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Debbiereadsbook (1460 KP) rated Imagine (Black Raven #4) in Books

Dec 27, 2018

Imagine (Black Raven #4)

Stella Barcelona | 2018 | Crime, Romance, Thriller

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

too much action but still good.

Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

After THAT kiss on Halloween, Leo and Ace have been avoiding the issue.Or rather, Leo has, and it's all Ace has on his mind. Sent together with a team of Black Raven agents undercover on a gambling cruise liner's maiden voyage, they are thrown into the thick of things, with so much left unsaid.

This is book 4 in the Black Raven series, but you don't need to have read the other three for this to make sense, they can all be read as stand alone novels. Books one and three are five star reads from me, though.

But this one?? Not so much and I've no idea why! And ya'll know how much that pains me so! maybe it will come as I write this up.

Leo is emotionally stunted after the death of her father on 9/11. She doesn't wanna talk to Ace about what happened on Halloween but she has been thinking about it. Ace is her best friend, has been since they started working together. That kiss, though, changes everything for them both. Ace wants to move the relationship on, but they have a job to do first. Feelings for your partner cannot get in the way of a job. But they have a way of worming in, and Leo can see those feelings in Ace's eyes, even if he doesn't want her to see.

Told mostly from Leo and Ace's point of view, we also get some of the bad guy in a couple of places, and in the other two books I've read in this series, I loved that. Those bad guys are deeply twisted, and were difficult to read, but it's more of less why I gave those two books 5 stars: the connection I had to the minds of those bad guys. But something didn't quite work here, for me. While clearly insanely greedy (cos it's all about the money) and a lot screwed in the head (cos a LOT of people will die) I didn't feel any connection to the bad guy at all. That makes ME sound a lot twisted in my head, but I think you know what I mean. There seemed to be no background as to WHY (other than the money) the bad guy was doing this, what made them want to blow up a brand spanking new ship, and kill all those people? I needed some background and I didn't get it.

This book is HEAVY on the agents work. A little bit too much for me, I think. I got lost when they were running around the ship cos I have no idea what half of those ship terms meant!

AND!! It's only the first part of Leo and Ace's story. They are Happy For Now, and I do hope they get their Happy Ever After in the next book. Ain't gonna be plain sailing for them I know that much!

So, because on the lack of connection to the bad guy, and because of the heavy action (which gives me the WHY I didn't enjoy this one quite so much) . . .

4 stars, still a really good read, just not on a par with books one and three.

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**