She’s the daughter of a serial killer… they’re FBI agents…
No one knows Freya is actually the daughter of the Cross-Cut Killer, America’s most notorious serial killer. Living under a false identity as a detective is isolating but at least Freya’s safe. That is, until she falls onto the radar of Special Agent River Park and his team.
River, Oz, Elijah and Jude have been chasing the Cross-Cut Killer for years. They’re the best the FBI has to offer, not to mention unfairly attractive. They know exactly who the killer is but he’s always one step ahead of them. Freya is about to change that.
When Freya’s true identity is uncovered, she’s forced to work with River and his team. All Freya wants is to catch her father, getting involved with not one but four FBI agents would be a very bad idea.
But River and his team aren’t prepared for the spitfire young woman who’s too pretty for her own good. She’s hiding more than scars and a woman with secrets might just be kryptonite to a group of profilers.
Killer of Mine is a full length, mature, New Adult romance with elements of enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, darker moments and on the page spice. This is a why choose romance, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. This is book one of a planned trilogy but does not end on a big cliff-hanger. Please read the trigger warnings.
3.5🌟 i have been seriously overdue a fun why choose romance, and this scratched the itch for sure 🫢 it was very fast paced and sooo addictive i didn't want to put it down. you can't go into this expecting it to be a super serious and highly realistic FBI/killer hunting situation, but i can absolutely appreciate this for what it was and that was a spicy fun time with a super interesting plot and a good twist!
This was so good and so addicting and just what I wanted in a why choose romance where they were going after a serial killer together. The spice was fantastic and actually starts pretty early on, which I loved. The heroine is the daughter of a serial killer and the guys are FBI agents, and they figure out early on she has a secret and take her into custody, and then move her into their house. They all are falling for her and I loved their dynamic. Her father is killing again and killing in their town, so the suspense was there and I was hooked.
The cliffhanger wasn't too bad, but I'm already dying for book two!! I can't wait to read what's going to happen next!!
So loving 'Criminal Minds and Chicago PD' and seeing this pop up I couldn’t not read it, straight away I was pulled into the plot, twists and turns and deadly secrets, throw in the hot profilers and I was in my element as soon as I started I was pulled in and pretty much inhaled it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down.
Freya has a deep dark secret that she's kept hidden in the deep dark web, one that if comes to light could destroy all that she's worked for, after graduating from the Police Academy she was then promoted as a detective at the age of twenty-two now at twenty three she's obsessed with researching serial killers, one in particular whose been dubbed 'The Cross Cut KIller' but what no one knows is that she's closer to him than anyone realises.
Now onto the guys, first you've got Agent River Parks and his team, Oz: he's a top notch tech hacker at his fingertips he can find anything, Eli: is the broody cowboy who loves to chase adrenaline highs in life, then we have Jude: he's top notch when it comes to unravelling mysteries especially people which is what made him become a profiler.
Because these guys are top notch at what they do, it didn't take long for them to uncover exactly what Freya was hiding, and who she was related too, they had been hunting the cross cut killer for ten long gruelling years and now with her on their team they might jsut have a better chance at catching him.
I read somewhere that the second book won’t be released until next year, but here’s hoping that’s just a placeholder 🤞 because the killer hasn’t stopped taunting them yet, he's maybe one step ahead like a game of cat and mouse he's taunting them and with that cliffy and a long wait looming I can’t wait to see what twists the next book will produce.
Can someone please turn this book into a TV show, because my True Crime obsessed brain would love it !! I'm currently binge-watching Dexter, so this book came at the perfect time.
I was a little worried it would be an insta-love after the first MMC’s POV, but I think it was more so a... insta-appreciation/ attraction. I mean River was attracted to her, but also valued her intelligence.
