Elle E. Kay

Grave Consequences is the third book in the Pennsylvania Parks Series and it’s definitely my favorite one!

It follows Cate, the sister of the MMC of book 2 Gavin a few years after book 2 ended, when she is working as a wildlife biologist, who tries to find three bear cubs whose mother was killed.

She meets Malachi, a park ranger at the park where the bears went missing and they start working together on something that leads them to the cult where Malachi was raised in until he was eight.

It was a really interesting plot and I kept turning pages wanting to find out how it all fit together. We get glimpses through the POV of different characters (all in third person) like the cult leader and Malachi’s birth mom. It was a fast paced and thrilling suspense novel and you really have to read it yourself to see how perfectly the author weaves the different elements together.

While I was not really into the romance aspect of the previous books, I loved Cate and Malachi as characters and as a couple. Their connection builds slowly and they are a great team, working together to help the bear cubs find a new home, to bring the poacher to justice and to find out how Malachi’s parents are involved in all this. They both had to deal with heavy situations in the past and don’t let new people in easily. But they learn to trust each other and what started as a respectful work relationship turns into a hesitant friendship and into a lot more.

Only Cate’s brothers are extremely annoying. Being protective is one thing, but they don’t know any boundaries and I think they treat Cate like a little child, even though she obviously isn’t the careless young woman she was in book 2. For me, Cate and Malachi (along with Wade from book one) are the most mature characters of the books and I enjoyed how open, honest and respectful they were with each other.

Their faith is also a strong element of the book and they both grow in their relationship with God, learning about trust and true forgiveness.

I really enjoyed reading this book and recommend it if you like adventures and wildlife, suspense and intrigue, kind but guarded Christian characters who you can empathize with and a clean and sweet romance.

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own.… (mais)

The Pennsylvania Parks series is an interconnected Christian Suspense Romance series with partly recurrent characters and I read all three of them one after the other in two weeks.

We already know Samantha and Gavin as side characters from book one and I liked them both, even though by then we didn’t know much about them.

Sadly I felt little to no connection to them in this book and where I was annoyed with the FMC in book 1, but could get behind the love aspect, the characters having history together, the romance in this book fell totally flat for me.

There were a few things from the beginning that felt off, like they both had already a set picture of the other one because of one brief interaction and still it was definitely an insta love situation, that seemed to be based solely on looks. Their interactions and the dialogue in general was kind of stiff, I think due to the lack of narration surrounding the dialogue, it read sometimes a bit like a theater script. Sam’s reasons for being hesitant were also not logical and she really got on my nerves with her childish behavior.

Like in book 1 I ended up being totally annoyed by the FMC but in this case the other characters didn’t make up for it.

My main issue with the relationship between Sam and Gavin other than me not feeling any connection between them at all, despite them repeatedly telling me how special their bond was, was something revealed early on in the book. Since this is still a spoiler, especially if you haven’t read book 1 but are planning to, I’m hiding the text. But for this book, I wouldn’t even really consider it a spoiler.

— mild spoilers ahead —

[So Gavin was dating Sandra, the bodyguard that was killed in book one, only months ago. He even tells Sam he was going to propose, already having a ring. We see no grieving AT ALL, he is immediately thinking about Sam as “the perfect woman for him”, literally months after the woman he wanted to marry is killed while working for him. This didn’t seem right. Especially considering that the whole book, the whole romance is taking place while Gavin’s sister is missing, probably kidnapped by a group of rapists, murderers and psychopaths and he has nothing better to do than pursue a woman who is being bratty and spiteful most of the time.
And everybody around them is behaving equally inappropriate.

“I’ve never seen him so smitten before. It’s cute.”

This is said by Gavin’s sister in law literally while Gavin and his brother are making a plan on how to save their sister. And also, I’m repeating myself - he wanted to marry another woman only months before and was never so smitten?

This is only one of many examples, like when several law enforcement operatives are strategizing (because several young women including Gavin’s and Gray’s sister are held hostage…) and then starting randomly talking about Sam’s and Gavin’s dating life. Like what is wrong with these people? Why don’t they concentrate on the imminent danger, concerning Gavin’s sister??

When Sam is insisting that she doesn’t need Gavin to protect her.

“Nobody is getting their paws on me. And I’m quite capable of taking care of myself.”

His last girlfriend was a trained bodyguard who was killed on duty. Who does she think she is? This is such an insensitive thing to say. But everybody says stuff that isn’t tactful, so I could let it slide as a slip up. But instead of cringing and apologizing, she repeats the thought, only focusing on her feelings, on her pride.

