Thoughts: Backwoods

Backwoods

by Jill Sorenson
Book 4 (final) of Aftershock

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

The more you trust, the more you risk…

When plans for a wilderness retreat with her teenage daughter Brooke go awry, Abby Hammond reluctantly pairs up with Brooke's stepbrother and his dad, Nathan Strom, for the week-long trek.  The only thing Abby has in common with the bad-boy former pro athlete is that their exes cheated with each other.  That…and a visceral attraction that's growing more complicated with every step through the picturesque woods.

Nathan's wild-card reputation lost him his career and his family.  After years of regret, he's ready to fight for what truly matters—and that includes Abby's hard-won trust.  When Brooke goes missing, Nathan knows he's her best and only hope of rescue.  But the deeper into the rugged mountains they go, the more dangerous the territory will prove—for their safety and for their hearts.

I've been enjoying Jill Sorenson's Aftershock series for the past three books, and while they aren't necessarily my favorite reads, they are exciting and attention-hooking, to the point that the books become un-put-down-able.  Sorenson always jumps right into the action, with an earthquake burying San Diego in the first book, a plane crash and a loose killer in the second, and a kidnapping of the main characters into the harsh California badlands in the third.

Backwoods felt kind of tame and mellow in comparison.  Though to be fair, we DO get a glimpse of what's to come when Abby keeps dropping news article mentions about missing young girls and a dead body or two in the area she and her daughter and company will be hiking around.

And to be totally honest, I get that you shouldn't wrap yourself in a bubble just because some bad things happen in life, but shouldn't we also be a bit more cautious if young girls keep going missing in the same area within a certain time frame.  I'm no advocate of coincidences, honestly, and so that just screams SERIAL KILLER RAPIST to me.  But then again, I've maybe read one two many crime thrillers, and grew up with a very paranoid mother who makes sure to lock the doors all the time and calls you regularly when you're out with friends just to make sure you're not lying in a ditch somewhere.

Anyway, logic aside, that was only one of the reasons I didn't find Backwoods as enjoyable as the other three Aftershock books.  To be totally honest, our entire crew of characters is just a walking TSTL team waiting to happen, and that's only because they are letting a socially and sexually unaware eighteen year old girl lead them.  I'm not saying that eighteen year old girls aren't capable of leading a group into the wilderness for a nice few days of hiking--obviously Brooke knows what she's doing and can organize a mean hiking expedition with the best of them.

But when she stopped to talk to two strangers, completely ignorant of the leering looks one of them was giving her, and then proceeded to tell said strangers where she and crew were heading... Well, girl you might as well just throw yourself into their arms and ask to be kidnapped if you're going to outline your entire trip, including bathroom breaks to people you don't know.

Once again...  A lot of young women have gone missing in this area.  If Abby weren't so paranoid, and if Nathan hadn't cut Brooke's conversation off, I'm not sure Brooke would have made it very far in her hiking endeavors.

Anyway...

The book actually starts off pretty slow with a lot of family drama that seriously feels like a dysfunctional family soap.  Nathan's wife Lydia cheated on him with Abby's husband; Abby walked in on her husband Ray going at it with Lydia.  Now their two respective kids seem to be fighting an intense case of teenage hormones for each other... and then Abby and Nathan end up getting it on.  Later on, we even find out that Ray cheated on Lydia and another divorce is in the works.

Meanwhile, our group spends their time trying to keep the peace while hiking around in the wilderness--a trip that is supposed to take at least three days with no contact with the outside world.  Meanwhile, a lot of young women have gone missing from this location... Have I already mentioned that?

And Brooke is all, "Stop being so paranoid, Mom.  Nothing is going to happen."

Famous last words.

Backwoods had a promising premise.  I just wish I could scrounge up enough care for the characters to like this book more.  The rest of the book really was pretty exciting and intense.  And as per Jill Sorenson standards, the story was fast-paced; I rolled through it pretty quickly.

The characters, mainly, were the most frustrating and I had trouble relating with them.  In fact, I don't even think I was able to like any of the characters, which, while isn't a first for me, is not exactly a very common thing.  Sometimes, there's at least one or two characters I can find some like for.  Unfortunately, Backwoods is not one of those books.

So... probably if not for the fact that the book was written well and the story was not bad, I probably would have given this book a much lower rating.  Call me biased--I DO like Jill Sorenson and her books, and the Aftershock series is an overall enjoyable one.