The constant plot twists were just so immersive. I mean I was in that interrogation room, I was at that crime scene. The continuous twists never felt like there was way too much going on. My thinking was ‘I need you to tell me more so I can crack this case’. In my mind, I could definitely work for the FBI, but unfortunately, I cannot prove this point 🫠
Everything was just so interconnected!!! Moments I overlooked were actually pivotal points that revealed all these clues. In the grand scheme of things, I wasn't even close to guessing what was about to happen. The spider diagram in my head was ultimately useless 🥲
I forgot to talk about the romance...so the romance was very well written and each of the MMCs had very distinctive personalities that complimented the FMC. Their relationship was never smooth sailing, but they all held this deep connection. Jude was the favourite by far, but I was just so focused on Freya. I was so interested in how she approached things and what she would reveal.
The cliffhanger wasn't a high-action moment like I thought it might be, but it was definitely dramatic enough.
The story had so much potential and yet.... it felt like WattPad Criminal Minds, but with too much insta-lust and insta-attraction.
I'd honestly prefer just the serial killer aspect of the book without the 'Why Choose' romance, because it was so badly entwined into the story. I'm so disappointed because I actually liked Freya, she was such a fascinating character.
These are the types of books that had me disliking 'why choose' romances for years...
“But is it really much of a surprise that the daughter of a serial killer would spend her whole life trying to be good?”
I had very high expectations going into this book, and maybe that was why it fell flat for me. I was looking forward to something similar to the Mindf*ck series by S. T. Abby and Criminal Intentions by Cole McCade, but i ended up with an underbaked, over salted lasagna. I wanted a slow burn reverse harem with a twisted serial killer mystery.
My first ick was the fact that there is no gradual build up between the characters. For a woman raised by a serial killer, a survivor of domestic abuse, Freya had absolutely no survival instincts. She had oral sex with a guy she had only met twice, allowed four men she hadn’t seen even known for a week blackmail her into moving into their house and not telling anyone.🤪They barely spend any time together but all of a sudden im supposed to believe that both Oz and Jude have decided that she’s “it” for them? They never explain why she’s any different from their previous hookups. I usually love the golden retriever mmc in the harem, but Jude had no personality besides his pining after Freya.
River was the only character with a well developed personality, though his personality isn’t all that likeable. Not only is he overbearing and annoying, but imo he didn’t make it up to Freya after he uses sex as an interrogation tactic. Yep. Gross. Though Eli was the only character who had a genuine reason to dislike Freya, it bordered on childish and immature. He calls her a murderer MULTIPLE times despite knowing that Freya was a victim too. Even after she bares her soul to these guys, both River and Eli were very quick to doubt everything she’d said, and once again insinuate that she was working for her father.
Freya also irritated the fuck out of me. She keeps yapping about how she wants to stop her father, but does the exact opposite of what she should be doing: being honest. There was absolutely NO reason to keep her twin sister a secret. None. She’s a detective, she knew that if explained properly, she’d be able to get her sister some help. But she just chooses to share half truths, which eventually lands them all in trouble.
I frankly wanted Jude or Oz to punch them in the face, and the fact that they never did pmo.
Furthermore, it seemed odd how often they chained, handcuffed, locked or tied Freya up. It was a little creepy, and Freya just going along with it every time really pissed me off.
“Jude must have finished checking for hair grips by now, but he keeps running the brush through my hair. I'm too desperate for his touch to ask him to stop.”
Mind you, this is the SECOND time she’s met this man, and she’s closing her eyes while he brushes her hair?I hate, hate, hate body betrayal syndrome. The only time it’s acceptable is if the characters have been together for a while, or if it’s a fantasy book with the fated mates trope. This girl was simply horny. She lets these guys constantly restrict her freedom, boss her around, say hurtful things, simply because the moment they touch her, she just melts into a puddle of oobleck. For NO reason. She doesn’t know them at all. All they do is fuck or kiss or fight. Freya’s childhood was heartbreaking and horrible, and these men really don’t handle it well at all. They treated miss girl like a soldier 🙏😭
This girl is ALWAYS sopping wet. Okay, im sorry.😞But genuinely, all they did was fuck, and it got boring super fast.
