DNF at 48%
This didnt really start well for me and I was in two minds whether to carry on beyond the prologue which was WAY too 'drama llama' for me, to the extent that it read a leettle bit like fanfic.
But I persevered and Chapter 1 had me hooked, ( I still think the whole prologue should have been deleted - it served very little purpose really apart from introducing the reader to Thomas, and it would have been creepier to have gone straight into Grace's situation)
However, there were numerous ??!!?? moments further on that had me wondering exactly what I was reading.
Grace ends up in Hamlet (population 190) and meets a cop on the road while she is looking for the Bed and Breakfast called 'Ophelia'
Now, remember - this is a woman on the run from an abusive and coercive ex boyfriend. He has locked her in his apartment before now. put a hidden tracking device in her car, stalked her, broken into her apartments etc etc etc. And its dark and she is alone and this hulk of a cop comes up to her car.. What does she do?? Of course - She instantly falls in lust with him. (rolls eyes here)
Anyway, she gets to 'Ophelia' - the B&B - after driving down Main Street for about 5 minutes and then another 5 to 6 minutes along down First Street. (this is a town with a population of 190??? How many houses DO they have?? ) only to be informed that the 'locks automatically engage at nine, then all of the doors open again at seven in the morning. It's almost impossible to do anything about them once they're set.... I can't turn them off...
WTF!!!! You get LOCKED IN A HOUSE between 9pm and 7am with no way out?? What if there's a fire? what if you have an emergency? There is NO WAY on earth I would even set foot in a house like that! And the wording was ....weird, implying that Ophelia was somehow 'alive' At this point, I began to think I might be reading some Gothic/paranormal novel.
Anyway. Thomas finds out where Grace is and checks into a luxury hotel while he and his henchman decide what to do. .. they snagged a connecting residential suite since neither of them knew how long they would have to stay there. I didnt understand that.
By this point (34%) I was wondering where the 'romance' aspect of this story was. There was an incredible amount of padding somehow and the timeline seemed 'off' . Grace is midway through her second week in town. Thomas knows where she is. She finds a coffeehouse one evening and goes in. There is a long waffly description of the place and the mugs and people 'chowing down on burgers' (God I HATE the phrase 'chowing down' - its crass and crude - why not just say 'enjoying') and she thinks its weird that people are drinking coffee and eating burgers! sorry - I really REALLY dont understand that.
And when I read 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' I was waiting for Grace to make some comment about punctuation, but she didnt. ;) There were too many ???? moments for me to mention them all - here's a couple of examples:
.. Addy was back, expertly carrying a tray on her hip and a fresh pot of coffee in her other hand. How the heck do you carry a tray on your hip - I am assuming she means tucked in her side, but that would be hopeless -everything would fall off with the movement of her body?
He stayed silent because, well, Rick didn't know how it goes. The closest he got to a stubborn ex was Natalie, and he wasn't about to give her a chance to even become an ex. ?? What?? Would someone like to explain that to me?
Anyway, I slogged on, more out of sheer determination to find SOME romance in this story until Rick (the insta-lust cop) arrived at Ophelia's to give Grace some self-defence lessons
And that's where it all fell apart. Yes he might be hunky and sexy and insta-lusty, but he was a patronising git who treated Grace as if she was some vapid wimpy idiot (perhaps she was - after all she was in insta-lust with the moron)
Rick proceeds to call her 'Kitten' despite her saying she doesnt like being called that - so what does Mr Deputy Sheriff do?? Yep. Calls her Kitten.
And Grace is STILL in insta-lust with him - JUST because he is 'gorgeous'
Let's be honest, if the most gorgeous man in the world spoke to me like that - I'd be so turned off I'd want nothing to do with him EVER. Rick is doing JUSY what Thomas did - 'owning' her - refusing to acknowledge her as a person in her own right.
I'd have kneed him in the goolies and planted on on his smug, arrogant, Neanderthal face.
I gave up at that point. The town was creepy, the stalker was a cliche straight out of fanfic and the writing needed a serious edit.
Not rating right now.