Woodson Falls: 2 Sunrise Trail by Andrea O'Connor

From the Back Cover

Attorney Gaby Quinn’s law practice continues to keep her busy, as does her budding relationship with Officer Matt Thomas.

But the threatening note from a stranger has Gaby on edge. And as she searches for clues to reveal the stranger’s identity and motives, Matt’s protectiveness rubs her the wrong way.

Gaby wants nothing more than to relax and enjoy the Fourth of July holiday. Yet when elderly Winston Pinkham admits to being in a bit of a bind, she jumps at the chance to help a friend in need.

But someone else has other plans…

Woodson Falls: 2 Sunrise Trail by Andrea O'Connor

This was my first book in the series. 

The initial epilogue was like an iced knife to the gut. Loved the way the author set up the story.  I assume that the epilogue was the same in the earlier books with our protagonist making a fresh start to her life in a new location. 

A quarter into the book, the story flows along well like a good conversation. The story so far after the solid opening has turned a bit ordinary with much of the story revolving around Gaby, our protagonist's ambivalence towards a new relationship as well as her life story. Except for the age of the characters the story moves and sounds like a YA story. For me the context setting was a necessary but was a bit too long for a thriller and especially in a book that is all of 227 pages in toto. 

Nearly halfway through the book the story amps up a notch and moves into the awaited Thriller/ Mystery mode as was expected when I had picked up the book. 

And it all starts with a murder. Consuming more pages of the book and the story has finally started moving though a lot of the details are still obscured.

The heroes of our story are a seemingly commitment phobic duo, who can be seen to be finally coming to terms with their personal tragedies and are now back on the road with starts & stops and pseudo-romantic moments which as of now are not yet hitting their strides.

The meetings between the lead pair about the murder mystery and the sleuthing discussions involved many a time sounds amateurish like a famous five mystery which is a contradiction of sorts in the context of the characterizations considering that one of the duo is a police officer.    

The finale was almost a foregone conclusion to me with the only question being a toss up so in the mystery terms the story scores a 3 of 5. 

What works for me in this book is the easy flow of the story for which Andrea needs to be commended. The story which is set in a rural/hinterland atmosphere adheres to its locales and works at a languid pace but does not at any point fail to keep interest. At no point in the book did I feel like setting it aside. The book size as I have stated earlier in this review is also an advantage and coupled with the size 11 font makes this a 2-3 days leisure reading which is perfect for a weekend. 

The book also sticks to its characterizations with the characters mostly well written and having some depth and this includes the secondary characters. I would have loved for the story to have had some more bumps. The story has focused a lot on a red herring which isn't sorted out by the end and leaves us with a tantalizing trail to follow-up in the next novel. 

What didn't work for me in this book was the mystery itself which needed a little more zip more gripping story and maybe a more complicated whodunit. Some terminology is also off like the murder injury is to the "jugular artery". The jugular is a vein and not a artery, its antithesis is the carotid artery. Although in the context of the book or otherwise either of them if severed can kill a person within seconds. 

I also felt that Matt needs to have a little more depth to his character some more worry lines would make him fit more with Gaby. Currently he seems more like a gentleman hunk who is so true that he seems too good to be true.

All in all this is a book that has given me saccharine sweet satisfaction and has been a book much different from my regular reads and closer in style to some of the classic movies that I watch with monotonous regularity. 

I recommend this book as a light reading and would definitely read another of Andrea's books. 

I received a free copy of this book and my thanks to the author and the team of BookSirens for the copy. 

All views expressed in this review are my own and based on my reading of this book. Some of the initial comments were made as I progressed in this book and I have not tried editing them as it expresses my contiguous thoughts as I proceeded with the story.

Please do not forget to post your comments. I am an equal opportunity person so would love to hear your love or your hate for the review or book in any order. Please write what you did not like or whether the book was an absolute disaster for you and why.

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