Another ick was how severely mentally ill all these characters were. Now, do I think we should send all mentally ill people to mars in a rocket ship? No. But how is it possible that these four FBI agents in a team are struggling so much with their mental health and NO ONE is suggesting that they see a therapist? They never pause to think, “hey, maybe we should see a professional instead of punching walls and being control freaks”😀 they also NEVER ask her if she suffered an sort of sexual abuse despite knowing about her past. she even says that her father often hung out with a creepy guy who often ogled her…they just jump into bdsm, safe words, and bondage. and freya goes along with it all like a bumbling idiot.
Additionally, the mystery/thriller aspect was underdevelopment. Though i enjoyed how the author crafted her killer and his methods and quirks, i wish it was a bit more developed and detailed. I liked how twisted and horrifying the mystery plot was(the warehouse scene actually had me at white-knuckling my kindle), but i think a little more detailed descriptions of the crime scenes, the vics, the coroner’s reports, and the actual police procedure would have made it much more interesting.
I think reading Criminal Intentions has ruined me for any other book that revolves around detective work. The FBI work felt so surface level and shallow, which made me feel like the author did no research on how investigations are actually conducted prior to writing this book. I wasn’t able to picture the crime scene and the victims at all, which made it all feel very detached and bland. All these people did was talk on the phone and look at a few case files. NOT once did they actually try to sit down to discuss all the recent developments. These men are supposed to lead an FBI task force, but they’re so immature, horny and sloppy.
Also, the mmc’s had no personality, no likes or dislikes, nothing. The author keeps telling us how these four men are some of the best the FBI has, but never really shows us how and why. There was so much telling, but no showing. Idgaf about any of these characters.
Jude’s entire personality was being diagnosed with ADHD, Eli’s thing with cowboy hats is immediately forgotten and then he’s just a miserable fuck for the rest of the book.
This group had two braincells that they all shared, just like a community toilet. Intelligent men = hot men.
Furthermore, this girl has been abused for the first 17 years of her life, with her father constantly cutting her and her sister as “punishments” for disobedience, she has NEVER been to therapy, and now all of a sudden she’s okay with the mmc using a knife to cut her clothes off of her body??? WITHOUT any prior discussion?? and we know she does still deal with ptsd, cannot be in crowds, etc, but she’s okay with these four strangers crowding around her and restraining her?
The killer was so bland and flat, and just did not elicit any kind of emotion from me. You’re telling me this is the same man who expertly manipulated so many people, got away with the murder for MULTIPLE women for years? Also, this girl escaped, faked her death, and NEVER told the cops anything? She could have anonymously given the cops his address. she went to college and got a degree, then became a detective all so she could catch her father…which means he could commit more murders in the meantime?
Lastly, the sex scenes with Eli and River felt kind of gross. All bondage, rough play and dom/sub play felt out of place, especially due to the power imbalance. They were pretty much keeping her imprisoned. This is a girl brought up by an unhinged serial killer, with years of unresolved trauma from domestic abuse, manipulation, and being kept in captivity, so i just did not appreciate how carelessly they treated her.
I don't mind sex scenes when they fit the story, but here they often felt completely out of place. The timing was so inappropriate that it pulled me out of the book. There was almost no emotional buildup, just instant lust and then straight into a sex scene.
What made it even less believable was that the FMC is an abuse survivor. I found it very difficult to accept that she would immediately be comfortable with BDSM without experiencing any fear, hesitation, or trauma responses. It didn't feel authentic to her character.
I did enjoy the twist in the story, but it wasn't enough to make up for everything else. Overall, this wasn't a good book for me.
