Author Beverly Jenkins commenting on this review of her book Destiny's Captive:

She seems really cool, and I love seeing responses like this!

This exchange gave me the good feelings. THIS is how wise and mature people respond to negative reviews. Secondary snaps for SuperWendy for posting the review in the first place.

Because in the first three chapters we're tortured with Psycho-POV more than three times longer than the hero and heroine's POVs combined. On top of that, before the story has really started, before we find out more about the heroine even (other than what we know about them from the first two books) we have to suffer through an exceedingly long, excruciatingly explicit rape and murder scene. Why in the name of all that's fucking holy was that necessary?

It wasn't. All of it just made me want to flounce this book. I might have if I weren't indisposed at the time. But I made it through the first two books so I want to know if I'm right about who the killer is. Even my hopes the heroine wouldn't be as annoying and bitchy as she was in the last book have been dashed so far. I hope it gets better.  I hate it when books make me all ragey. Especially right off the bat. 

Because romance authors are so desperate to shove in as much superfluous graphic sex as possible now, the hero and heroine go ahead and have sex at the end here even though the heroine:

• is concussed
• used her head to break someone's jaw while concussed
• was knocked out with a blunt object after breaking someone's jaw with her head while concussed 
• has two broken ribs
• was shot (though a flesh wound)
• bruised all over from being beaten multiple times
• chemical burns in various places

Then talks about how sore she is afterward. Well, no shit. 

Like, really? That's all I'm saying. Same complaint different book.

Overall, though I really liked the suspense storyline and characters. Even if she's a journalist. 

This book is . . . super weird. 

I like that the heroine is a ventriloquist. That's definitely something I've never read before. Buuuuuut, the dummies speak to her. Even when they're not there. There's just this running commentary from like five dolls going on in her POV. I really don't know what to do with that. She may or may not be crazy but she's internalized those dolls way too much.

Then there's the hero. He may or may not be a psychopath. The heroine calls him that (among some great one-liners) because it's not far off the mark if even half of what he did to her when they were kids is true. How in the actual hell are we supposed to root for them to be together? How do you redeem that? He was terrible. That's an understatement. And everyone is all, "it was a long time ago. He/I was just a kid!" Err, that is in no way normal behavior for a kid. Even a messed up kid. 

And, of course, even though there was no indication of it coming whatsoever a sex scene came out of the blue. But that was probably because I was in the shower. It never fails, when I listen to a book the sex scene(s) will come up when I'm in the shower with the book on speaker and my family home, even if there is no logical reason for it to happen. It's so obnoxious! And, of course, this sex scene had to be super weird. Sigh. 

I'm not sure how mysterious the mystery is. Unless SEP comes out of left field with some there is really only one person it could be and has motive.