3.5/5 stars. Danny Soto is a prosecutor working with the police in a pilot program to solve a series of gruesome murders. Finding the killer could bring her career back from the brink. The last thing she needs is to get involved with another woman who could interfere with her work. Ellen Davenport is involved in these killings somehow, and now Danny is involved with Ellen.

The mystery was going along quite well. It was complicated by Danny and Ellen's feelings for each other, and by Ellen's mother's Alzheimer's. But there were moments when I thought huge clues were being presented that Danny missed--the significance of the white roses to the sorority. The ending will seem familiar to anyone who has ever watched a horror movie or read a mystery.

But, here is the thing. Despite the ending I saw coming from a mile away, I am going to be first in line to read anything by Carsen Taite. Her characters are so real and vibrant. They have baggage and worries and joys and all of those things somehow become tangled in the mystery. I got very involved with this book and found it hard to put down. (Provided by publisher) ( )

I haven't made up my mind on whether to give this a 4 or 4.5 rating. The lead character ADA Danny Soto commits some major gaffes, one of which is letting lust get the better of her and mixing pleasure with business. For someone who is supposedly ambitious, she doesn't seem to be very focused at all. There are also some sections of the book where she can't seem to make up her mind about what she wants and just confuses the hell out of everyone, including this reader. The sorority party scene, in particular, was painful to get through. On the other hand, she isn't totally unsympathetic. Her flaws, her missteps and her indecision humanize her. When she did ultimately make her choice, it wasn't out of character either.

I like Ellen much better. And I like the book overall. So...I'm gonna let the rating sit a few days before i finalize the it.

My recommendation is definitely pick this up if you're a Carsen Taite fan. Some characters from Ms. Taite's older books make cameo appearances here. And knowing the author, a new character might even get her own spin-off book someday. :) ( )

I thought that this book had some good parts and some less than good parts.

It was about Danny and Ellen. Danny an ADA who's the prosecutor on a task force to find what very much seems to be a serial killer. Ellen the managing director sort of person of the National office of the Alpha Nu sorority. One of the victims turns out to be a former Alpha Nu alum. Of course, it's not just that simple for the two women, because Ellen and Danny sorta fall for each other, although there is an interesting third character, an FBI agent named Sarah.

Unfortunately one of the things about the book that really made me crazy was that there was a lot of the book that was devoted to the waffling feelings of Ellen and Danny. I would have loved to read more about the mystery and just slightly less about the romance. (But, then again, for the most part I always want to read less about the romance and more about the mystery).

I did find the mystery part of the book interesting. It was a mystery plot that I hadn't seen before with some good twists and turns, some of which I guessed were going to happen and some that surprised me.

I also thought that the two womens' families and how they and their families were different also added another layer to the story.

My biggest problem though was that for the most part I sorta didn't like any of the characters. By the end of the book I had gotten used to the two main characters, but during the book I just didn't feel like I connected to any of the characters. Although, I would have liked to see more about the two private practice lawyers, Parker and Morgan, they intrigued me.

Overall it wasn't a bad book, it was well plotted and well written, I just didn't seem to be able to connect with it.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )