This book gets 3 stars from me as opposed to the 2 stars for each of the previous ones in this series. Overall, it did have more of the KA writing style we're used to. There was more romance. And thank you, Sweet Baby Purple Jesus, there was more sex. It does disturb me a lot that the previous books had more mature characters and no sex, as if that doesn't happen with older people. And kids, that is an exquisite bunch of BS, I can assure you.
Anyhoo, while I did enjoy this more than the others, I struggled mightily with the mystery part. Holy guacamole, it was as another reviewer noted, a "massive info dump" that clogged up the works like a big old mess of grease and hair. And boy, it was about that much fun to slog through. I literally wanted to skip ahead whenever people started talking about the Lincolns and Kennedys and Jeffersons and maybe a few other presidential names tossed in the mix. It was just so loooong, so pervasive, yet felt like another tragic book got wedged into the works. There were simply too many characters involved in the mystery. They story was also sad as hell, and that little sweet wedding at the end didn't mitigate the tragedy in any way.
I know that KA can write the hell out of a romantic suspense story. The entire Colorado Mountains series lays out that fact. And other series do, too. It's not clear to me why this series has staggered drunkenly all over the place. My love for KA is extreme. And it's not easy banging on her so hard for a lot of reasons. She has become a big target for many disgruntled readers who want instant replays of Rock Chicks and other favorites. I get that desire. But if KA churned out the same templated stories with similar characters every time, we'd all collectively freak out on that, too. And have.
I totally respect that writers have to move on. Sitting in the same chair for so many years makes the joints ache. And things get boring. However, none of this means that forgetting all the things that made your books so loved in the past should be dropped in favor of shinier toys. Great, strong characters, humor, hot sex, interesting plots... none of these critical elements can be ignored, ever.
Here's hoping that we get a return to those good things with KA.