I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Kira had no idea that meeting up with her boss and mentor Ollie at high priced lawyer Brock Logan's house would turn her life upside down. As private investigators hired by Logan's firm to help find information on their current trial involving a surgeon supposedly killing his wife, they've been working around the clock. Ollie claims he's found out something that will win the trial but before he can tell Kira, a masked and hooded man murders him.
Jeremy is just getting off a plane after a botched mission and wanting some rest and relaxation but Wolfe Security needs him on another protection case. Protecting lawyers seems easy but when Jeremy gets assigned to Kira he knows he's in trouble.

What had started as a straightforward PI job had spun out of control, and Kira felt as though her life had been hit by a tornado.

This is second in the Wolfe Security series but easily read as a standalone, you'll recognize some Wolfe Security members but the author takes the reader on a completely new murder case. The murder mystery is more of the focus than the romance, the lead detective on the case, Charlotte Spears, gets multiple povs throughout the story. This helped to develop and involve the reader in the murder case but definitely took time away from the romance. Kira was a fun heroine to follow along with at times, with her, somewhat, unconventional job as a PI. I struggled with her stubbornness and frustration with her protection detail, though. Her boss and friend Ollie was murdered right in front of her and she is obviously in danger because of what she might know or have in her possession but she still tries to skirt Jeremy and others assigned to her safety. She defers to them later in the story but in the beginning, it wasn't so much showing me how independent Kira was as how foolish she was.

This was going to be a hell of a case, Jeremy had suspected it the instant he'd seen the client, and it had taken about two minutes alone with her to confirm his suspicions. This woman was headstrong and sneaky as hell.

For being a lead, Jeremy wasn't a character that I felt I got to know well. We get some canned former military, PTSD, alpha, and still struggling with last mission that went wrong, background but I had no idea who this guy really was. He seemed nice, smart, and capable but five minutes after finishing the book I could never pick him out of a lineup. As the story seemed more focused on the murder mystery, Kira and Jeremy's relationship development was severely lacking for me. Their first kiss felt completely adrenaline fueled than deeper attraction. I appreciated how the author kept Jeremy focused on his job, as lives were on the line, but it also made Kira's seemingly bewilderment as to why Jeremy wanted to keep things professional even more glaring.

Her bossy voice turned him on, which was the dead-last thing he ever planned to tell her, bit it was true.

Towards the middle, the case meandered a bit and then the end had a bunch of information revealed fast, which gave a bit of anti-climatic feel. There was also some details added, multiple scenes of people having to stop talking because something like a coffee pot was too loud and secondary character traits like Logan being an alcoholic, that felt useless, unless Logan and others show up in the series again. I think romance readers will miss more romance and relationship development and murder mystery readers will miss a more gritty and whodunit feel. The writing is good and the outline is there but the details and relationships that make a story memorable for me were missing from this one. Wolfe Security still has some bachelors and I'm going to look forward to more romance to go along with their gun toting. 

Today feels like such a Thursday, aka not Friday. A spin on a classic sandwich with a side of murder and mayhem.

Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin purchase link

Blackberry Bacon Grilled Cheese recipe

I used turkey bacon and I’m telling you, the way the blackberry, jalapeño, and Swiss combines is heavenly. So quick and easy to make but tasty af

Her Deadly Secrets

by Laura Griffin
Book 2 of Wolfe Security

It's quite signature of Laura Griffin to give you a few main POVs to follow during the course of one of her books--it's kind of a way for her to very subtly, and sometimes very naturally, introduce more characters into her series, and setting up a background for them for future books.  And so while this book's main focus should have been Kira Vance and her bodyguard, Jeremy Owen, Her Deadly Secrets also spends a lot of time following around police detective Charlotte Spears and her partner as they investigate the death of Kira's mentor, Ollie.