“I’m a big girl, Gavin. I can take care of myself.”

“Yes, I get it Gavin. You have a god complex.”

It must have been hurtful to Gavin after what he’s been through and it’s extremely stupid to think she can handle multiple armed psychopaths on her own. Talking about a god complex… And of course she ends up in the hands of said psychopaths, not able to take care of the situation on her own.

I’m ending my rant now, but it really irked me and did nothing to endear any of the characters to me. (hide spoiler)]

— end spoiler —

Like in book 1 I preferred the suspense part to the romance part and it was an interesting plot. This and the faith messages were the aspects of the book that kept me from DNFing. Even though I didn’t really like the characters, I can appreciate how Sam recognized that God wasn’t the one who failed her and that she learns to put her trust in Him again while Gavin had strong faith from the beginning and we see that in most situations.

Like I said in the beginning, I read all three books in the series and since I obviously didn’t enjoy this second one too much, I’m happy to say book 3 did surprise me and was in my opinion by far the best book of the series.

I generally don’t enjoy cheesy romances, so maybe this was partly a me problem because I know there are people who like insta love and kind of corny love stories and will enjoy this book. So I’m giving this book a 3,5 star rating.

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own.… (mais)

Grave Pursuits is the first book of the Pennsylvania Parks Series and also the first book I’ve read by Elle E. Kay.

This is a Christian romantic suspense novel and I do have to say that there were parts I liked more than others.

The suspense part of the book is done well and I kept turning pages, wanting to find out who the killer is. The book is written in third person and some chapters are from the serial killer’s POV, but we don’t know who he ist, only learning more about some side characters as the story progresses. I think the author gave the killer’s identity up a tiny tad too early, because I was still not sure about it and guessing between a few guys and I think one or two scenes more being unaware of this would have added to the tension. But I still think this storyline was well written I also appreciated that while there were absolutely awful things happening, considering we’re dealing with a serial killer, these things (mostly) didn’t happen on page.

What I struggled with was the romance. In the beginning I liked Emily and I could empathize with her and how closed off she was towards Wade. But I grew more and more annoyed by her, thinking she acted like a spoiled teenager who doesn’t know what she wants. It was a back and forth with her that was simply not comprehensible. She was adamant about wanting one thing only to change her mind totally out of the blue. There were just a lot of things I didn’t understand in her thoughts, words and actions. She was extremely and unreasonably jealous even on behalf of other people or when she and Wade weren’t even dating, kind of self absorbed (for example accusing Wade of withholding information when he was literally not allowed to share it) and I really didn’t like her in the end and thought Wade could do much better. At least at one point she acknowledges her stupid behavior -

“I behaved like a child.”

- but sadly it didn’t make up for all the eye rolling I had to do because of her.

One example of her confusing reasoning (all in her head of course, because open communication isn’t really her thing):

“She wanted to throw caution to the wind and agree to another date, but Wade wasn’t looking for a casual relationship. He wanted a wife and children. She’d made the decision years earlier not to give up her career for a man. She yearned for a husband and kids, but the cost was too great. He’d expect her to stay home. They hadn’t discussed it.”

Why would a Christian woman even pursue a “casual relationship”? Shouldn’t we look for a life partner OR stay single and celibate and not buy into this worldly view of fleeting and interchangeable relationships?
Also like she said - Wade hadn’t said anything in this direction. Why assume if she marries him she has to stay home and give up her career? The next situation she’s alone with Wade she doesn’t try to talk to him about it. No, she kisses him, either having no self control at all or having forgotten about this “big obstacle” that isn’t really addressed again later in the book… Her mental ping pong kind of gave me a headache.

So the romance threw me off multiple times and it didn’t help that random people, sometimes even strangers, were asking about or commenting on their relationship/dating life/attraction towards each other without any reason to or in totally inappropriate situations (like after a murder victim was found or someone was abducted).

So I would have enjoyed the novel much more without the whole romance part. Except for Emily I liked most characters (obviously not all, considering there are side characters potential suspects for being the serial killer) and I appreciated the faith elements in this story and how each character dealt with doubts, beliefs, forgiving, growing in faith differently. I also enjoyed reading Elle E. Kay’s personal testimony which is included in the author’s notes. I tried to take all parts - suspense, romance, faith - into account for my rating.

* Thank you to the author for letting me read an advanced copy of this book. I leave this review voluntarily and the expressed opinions are my own.… (mais)