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Short Review: Island Peril

Island Peril

by Jill Sorenson
Aftershock #3.5 - a novella

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

It started as a girls' outing to California's beautiful Channel Islands State Park.  When Ella Hammond embarks on a kayaking trip with sexy adventure guide Paul Dawson, sparks fly—but so does gunfire from a boat of drug smugglers.

Now Ella and Paul are on the run, soaked and stranded in a rocky hideout.  Ella feels like she'll never be warm again.  Until Paul shares his body heat—igniting a fire between them that's nearly too hot to handle!

Island Peril was a fast-paced, yet fluffy short novella.  Truth be told, there really isn't much to this particular story aside from an insta-lust romance, a lot of talk about geophysics, a random side plot with drug smugglers... and that's about it.

Ella and Paul are practically the only two people in this entire book, with Ella's sister Abby, and Abby's daughter Brooke, making a brief appearance--I understand that Abby will be front and center in the fourth Aftershock book, Backwoods.

We don't even really see the drug smugglers, though the couple gets chased by them.

The descriptions of the island were nice...

There really wasn't much story to this novella, really.  And Ella and Paul's short romance feels like a mere teaser, though I'm not sure we'll get to see much of them in Backwoods.

Overall, an okay way to pass an hour or so of time, but not a novella I'd go back to anytime, as it seemed kind of pointless, outside of introducing Abby and Brooke, as well as telling a fluffy romance.

Thoughts: Badlands

Badlands

by Jill Sorenson
Book 3 of Aftershock

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars


I think I enjoyed Badlands a lot more than I'd expected to (more on that later).  The entire book is so intense and fast-paced, and it is entirely possible that it is my favorite of the Aftershock books so far... though Freefall was also one I loved, so I really can't decide.

And the characters were so great!  I especially love the fact that we're building onto Owen's character from previous books, as well as the relationship between Penny and Owen from a known history between them.


The Story:
After the events of the San Diego earthquake (Aftershock), Owen Jackson and Penny Sandoval still remain friends, their relationship growing stronger and their feelings deeper as the years go by.  But Owen holds himself back, feeling the differences of their social standings.  In order to get his life moving forward, he agrees to take a position on Jorge Sandoval's personal security team with the condition that he distance himself from Penny.  In return, the politician has offered him a letter of recommendation to help further his career, helping him find a spot with the Los Angeles Fire Department.

But everything changes when Penny is targeted by kidnappers who want to ransom her for money as well as force her father to drop out of the running as a presidential candidate.  In the chaos, however, the kidnappers end up grabbing Penny's young son, Cruz, as well as Owen.  They take the three hostages into the California badlands as part of their ransom plans, but what they hadn't counted on was Penny's escape as well as Owen's determination to keep Penny and Cruz safe.

Whether held captive, or trekking through the unforgiving heat of the desert, Owen vows to guard Penny and her son with his life; even if the person he's fighting against is his own brother.


My Thoughts:
I wasn't sure if I was going to like Badlands since I had a hard time relating to Penny in the first Aftershock book.  She had come off as spoiled, entitled, and prejudiced.  But I suppose that with the San Diego earthquake being years behind us, and Penny being allowed time to grow up, she has come out of the entire ordeal a much more mature person.

Raising a son and gaining acceptance from her super conservative father for getting pregnant out of wedlock has added to Penny's character growth since we last saw her two books prior.  Also, according to the vaguely mentioned timeline, a few years have passed since the San Diego earthquake that brought Penny and Owen into each others' lives.

To be honest, I really love the person Penny is in this book, and I really love how she loves and accepts Owen with all her heart.  Owen has certainly been through a lot of tough times, from a rough childhood with an abusive father and elder brother, to a hardening new outlook in life when he ended up in prison.  I love that Owen doesn't give himself any excuses for the decisions he made before he ended up in prison, and he also doesn't give himself any excuses for the decisions he made while in prison.

He's accepted that that has been his life up to that point, and is making steps to turn his life around and make everything work out somehow.  His ambitions are admirable, and his humble personality is kind of sweet as well.

Both characters are great together; both developing as the story progresses into even better people.

Because despite the fact that I love the person Penny is in the beginning of the book, I love that she recognizes and admits how readily she allowed her father to control her life simply because he not only didn't toss her and her son out, but also gave them everything they needed to live a comfortable life.  I love that she also doesn't give herself any excuses when it was time to stand up to her father.

Setting character dynamics aside--and there are a lot of character dynamics in this book--I very much enjoyed the entire suspenseful progression, following Owen, Penny, and Cruz as they make their way through the Badlands.  This story just keeps moving forward without a chance to stop for breath, and when all is said and done, we just kind of drift to an end in a well-outlined way.