I was really interested in the premise of the book, but it wasn’t executed very well. The main plot was good, but the romance aspect of it felt way too rushed in my opinion it’s borderline Insta love. it was a entertaining read, but I feel like it would be better as a thriller rather than a romance.
not sure why my rh girlies haven't got a hold of this one yet - it was everything i needed! kickass fmc who took no crap and was smart as hell, a captivating plotline, and some easy to obsess over (and very obsessed themselves) mmcs. plus plenty of spice! so easy to read and adore.
and while the plot-twists were in no way shocking for me, i didn't even mind, because i still had so much fun watching them track down the serial killer. always an entertaining plot. plus i loved and adored how this book didn't end on a massive cliffhanger, despite being book 1 of 3 - thank you author, for not becoming part of the rh cliffhanger epidemic.
Dnf 22% got the ick. FMC is victim daughter of a serial killer and trying to arrest him as a detective under an assumed identity, four “genius” FBI agents discover her ruse, arrest her, attack her and immediately after she is triggered things get sexual while she is cuffed. Not for me. Fast burn.
3.5 stars. Freya is the daughter of a serial killer who is working as a detective trying to track down her father without anyone knowing she’s related to him. She ends up entangled, in more than one way, with Agent Park and his SCU (serial crimes unit) team. River, Oz, Eli, and Jude are all part of the FBI team trying to track down the Cross-Cut Killer. Freya is working a missing person case and her missing person happens to be the latest victim of the serial killer River and his team are looking for. After they quickly figure out exactly who Freya is, River and his team put her under house arrest, at their house…with them! They need to find out what she knows and if she’ll be able to help them track down her father.
This was a very bingeable, easy to get into read! The plot was predictable for me from the start, but it didn’t take away from it being entertaining at all! If you enjoy the Mind F series or Black Sheep, you’ll definitely enjoy this read too, plus it’s why choose! The story isn’t finished and I’ll definitely be checking out book 2 whenever it drops.
The plot was really interesting. The FMC is the daughter of a serial killer who’s working with the FBI to stop him. Considering The Mindf*ck series is one of my all time favourites, I’m a sucker for anything FBI/serial killer adjacent.
Unfortunately, I could not connect with the romance. It was way too insta-lust/almost insta-love. Even the one MMC who had a very valid reason to want to stay away can’t help but obsess about her during his POV. There was so much potential that fell flat. I did like their dynamic but they fell into it basically the second they all met. I need to see them getting to know each other and slowly falling into that dynamic. Putting all that aside though, I can see the appeal. I liked them all as individuals and their relationships with each other was nice.
Some moments I couldn’t put down the book and other times I had to put it down and take a break. It was a battle of entertainment verses lack of depth which is why I’m undecided how I should rate it. I did overall enjoy this story though and I’m curious to see where it goes.
Okay first I would like to know what Alexis Grace put in this book because right from the first chapter I was obsessed. I truly just could not put it down and just blew right through it. I might actually pass away having to wait until 2025 for book two.
Freya was just 🤌🤌🤌. She has some trauma but she's not a door mat. She is an absolute bad bitch who isn't afraid to get things done, even if sometimes she's really stupid about it and could save herself a lot of trouble by thinking for two seconds but that's okay we love her anyway. You root for her the whole time and ugh the BANTER she has with these men. It's the giggle and kick your feet type stuff that we all die for.
The guys. While I do like all of them, even if Eli is on my shit list, I think Oz was my favorite. He was just so calming and sweet and thoughtful towards Freya even after finding out who she was. I do wish we had gotten just a little more of the guys as I don't feel like I know them quite as well as I want to but this is only book one and I'll be very patient waiting for book two. (No I won't.)
There are things that you're definitely not going to see coming. You get hints sprinkled throughout but it just kind of smacks you in the face towards the end and the gasp you will gusp. Also the spice. There was never any moment where it felt like too much spice. The scenes were a bit scattered throughout so there was a good amount of story in between each scene which really makes you want more. And more. And probably some more.
