Harbour Falls by SR Grey is the first in the Harbour Falls mystery series. S.R. friended me on Goodreads and asked me to read her book when it came out. I did so without really reading about it. The book grabbed me quickly and kept me turning pages, but when I realized it was part of a series, I was really worried that the entire mystery wouldn’t be solved at the end of this book. I am pleased to say, the main mystery was solved, but there are more questions for the second book.
Maddy is a best-selling mystery novelist. She is originally from the town of Harbour Falls, Maine and has come back to town (from L.A.) to investigate an unsolved crime that happened there 4 years prior for a new true-crime book she is writing. Adam Ward, the boy Maddy had a crush on in High School, was the prime suspect in his fiancé’s murder. But there wasn’t enough evidence, and the case was now cold. But Adam is HOT and very rich, and the owner of Fade Island, a small island off the coast of Harbour Falls only accessible by ferry. Maddy rents a house on the almost deserted island after the off-season has begun, under the pretense that she has writers block and needs to hole up to get over it.
As she begins to investigate the murder and open up long-closed files, she also gets to know Adam. Even though he is a suspect in a murder, Maddy and he (who we now know both had crushes in High School) strike up a new relationship and immediately trust each other and are in love….but do they really trust each other? Maddy keeps snooping around, and Adam keeps going on business trips and is hiding something. Meanwhile, Maddy is racking up the enemies and stupidly going where she knows she shouldn’t.
Maddy pissed me off throughout the book. She took idiotic chances and didn’t listen to anyone’s caution. She felt the chills in her spine, she felt when something bad was going to happen, yet she kept going. She kept keeping secrets that she didn’t need to. Kept throwing caution to the wind and not telling anyone where she was. Besides this, she threw jealous fits about Adam, who she barely knew, but somehow they fall in love. (OK, this is a little plausible. I loved my husband after our first date). There just didn’t seem to be enough relationship building here. Adam was a hot, sexy alpha, and almost proved it one night, then backed off. I don’t really see why he stuck with this woman who keeps causing trouble, other than the crush he had in High School.
As far as the mystery goes, it was good. The story was told well, and I was truly surprised with how it turned out. I was really worried we would never know who killed Chelsea, but the mystery is solved….but there is much more going on. I guess that is for the next book.
Honestly, though I really want to know more, I am still on the fence as to whether the second one is worth the read. This is a romantic suspense novel, and I wanted more romance and relationship building. But it was a page turner, and I enjoyed the mystery and suspense.
Likes:
- Lots of suspense and mystery. There were plenty of questions.
- The descriptions of Fade Island were very visual and made me feel like I was there.
- The cast of characters all had their own mysteries surrounding them.
- I never figured everything out until it was revealed.
- I couldn’t wait to turn the page to find out what was going to happen next.
Dislikes:
- Maddy was plain stupid for a mystery novelist. She did so many stupid things that I wish I could list them all without giving away the book.
- A few things still make no sense to the story, but maybe they will be cleared up in the next book.
- Maddy is weirdly jealous and second guesses every thought she has, then chooses the wrong path.
- She walks into danger KNOWING she is walking into danger. Huh?
- She is a writer but never wrote one word.
Rating: 3 stars, 2 Heat
Part of my problem with this book may be that I wasn’t sure if ANY of the mystery would be solved so I had a little frustration with reading it thinking there wouldn’t be an end. But there was. Still, I felt I never really got to know Adam, and Maddy was just a little too stupid to allow me to rate this book much higher. I did enjoy it, and those who love mysteries will too. I just didn’t LOVE it the way I hoped.
Purchase Harbour Falls: Amazon || BN.com
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