If there is one thing I would point out, it would be the logic hole in the kidnappers hauling Owen along for the ride in the scheme.  Though I suppose, in a way, Owen's brother had been expecting him to turn around and help them with the kidnapping and ransom?  I suppose I would have been a little less forgiving if that reason hadn't been presented, since it seems highly foolish to kidnap the targeted rich girl and her bodyguard as well.

Anyway...

I loved this book, nonetheless, and I'm glad that I finally had a chance to get to it.  And in spite of how much I really disliked some of the characters, it occurs to me that they didn't take away from my enjoyment of Badlands, and in fact, kind of enhanced my satisfaction.

Jill Sorenson writes in a way that is real and down-to-earth, gritty and intense, and just keeps you hooked from the beginning until the end, with characters that are not the usual, larger-than-life romance novel types.

Very Short Review: Scenes of Peril (novella)

Scenes of Peril

by Jill Sorenson
Aftershock #3.1 - a novella
**Part of the anthology Passon and Peril which also includes the novella story Scenes of Passion by Suzanne Brockman.

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

The snowstorm forecast says it's a big one, but wildlife photographer Paige Dawson is prepared.  Until a terrible car accident brings a sexy stranger to her remote mountain cabin and the bad weather strands them together . . . for days.  The heat between them is like nothing she's ever known — incendiary, undeniable. And just as she begins to hope for something real with Colin Reid, after the snow melts, he remembers what caused his accident . . . and it may be too late for them both.

I only read the novella, Scenes of Peril by Jill Sorenson from this anthology, which also includes a novella by Suzanne Brockmann.  I may or may not return and read Scenes of Passion at some point, once I figure out whether the novella is part of a series or not.

Anyway...

I was looking forward to Scenes of Peril, both because I like Jill Sorenson's work, and also because I love the "Snowed In" plot device.  They're always so much fun depending on the circumstances--for added romantic tension, for a murder mystery, etc....

Scenes of Peril was a fast-paced and exciting book, and I've always appreciated Sorenson's attention to detail to the grittier, more down-to-earth aspects of her books.  And while Scenes of Peril was enjoyable in its own right, I felt like a lot of the book felt a little forced.  Overlooking the insta-love situation, since this is a romance novella, first and foremost, I also found the activities between Colin and Paige during their, what seemed like one single day of entrapment by snow in her cabin kind of awkward.  The whole photo shoot as a means to display sexual objectifying of a human being was an interesting thought... but it actually felt kind of tacky in its execution.

And the conflict felt like it involved a lot more angst than it really merited.  The reason for their argument at the end felt a bit overdone.  And I don't know how I feel about the ending suspenseful twist.

Nonetheless, for anyone looking for a quick, easy, and entertaining novella to pass a couple hours, Scenes of Peril isn't a bad choice.  I will admit that I was hoping for more of a "Snowed In" experience than just a day of bad weather...

Thoughts: Freefall

Freefall

by Jill Sorenson
Book 2 of Aftershock

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  4.0 Stars

As a Side Note on 4/4/2017:
Like the first book, Aftershock, I "reread" this one as an audio book.  I recall really liking this second installment of the Aftershock series a lot, and of course, while this second read was a bit deflating, I still really liked it.  It's much more exciting than the first book, somehow, and I find the romance a little easier to stand by since it's hardly insta-love, that is, if you overlook a few things.

Again, Piper Goodeve's narration isn't all that great.  Sometimes simple conversations sound so sharp that I thought the characters were interrogating each other rather than just talking.  I will probably not be listening to the rest of the series as an audio book, but for a reread, it sufficed.

In which case, following is the review I wrote for Freefall back in 2015; nothing much of it has changed.

I like that the Aftershock series is a different brand of Romantic Suspense than what I’m used to--the stories base themselves around situational happenings, such as certain disasters, nature expeditions, sporting activities… etc.  The first book in this series, Aftershock, was centered around a natural disaster, an earthquake, that stranded our heroes under a collapsed freeway.  Of course, things would have been bad enough, but the author also had to include in the dangers of bad people trying to take advantage of bad situations for their own benefit.

Even so, I still enjoyed it a lot even if it wasn’t incredibly awesome.

Freefall was just as exciting and enjoyable, with so much forward progression that you don’t really have time to stop and think about the few quibbles that arose due to logical questioning of the happenings in the story itself.  The book went by so quickly that I simply enjoyed it for what it was: an entertaining Romantic Suspense based in a national park where natural dangers can lurk around every corner.