In a way, it felt like two separate investigations going on at the same time, following two different investigators, which all ultimately tied together in the end.  And it wasn't until closer to the end of the book that you realize that aside from having about equal book time for Charlotte as much as for Kira, there was also very little in the romance department, considering this book is filed as a romantic suspense.  And normally, I would have been quite disappointed that the romance was set on the back burner for so long... but, in truth, I enjoyed the entire book, as the murder mystery and both lines of investigations were quite interesting to follow.

Well... I take back one thing I just mentioned.  I did get slightly disappointed that the story was so light on the romance, because it kind of ended up sidelining Jeremy's character status to not-quite-main-hero, sliding him in right behind Charlotte.  Of course, while he didn't stand out all that well, he DID assume his role properly as the bodyguard.  But since I had a hard time recalling his name just to right this post, that kind of goes to show how memorable his character truly was.

But aside from that, I think I thoroughly enjoyed, and was entertained by, this second installment of the Wolfe Security series.

And I'm also quite happy to say that I'm glad that Kira wasn't TSTL and after her first attempt at resisting having a security team guarding her, she kind of readily relied on them to help keep her safe while she tried to do her job as a PI for the fancy defense lawyer who hired her.  It was a bonus that Jeremy also pitched in to help unearth some info for her investigations.  And so, in a way, while Kira and Jeremy's romance felt a little lackluster, they're working relationship turned out quite fun to follow.

As is typical of Laura Griffin, the pacing was non-stop the entire way through, starting from the murder at the beginning.  I'm looking forward to the next book now, and am hoping it will be following Charlotte, since I absolutely enjoyed her POV of things, romance or no, though there's a little hint of who might be her main love interest somewhere in this book.


***

Booklikes-opoly 2019

Roll #15 (July Fourth Bonus):
Square: The Stay-cation 9 | Read a book that includes a visit to a museum, a concert, a library or a park, or that the author's name begins with one of the letters in R-E-L-A-X.

How it fits:  Author's name begins with the letter 'L'.
Page Count:  368
Cash:  $3

The whole of Saturday was spent with family, hanging out for lunch, and going shopping, so obviously I didn't really get any reading done.  But that's fine, cause I expected it anyway.  It was a rather lazy day, as we also spent most of the afternoon staying out of the sun and trying not to melt, because it was so freakin' hot outside.

Anyway, I DID still manage to get some reading done before the end of the day, clocking 1:13:23 on my stopwatch, and getting another 78 pages read of Her Deadly Secrets.  This only means I don't really get to roll again until maybe later today, because it'll probably take me about three or four hours to finish the book... and that's assuming I don't get distracted.  But I'm definitely determined to finish it, at least before the weekend is over, which will give me exactly one book finished reading... if I'm lucky.

Current totals so far this weekend include 162 pages read, and 2:38:20 hours spent reading.

Meanwhile, here's a pick of a pup with his head propped on my leg as he watches me munch on a cracker.

Conclusion:  Yes, he was given a cracker.  Those puppy eyes and the patiently waiting propped head pose was a little hard to resist.

Books Read

As of this update, I have not finished reading any books.

Currently Reading

Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin
Total pages: 368 // Pre-readathon: 15 pages read
Progress:  177 pages read
-- 84 pages read by Hour 11
-- 78 pages read by Hour 24

As I'd already mentioned, my reading updates for this time's 24in48 will probably be a bit sporadic.  I usually try really hard to schedule updates every eight hours, but have never really been successful about that.  So I'm just going to update as I see fit, when I get the chance.  In other words, I'm winging it this weekend.

It looks like this update is going up around about Hour 11.  I started reading Her Deadly Secrets pre-readathon, but only got a chapter in before midnight rolled around.  Then I started my stopwatch timer, and according to it, the amount of time I've spent reading so far (give or take a few seconds) was 01:24:57.

Not bad to start, I think, and while I haven't finished the book yet, I'm still hopeful I'll have it done before the end of the night and can move onto my next BLopoly roll, and choose my next book!

Books Read

As of this update, I have not finished reading any books.

Currently Reading

Her Deadly Secrets by Laura Griffin
Total pages: 368 // Pre-readathon: 15 pages read
Progress:  99 pages read
-- 84 pages read by Hour 11