juices flowing again. She sends Charley off to a cozy lake resort and has enlisted some protection for her in the person of Nick Capra, a detective who is running from his own demons, has no desire to babysit the famous author but finds himself unable to stop developing feelings for his charge.
Famous for writing chilling tales, Charley isn’t prepared for the nightmare in store for her. The sleepy lake community where nothing bad ever happens begins to see a string of grisly murders. Charley discovers these murders were meant to inspire her to write her next novel. A copycat killer is reenacting scenes from her bestsellers. No one is safe from this killer—not even Charley.
If you are looking for murder, mayhem and suspense with some romance thrown into the mix, These Small Hours is the book for you. The story centers on Charlene (Charley), a bestselling crime writer and Nick, a burnt out detective.
Charley has decided to visit the small town of Crescent Lake with the hope of getting over her writer’s block. What she didn’t expect is dead bodies turning up. This story starts a little slow, but once Charley enters the sleepy community of Crescent Lake, things start to heat up.
Along with the suspense there is a romance brewing between Nick and Charley. I liked both these characters but it took a while for me to connect with them. Suspense and romance is typically just the type of story I love and I was anxious to start reading this one, but unfortunately, I was a little disappointed with the writing. I found the pacing a bit slow and the characters one dimensional. So, for me, the writing wasn’t what I had hoped for, but maybe it was just the mood I was in.
The good part is that the ending was a surprise. Usually, I can figure out the ending, but with this one, I could not. If you like mystery and suspense with some romance, give this one a try.
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