As I had stated, sometimes nature is unforgiving enough without a dangerous human presence to make the situation even more frantic; but that is how this book was written and I’ll go with it.  Honestly, I would have liked a book focused more on how our heroes would cope with surviving a natural disaster, or being stranded on a mountain, or something of the like, without human baddies to contend with.


The Story in Brief:
A plane has crashed on top of a remote mountain, cutting short Hope Banning’s plans for white water rafting with her sister.  As the only park ranger available at the time who is able climb to the summit to assess the situation, she heeds the emergency call to investigate.  Unfortunately, the only climbing partner she can find is none other than Sam Rutherford, a man she would rather not have contact with again due to a night spent with him six months ago, which followed with him practically throwing her out of his home without explanation.

Sam Rutherford’s memory of losing his girlfriend in a climbing accident is gone after the San Diego earthquake knocked him unconscious (re: Aftershock).  Ever since then, he has insisted on climbing solo and braving dangerous expeditions in order to feel anything.  The last thing he wants to do is climb to the summit of any mountain with a partner, especially Hope; he still feels a sizzle of chemistry between them and he doesn’t like it (since he has confusing, lingering feelings for the deceased girlfriend, Melissa, and hasn’t been able to remember the period in which he’d been grieving).

But Hope has to do her job, with or without him, and he can’t leave her hanging on her own.  As soon as they reach the site of the plane crash, it turns out that there is something much more dangerous going on: a killer is now wandering the mountainous national park, the plane belonged to that of drug smugglers, and the person who owns that plane has dispatched his own minions to retrieve both the drug cargo and the man who escaped the plane.

So now Hope and Sam must track down the killer in the unforgiving terrain of mother nature’s playground as they attempt to put their own personal issues aside.


Overall Thoughts:
Yeah, I know.  Not the best summary ever, but the official blurbs I’ve found really are a little misleading.  At first, I had been expecting a commercial or private plane crash wherein the survivors (yes, plural) are stranded at the summit of a remote mountain, and there’s a killer among them.  I figured that Sam and Hope would climb to the top of the summit and become stranded with the survivors and a killer, and must figure out who the baddie is before everyone dies.  And then at the same time, they’d have to figure out how to survive on the mountain until reinforcements arrive.

That’s what I had thought the story would be about and got really excited about it.

Instead, it turns out, in the actual story, that the plane was a cargo plane, there were only two passengers, Hope finds the pilot with a hole in his chest from a gunshot wound, and the only other passenger is AWOL.  And so Hope trudges through the mountain tracking down the killer on a rather TSTL mission.  But I forgive her for making bad decisions because she is tough as nails and can take care of herself… and a multiple of other reasons.

But I still wish she would have called for help.  Because man or woman, it’s still a bit dangerous to be tracking down a killer in a humongous, mountainous national park alone; the terrain is bad enough to travel over even when you’re just going on a leisurely expedition with no killers running around.  So it was fortunate that Sam felt obligated to follow her and keep her out of trouble--still, he’s not law enforcement and shouldn’t have had to keep an eye on Hope.  Hope should have known better.

Then again, if our park ranger had been a man and had done the same things that Hope did, lots of people would have been applauding his heroic behavior.  This is why I don’t give Hope any crap about her actions.  But, I honestly think that even if the park ranger were a man, he would still have been better off waiting for a partner to help him.

So, anyway, it wasn’t the story I was hoping for, but I don’t deny that I enjoyed it nonetheless.  There’s a deeper emotional tension between our main couple that seemed to pluck at all the right places in my non-existent heart.  The personal drama going on between Hope and Sam was enough to propel the development of their relationship in a good progressive direction.

Mainly, I liked the characters, even Hope’s sister, Faith.  And I’m also glad we get to see more of young Owen, and see how much he’s grown since the events of Aftershock.

Like Aftershock, the imagery and descriptions in Freefall were dark and vivid.  The tone was gritty and intense.  The romance wasn’t all that great and the sex scenes were a little bland and raw, but the friendship-non-friendship-romance between Sam and Hope was emotional enough that I liked it.  Their unsatisfied sexual tension, and their unfulfilled chemistry was actually a lot more full of FEELS than when they finally got together in the end to have their Happily Ever After™; not that I don’t like a happy ending, but it did get a little tacky.

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in May 2015.

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Review: Aftershock

Aftershock

by Jill Sorenson
Book 1 of Aftershock

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

As a Side Note on 3/26/2017:
I reread this book as an audio listen, narrated by Piper Goodeve--a way to refresh my memory about this world so that I can dive into the rest of the series, hopefully to finish it within the year.

