Reviewed for Wit and Sin

Everyone has secrets and no one knows that better than Kellen Adams. To say that her life has been turned upside down more than once would be an understatement. But Kellen is a survivor. And for the first time in longer than she can remember, she has a shot at finding home when she takes the job of assistant manager at the Yearning Sands resort. Only on the very day that her bosses leave on vacation a dead body appears on resort property and it’s clear the victim had been murdered. Now everyone around her is a suspect – from the staff to the guests – and Kellen has to put the pieces of the puzzle together before her new home turns into something from a horror movie. And is it the stress of tracking a killer that’s bringing old nightmares to the forefront of her memory or are there more sinister elements at play? Kellen can’t be sure, especially when a potentially vital year of her life is missing from her memory…

Dead Girl Running is a fantastic thriller that kept me up way too late reading. Christina Dodd is in top form in her first Cape Charade novel. It’s an engrossing, evocative, pulse-pounding page-turner.

Kellen is a stellar heroine. She’s been through absolute hell, almost lost herself in the process, and survived horrors that would break most people. She’s not exactly superhuman, but she is an incredibly strong character. I admired the way she built her life back up from the ashes and fully came into her own over the course of the story. She’s got a spine of steel and the visible scars she carries are no match for the emotional ones, but she’s a kind, fascinating character. I loved uncovering the pieces of her past alongside Kellen and my only real problem with Dead Girl Running is that I have to wait for the second book because holy cow, the information Ms. Dodd reveals about Kellen only makes me want to know more.

Mystery and murder abound at what would otherwise be the idyllic Yearning Sands. I’d be doing a disservice to readers to reveal much of the plot because this is a thriller and the excitement comes from looking for clues and watching events unfold. Suffice it to say that there are a few mysteries and they’re well-crafted and interwoven without the book losing its focus. There are also multiple players in this game and Ms. Dodd does a great job of fleshing them out and bringing the world of Dead Girl Running to life. The story itself starts off with a bang and continues to move at a good pace, building intensity until you absolutely cannot put the book down.

Dead Girl Running is the first book in Ms. Dodd’s Cape Charade series and I absolutely cannot wait for more. While this book easily stands alone, fans of Ms. Dodd’s will enjoy the loose ties it has to her Bella Terra Deception and Virtue Falls series. Whether you’re an old fan of Ms. Dodd’s or are diving into her work for the first time, Dead Girl Running is a captivating suspense novel that will leaving you begging for more Cape Charade stories.


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

4 stars for the first half, 3 stars for the second half.

I was really enjoying this book and didn't even mind that the romance didn't kick in until near the halfway point. I liked Kyle and liked seeing how he adapted to his blindness and how he didn't let it slow him down for too long. He had moments of anger and self-pity, but they were just moments. This is very much a story of recovery. I do wish we'd been shown more of his time in rehab, but I liked what we did get.

Then Seth shows up and it was just too late in the book to really develop the romance in a satisfying way. There was no doubt that the two clicked right away, and that they both had their reasons for not wanting to jump into a relationship. But I didn't really feel like the "I love you"s were earned when they showed up. Maybe if the authors hadn't felt the need to give Seth some baggage (in the form of a previous relationship, not his aging mom, who is delightful) that took up time that could have been used to better establish Kyle and Seth as a couple, that might be different. Instead, time is spent on this side story that really could take up a whole book on its own but barely gets the attention it deserves. It felt like it was thrown in there to give the relationship some unneeded angst, or make Seth a little less perfect. Then milestones are jumped right over or referred to in passing.

What saved the second half was again Kyle's continued recovery and learning to not just live with being blind but also rediscovering his sense of adventure that he'd had when he was younger. And I like that the struggles he encounters with other, well-meaning people weren't over the top - except Derek. What a tool that guy was. Kyle had to figure out what he could still do in his job as a narrator and voice actor, and how to navigate the world and convention circuits on his own.

Oh, yeah, and the pushy, meddling sister is in full force in this book. *sigh* Can we please stop including this character in romance books? Don't get me wrong, I love how supportive Lily was for her baby bro and how much they clearly love each other. But there's a way to be supportive without being obnoxious.

This started out so promising and then it just meandered around until I lost all interest and skimmed the last quarter just to get through it and see just how the inevitable Big Misunderstanding would shake out. On the good side, the Big Misunderstanding wasn't the one I was expecting it to be. On the bad side, the Big Misunderstanding was completely contrived and out of left field and was even more unnecessary than Big Misunderstandings tend to be.

I liked Avery and Olivia and they were pretty cute while they were crushing on each other. There's a nice slow burn to their relationship too, so they didn't just fall into lust and actually spent time with each other and got to know each other. The whole thing with Avery's grandmother was pretty predictable, but it didn't quite play out the way I expected (see above re: Big Misunderstanding). 

But...

The writing was wordy, and there were many incorrect word usages throughout. Most of them I was able to figure out, but I'm still trying to figure out what "edit my jeans" is supposed to mean. 

Avery drives from upstate New York to North Carolina without apparently taking a break, and she somehow manages to get to NC in time for Val to tell her that the owner will be back "in the afternoon". ... It's at least a twelve hour drive. Avery left after breakfast, and she's driving a pickup truck not a black '67 Chevy Impala, so I know her truck doesn't have wormhole technology. ;) There's no way she got there before nighttime.

Olivia asks Avery to stay on an extra month to fix the roof at the B&B. Permits and rental equipment are mentioned, but nothing at all is said about Avery not having a contractor's license in NC. Pretty sure a NY state contractor license isn't going to cut it in NC. Hell, you can't even cut hair in another state without a proper license.

Avery's about to fess up at one point about her grandma, but it starts raining so she's interrupted. (Timely interruptions happen a lot in this book.) Once inside, Olivia goes about getting them dried and settled and tells Avery she can continue with her confession. Then the chapter ends and the next chapter starts up three weeks later and we don't find out for another 150-something pages if she told Olivia anything or not, and if not, what she did tell Olivia instead. 

And there's more, but that's the point where my interest started to wane and by about 65% I just really couldn't take it anymore. By 75% I was skimming and looking for relevant parts. The Big Misunderstanding was shortly after that and so completely stupid that it was hardly worth the time it took to skim it.

*sigh* I want to find good F/F books to read but everyone I pick up is either just okay or less than stellar. Why is it so hard?

"The Day the Crayons Came Home, the sequel to Daywalt's best seller, "The Day the Crayons Quit, is quite possibly funnier than the first. This time the crayons are writing Duncan on postcards, from various places he has left and forgotten about them, letting him know they are very upset! The humor in this book is so fun to read and makes it easy to get into character. Again, the illustrations are colorful, funny, and some realistic. The children can relate to these illustrations because they are drawn on a young artist's level. Even some of the silly names of crayons are included in the story. This story could be used as an introduction to writing letters and how to address the person they are writing to. I would keep on the shelf for a fun read also! 

Lexile: AD550L

Accelerated Reader: 3.3

Guided Reading: M