Covert Cover-Up

What a dud.

#2 in a series. Not marked anywhere on the book until the ending author's note...it should be marked on Goodreads now, but there was nothing to warn me that a major plot section is to do with the wedding of the leads from book 1, which has nothing to do with the mystery or romance part of this novel: around 50 wasted pages of bland wedding plans and chat and teasing about a hot guy. I felt like I was missing a huge part by having not read book 1....then I got to the end and realized...Wait a minute, I DID read book one mere months ago, and these characters are acting completely differently from before! I didn't even recognize them.

Physical romance alone.
He's a jerk. A self-absorbed guy who wants his way or the highway. Makes mistakes and the only one he admits is the one where he wallows in having lost his wife and has a panic attack when getting chased by a killer but somehow he still knows best. These two show over and over again that they are completely incapable of adult communication....but they get tingles and hots and all sorts of stuff after mere days. If the attraction was that strong, why didn't they get to know each other a little before this as neighbors? I feel like they'd completely forget each other if they spent a month apart.

Illogical sequences.
You know you're getting chased by crazy rogue spies and you don't have a lookout while all the good characters are in the same room where they can be surrounded and eliminated? You don't have your friends go watch the parents' home to catch whoever might snoop on it, then act floored when someone's abducted? You have a gun in the woods but don't watch someone's back and get into yet another hostage situation because you dropped the weapon? Hm....there was just too much that didn't add up.

I'd advise skipping this book and trying a different Goddard novel. I've generally enjoyed her books a lot; this one was just a mess.

Thanks to the publisher for a free reading copy. A favorable review was not required.