Drawing the Line by Kimberly Kincaid
April 24, 2013
Romantic Suspense
Reviewed by Mandi
Serenity Gallagher is the owner of a diner and when she walks in the kitchen and sees her cook and friend laying in a puddle of his own blood, she panics. She is able to call 9-1-1 before being hit on the head herself by the attacker. When she comes to, she is dizzy but alive. Her cook is in surgery for a stab wound.
Detective Jason Morgan becomes the lead on this assault case. When he starts to have Serenity recap the details of her assault, she remembers vividly a tattoo her attacker had and she is able to pick him out in a line up. Who she points her finger at is a very dangerous gang member. After the gang member gets out on bail, Jason decides Serenity is not safe out in public since the gang member knows what she looks like and where she works. Jason forces Serenity into a safe house until further investigative work can be done. As these two spend time together, they also develop feelings for each other.
This is the last paragraph of the blurb:
As Jason and Serenity bide their time together, they are shocked to discover they have much more in common than the surface reveals. But keeping her safe is Jason’s number one priority, no matter how much he’s drawn in by the woman beneath the witness, and Serenity’s past makes it difficult to trust. As the stakes get higher and the spark burns hotter, can Jason and Serenity draw the line?
I feel like this story has a nice foundation, but we never really dive into Serenity’s past or how much they really have in common. Their characters are not fleshed out well enough for me. Further, there is no real spark of chemistry or tension between Jason and Serenity. I believed in their friendship and that maybe one day they would fall in love, but I needed more oomph, for lack of a better word. More of an emotional bam! They fell flat for me. I think romance in suspense books are tricky because it’s hard to jump in the sack when your life is in danger. This also has a detective falling for a witness in an ongoing investigation. All of these things work against the romance in this book. Removing the romance, the suspense part worked pretty well for me but overall it was a bit frustrating.
Rating: C
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Good review, Mandi. I thought the first book in this series delivered a better foodie/cop romance combo. But I didn’t get that same feel/connection with the characters in this book.
Thanks for sharing!
She has a new series out later this year (I think) I’m going to try it