Standoff by Patricia Bradley // Revell Reads Review

Brooke Danvers wants to learn the truth about her father's suspicious death, but she'll need the help of Luke Fereday--a National Park Ranger and her ex-boyfriend. Keeping Brooke safe will take all of Luke's skills, and falling in love with her will only complicate matters.

 My Review

I've read several other of Patricia Bradley's suspense books and really enjoyed them! I liked this one too and I'm going to give it 3.5 stars because I can't really decide between 3 & 4 stars.

The story takes place in a very interesting location and one that I've never heard of before - Natchez Trace Parkway. When the story opens, there are a lot of characters thrown at you but it didn't take me too long to figure things out. Patricia does a good job keeping you on your toes when it comes to suspects. There are several people you suspect and just when you think you've settled on one, something comes up for another person, leaving you wondering all over again.

There were some really good, honest discussions between Luke and Brooke that I appreciated. Too often characters won't talk and all the misunderstandings mess everything up. I guess that approach happened in their past, but now they seem to talk well. I really liked Brooke's statement "If two people will talk, they can work out anything."

Here's where things fell a little short for me. I didn't really connect to the characters. I felt bad for Brooke, with her loss and the big revelation, but I didn't feel with her if you know what I mean. Luke was a cool character and I wish we could have known him better. Daisy had to be my favorite and we didn't spend much time with her. On top of that, I felt the ending was a little rushed. As I got closer to the end I thought this must be a series where all the books follow the same characters because there is no way to wrap this up. I also was confused by the involvement of one of the "criminals". I didn't see a motive for their involvement unless it was just greed. These things make it hard for me to fully give the book four or even five stars.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and a favorable review was not required.