If you can't tell I really loved this book 😅 I saw it marketed as Criminal Minds but make it rh and it's 100% spot on so if you like Criminal Minds you should read this. If you ever wondered what it would be like to be sandwiched between some of the men from that show DEFINITELY read this.
Audio: 3-3.5 stars for Brooke Daniels and Gabriel Michael (both not great, but not horrible)
Book: 2 stars
Well the premise made me want to pick it up asap, but while reading it I wanted to put it down so many times… I thought it might get better.. it didn’t.
The relationship between Freya and all the guys made no sense, it was like they looked at her and bam they were already in love.. didn’t flow, we were just told and then they would start hooking up and that didn’t flow either. I will say some (Eli and River) didn’t give into the attraction right away, but Jude and Oz did and that just didn’t flow with the story. Overall this book to me was a fail… I had higher hopes, that might have been my downfall.
If anyone has a good fbi/ criminal minds vibes romance then let me know, always in the mood for that! Haha
The idea of this book sounded good. A serial killer's daughter fakes her own death as a child, gets a false identity and becomes an investigator. She wants to catch her father and stop him from ruining any more lives.
The problem is she doesn’t really want him to get caught; she wants to be the one to catch him. When she planned her death she could’ve just gone to the police but instead ran away, gave her father years more to murder people, all so she could get a job where she would be the one to capture him.
In addition to that the PTSD she experiences is inconsistent. The author wanted to have her not have an issue with being crowded and restrained when it comes to sex but to have issues with those things in her daily existence. The sexual experiences borderline on rape in the beginning and the detectives basically kidnapping her was super weird. I think the author wanted some things to happen and didn’t know how to make them make sense so we kind of have to endure insta love, insta forgiveness, random sex scenes and characters that are unpredictable/inconsistent because they weren’t developed well.
I think this would’ve been better if the whole reverse harem thing wasn’t involved. I think it’s hard in general to do a contemporary reverse harem. This didn’t do it as well as others have.
All the MMCs sucked (River was also unnecessarily homophobic in a “I don’t think your friend is really gay and I’m jealous of how close you are so I want him very far away from you bc he’s a man with a dick and I don’t trust that he doesn’t want to fuck you even though he’s super open about only liking men” way). Also you expect me to believe that a FMC that was raised by a notorious serial killer to torture people and then faked her death and became one of the youngest cops to pass the detective exam is a weak, whiny, pathetic little thing who can barely do anything by herself and consistently does/says the stupidest thing in any given situation???? And thirdly, almost nothing happened. Every chapter was wildly circular, following the same pattern as the others: Freya keeps something from them, they accuse her of lying and still working with her father, she takes a lie detector test because they force her to, she storms off upset that they don’t trust her, they “apologize” by fingering her or making her climax, they discover something else she’s not telling them. Rinse and repeat. Also that lame-ass evil twin plot twist??? Such a cop-out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was so insta lovey I just could not care. The relationship development between Freya and the guys was non-existent. The only reason why I kept reading was bc the plot was actually interesting but I don’t think I’ll pick up book 2.
Criminal minds but make it a why choose where the FMC is the daughter of a serial killer?! SOLD.
And sold I was, because I did gobble this book up. Now this book was good, but honestly I was more invested in the plot than the romance. I just don’t like insta-lovey type romances, and this one developed pretty fast…but that’s just a personal preference. TBH I really want to be melting in a puddle on the floor from the tension 🫠 Now what I did love about this book was of course, all of the FBI stuff. Honestly I want there to be even more in the next book because I live for the profiling and ‘wheel’s up’ type of vibes😎 Also the plot twist in this, while I saw it coming, was pretty epic and I’m definitely invested in seeing more about that in the next book when I eventually get to it!
This book was very hot and cold for me. I actually DNFd at about 35% because the romance part of it just wasn't doing it for me. So that's a ME thing, nothing against the book - I'm just not a fan of insta-lust for the most part. The one part of the romance I enjoyed was with the one guy (there is always that one!) that didn't want her as part of the gang. There was some good tension, and push and pull there. Yum.
