DNF at 6%. Posted the following on my Dreamwidth blog:

Unlike, Gregory Ashe, I can't write tragically convoluted, self-deluding, unobservant characters, which is why they're interesting to me. He writes emotional cowards, and does it well. (We are all challenged by reality in ways that draw out our cowardice, I'm certainly not immune.)

So, Hazard and Somerset. I hated book #1 so much I avoided Ashe entirely for awhile. Three years.

But, I enjoyed the Borealis Investigations trilogy a lot. And then, I enjoyed a few other of his novels. So, this fall, I tried H&S book 2. It's not a good cop procedural (none of them are), but the dynamic...worked, that time. Ish. Same for #3, although it was getting repetitious. Finally, at the end of #4, they stop being jerkfaces long enough for some honesty to sneak in. So, silly me, I was thinking #5 would pick up immediately or a week later.

Nope. Two months, into a relationship we suffered for?

No.

I feel cheated.

If I'd known to skip to #4, I'd have missed little and would now be less annoyed that Ashe cheated me out of the explosion of learning curves this pair would require to earn the happiness and ease in the first scene of #5.

It's always the author's choice where to take a story.

It's always the reader's choice to disagree. ( )

Oh man, this was a tough one. MY POOR HAZARD!!! ( )

Emery Hazard fights himself a lot and gets truly bogged down by the past in this mystery involving a dead cult leader, his cheating wife, and several kids who have been used and abused by said cult leader. Add in Emery's father coming for a visit, Emery's first real encounter with Evie, Somers' two year old daughter, and both Somers and Emery's personal doubts and musings about their relationship, and this quite the packed story. Well worth the read.

By the by, Emery and Evie make an adorable pair. ( )

“Shush now. It’s going to be ok.”

Me in that moment: I’m actually the opposite of ok but sure I’ll take your word for it ( )

I was trying to be sensible last night and stop reading this and go to bed at a reasonable hour, but then the final 15% or so (I can't remember, there's extended previews at the end) had me too tense to even fall asleep after I finished it, and I'm just gonna say that Hazard deserves about 5 years off.

He already did, but now he really does. Anyway at some point I was sobbing. Or maybe a lot of the last bit.

Ashe upped his prose for me in this in many ways... Or I was paying more attention now for reasons. Many many more highlights. ( )