For some reason, the second go around reading this book wasn't as exciting as the first time.  Maybe because I already knew what was going on?  Or maybe because some of the characters seem a bit more... frustrating than I remember?

Or maybe I remembered my experience a bit differently as time passed.  After all, I had read this book the first time about three years prior in 2014.  I have slept since then, and have also read 300+ books since.

Anyway, the narrator, Piper Goodeve, for this audio book was also a bit disappointing.  The distinctions between characters weren't done very well, and the inflections of her voice don't seem to depict character dialogues properly--excitement doesn't sound exciting, happy voices seem flat, and sad voices... well, they also seem flat.  I'm going to listen to the next book anyway, if only to see if she improves.

Meanwhile, enjoy the slightly edited review below that I wrote for this book back in 2014.  My feelings and thoughts haven't changed much.

I've always enjoyed a good disaster movie, so the idea of a Romantic Suspense combined with the disaster element was an interesting one I was willing to take up.  Of course, the only difference is that the element of a "villain" had to be included into this book as well, whereas most disaster movies involve enough tragedy with the whole "Humans versus Nature" thing to deliver enough suspense.  Mother Nature is a force enough to be reckoned with on her own, so you typically don't really need humans to cause more trouble.

Fortunately, the way that the book presents human bad guys as part of the repercussions of a disaster works out pretty well.

Chapter One of the book immediately dives into the disaster as an 8.5 earthquake devastates San Diego.  And then, everything sort of just spirals out of control from there--in a good way.


The Story:
Paramedic Lauren Boyer and her partner are on their way to an emergency call when the earthquake hits.  Within seconds, their vehicle has plunged under the depths of a collapsed freeway, and without warning Lauren's partner is killed with an instant impact from a falling SUV.  Fortune on her side so far, Lauren scrambles out of the ambulance alive, meeting up with Garret Wright, a mysterious man, dangerous looking, and ex-military, who is on a self-imposed mission to help save as many people as he can.

The two of them manage to find an RV, unscathed where an elderly man and his granddaughter are staying put.  Along the way, they save a young pregnant teenager who's vehicle explodes with her aunt still trapped inside.

Together, this small group of survivors work together to try and find a way to escape the now cavernous underpass while remaining alive.  Other survivors are found, but not long afterwards, the unconscious Sam Rutherford is the only one remaining in Lauren's makeshift triage tent of wounded.

Also impeding their potential for survival is a group of convicts who managed to get free when their prison transport van crashes during the earthquake.   And it seems that they're out to cause trouble for our survivor group, not caring whether anyone else lives, and not too concerned with helping anyone else survive.


My Thoughts:
This book was exciting to me because it's a different type of Romantic Suspense than the typical crime thriller, or military romances I typically end up reading.  As I said, I enjoy a good disaster movie any day and this was attractive to me.  Unfortunately, despite all the activity and action in the first few chapters of the situation set-up, the book felt slow-going.  The narration was detached and disjointed at lots of moments until the story itself began to make more progress.  When our survivors are finally situated, the narration seems to smooth out enough (or the story picks up enough excitement), that I just kept reading without too many quibbles.

There is no holding back on the gore or the details; the imagery is quite vivid and gross at times with blood, as well as the descriptions of dead, decomposing bodies, and even maggots.  I shuddered at the thought of all the descriptions of the corpses and the stench and whatnot.  But the action is told in a gritty, gripping way that keeps you hooked with interest for the conclusion.

Characters were great, though a lot of the secret reveals seemed irrelevant in the face of survival needs and disaster repercussions.  The angst created by Garrett's big secret about who he is seemed insignificant, almost unnecessary.  And Penny's own secret about her identity was frustrating considering there were more important things to worry about.  Then there was Owen and why he wouldn't just fess up about why he had racial tattoos all over his body--I think he created a lot of his own misunderstandings by remaining silent, though in the long run it didn't seem to matter anyway.

The romance was unbelievable and a bit lukewarm.  I'm inclined to believe that our main couple could become friends and lovers in the face of danger, but I'm not sure that this is a good way to base a future relationship on.  It's conflicting since you could feel the chemistry they shared based on sexual tension, lust, and when they finally slept with each other.  But I couldn't quite grasp the chemistry between them that created a "falling in love" situation.

Nonetheless, this was an enjoyable first book to a series, and the appeal of the next book involving Sam Rutherford, who remained in a coma throughout most of this first book, is very present.

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This review was originally posted at Ani's Book Abyss / BookLikes in November 2014.

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