That being said, after I DNFd it, I kept thinking about it, and decided to go back and try to read the rest and I did finish and felt it was pretty good overall. The part of the plot dedicated to the mystery I wound up enjoying a lot. It gave off good Criminal Minds vibes, and I loved that show, so had no issues there. I would say definitely give it a go if you like Romantic Thrillers with serial killers and a healthy dose of instalust.
Contemporary Why Choose FMMMM (No MM so far) Dark Romantic Thriller Crime Drama/Profiling Hidden Identity Forced Proximity Fast Burn / Insta-Lust Spice: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Alright breaking it down into likes and dislikes since that always seems easier.
Likes: The twin thing was out of nowhere but I like that it's a secret to us until it's not a secret overall. Freya not giving us that part in her inner monologue actually kept thia story fresh for me. I liked the suspense, the serial killer story line and the story of two survivors. I also liked the guys individually and I liked Freya as well which isn't always easy because main female characters in this genre can be either too tough or too whiny.
Dislikes: I wanted more relationship building. I was down with the level of spice but I wanted to see them make real connections and have scenes to support that. We get sex, but I think we are lacking the depth. I also don't think her dad ended up being the big bad scary man that was promised. That scene fell flat and I'm sure we get a whole bunch of messed up in book two with him, but was a book two needed? We are going to devote a whole book to finding him when we already established the harem, got her sister back, and made her an FBI agent? Just feels like the author couldn't wrap up the ending of this book, and I can't imagine needing a whole book dedicated to finding her dad when that was supposed to be what this book was about.
Prefacing by saying I am well aware this is a romance novel, but honestly I just got tired of it. I wanted there to be a bit more focus on the killings/case/Freya's past with her dad then spice, and frankly there's only so much spice I can take before it gets boring lol
𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧: - serial killer’s daughter + FBI agents - dark why choose romance - criminal minds vibes - enemies to lovers - forced proximity - found family
I'm sorry but not only did i not enjoy this but I kept reading because I had one question and the book was so awkward and red flagish that I forgot what I wanted to know. Waste of my time.
It started out promising in that first chapter but then things went down hill.
The characters ended up being bland and almost interchangeable with one "unique characteristic" each. (Cowboy, adhd, techie, and boss man.)
It was a bad case of instalove where not only does it not make any sense but bad smutt scenes are everywhere and often at inappropriate times or what occurs just was icky. Like physically assaulting someone is a turn on and having an intimate encounter but leaving the FMC without release and instead interrogating her in that intimatemoment.
And that doesn't even include all the red flags about how she breathes and is immediately treated like the scum of the earth but the guys cross lines left and right and it is all cool?!?! Maybe what i was waiting on was some actual remorse and groveling? Still waiting.
At a certain point I just stopped reading anything that was supposed to be "romantic" and just tried to figure out what was nagging at me that wouldn't let me DNF this book early on. About like 85% I stated skimming and ultimately I DNF on page 303.
1 star for Jude & Oz for being tolerable, but fucking hell River was obnoxious asf, and while I actually liked Freya (to a certain point) the way she went along w his bs pmo so bad. And, well w Eli, I understood his attitude, but his words went a little too far, and his pathetic apology was just that- pathetic.
That being said, I went into this expecting to love it because, in theory, it seemed like such a nail biting little read, but it was disappointing, to say the least.
I figured out her "big secret" within the first few times of her referencing it, and the entire book just felt repetitive and so freaking boring
I really enjoyed this, it was fun and I binged it in one day and I loved the plot, the plot twist too and the characters. I wouldn't say I got emotionally attached to the characters but I definitely cried when a certain 2 people reconciled and got reunited. I know there's another book but I'm just not gonna read it bc the ending to this book before the cliffhanger was good enough for me thanks I like a happily ever after!