The Scenic Route

2/5

Before the plot even starts, before prologue, we're introduced to 6 couples (yes, 6!) and 2 women who apparently dont even have their own book yet? Who apparently will be important to the plot of the book.Im'm already exhausted. It's worth to mention, that the note from the author starts by saying that The Scenic Route is the first book in the new series... And according to NetGalley it's a standalone book.

If it's a standalone, why do I need to know all these characters from the previous books and series? Not only was Introduced to he backstory of each characters but also how they fell in love. It was completely unecessary. If the book was well-written - which I now doubt it - then we don't need all of this introduction because we can find out who they are from the context clues of the plot.

But I digress.

The story was interesting, and faced paced. Bit everything was fast paced. Both the investigation and the love story. I'm not a fan of I sta lust and the way the male main character was so in love with her and accepting of that fact was weird but it wa dthe sudden realization a Nd acceptance of female love interest that was jarring to me. So they shared a bed a couple of times, got married drugged in Vegas (more of that later) and had sex and they're suddenly in love? They knew each other for a week. If even that.

And while I usually love surprise Vegas weddings none of the description actually suggested anything like that. In fact it did the opposite of that. Because according to the blurb, they were supposed to be dating during the investigation - there was none of that. And, the female lead was supposed to make a decision, whether to be with him or not. Like it was literally in the description. That she would struggle with that choice, be conflicted etc.

There was none of that either.

Why include the “why date a mountain man” and “Felicity will have to decide what's most important to her: staying one step ahead of her “enemy” or giving herself a freedom to experiece adventure of a lifetime” of you're not gonna deliver? Felicity just went along with it with no hesitation, there was no decision to make???? She was just like “yup okay whatever” what was that???

Also, the Vegas wedding. It raised some suspicions that weren't confirmed??? But it took me out of this book and made me hate and distrust Bennet immediately. Because it was like that: Felicity and Bennet were on a stakeout in a bar, someone spiked their drinks and in the high state they decided to get married. Okay. Fine. The questions arose the next morning: because Bennet remembered everything while Felicity didn't. And Bennet's a big guy so if the dose was small... Did he knew what was happening? Was he just drugged and went along with this? Because she was. Or, more nefarious, if the dose was small enough, was he only a little tipsy, but still able to make good decisions and then decided to just marry her while she obviously couldn't give him her full consent given the state of her at the time? Those were literally the question Felicity ahs and she just... Brushes them off?? Excuse me?? If someone I trusted(or began to trust) did something like this to me while I was vulnerable and unable to say no, I would be horrified. Not horny. That would be it, the trust would be broken and no amount of grovelling would ever get it back (and there was none of grovelling. None at all). And the author just brushed the issue off! After Felicity's initial freakout, she just brushed it off and never mentions it again. Seriously?? No, don't do that! If he took advantage of her, that's not cute or romantic!! It's horrifying!

Another thing that annoyed me: the murder club. All of those women (especially Lou) were horrible and nosy and just the worst. And the female lead who was supposed to be a bounty hunter, so someone smart, just told them all the truth with no hesitation? She didn't even know them. But she immediately spilled the beans and then was surprised that the guy she was after knew about her being there? Please. Let's apply some logic here.

While it was a fun book, everything unravels when you think about it. I took offence about the consent (or lack thereof) and how it was brushed off. Just no. It took me out of the story and I couldn't enjoy it after that.

Like seriously, did he know hat was happening? Because if he had the same dose of drug as she was, there was no way he was that high. His body built and mass would protect him somewhat. If he was tipsy, he could still make decisions and then decided to take advantage of her. I hate that. That ruined the book for me (even more than over the top third act drama - and it wasn't even wrapped properly. What about their mom? And I was seriously thinking that Charlie book would be next since she was on the case AND was mentioned the most -and in epilogue we got Nora, very randomly?? Makes no sense. There was no build up to it at all. Ughhh. (Also a note from me but if authors do epilogues, make them about the main couple. Don't bring out the entire new pov that aha nothing to do with the main couple, it's not wanted nor needed. If you want to set up the next book, leave context clues and easter eggs throughout the plot instead. It's much more satisfying that way.