Reviewed by Alexander

TITLE: Face Value

SERIES:  Sanctuary book 3

AUTHOR:  RJ Scott

PUBLISHER:  Love Lane Books

LENGTH: 3 hours, 28 minutes

NARRATOR: Sean Crisden

BLURB:

Beckett Jamieson discovers he is adopted when a lawyer hands him a letter from his mother on his 21st birthday. His real name is Robert Bullen, but the Bullen family is involved in criminal activity of the worst kind. He decides to bring them down but ends up badly beaten and temporarily blinded. A Sanctuary agent takes him to a safe house to heal.

Doctor Kayden Summers, Sanctuary operative, is not happy about being stuck in the middle of nowhere with an unconscious man. When Beckett wakes, the situation goes from bad to worse. Beckett does not trust him, is as determined as ever to find the evidence his mother hid, and on top of all that, Kayden finds himself attracted to the determined young man.

Can they overcome their issues and eliminate the threat from the Bullen brothers?

REVIEW:

Face Value is the third Sanctuary book, which shares the basic storyline arc, but features different main characters.  As a result of the element of continuity, the stories must be read in order to ensure a full understanding of the events, as well as maximum enjoyment of the series.

Even though I have never been terribly fond of Beckett, I really did enjoy this story, primarily because of Kayden and his acerbic wit.  Beckett does show quite a bit of growth, which improved my feelings for him as the story progressed.  Although the romance element was somewhat predictable, I felt a disconnect in regards to the chemistry between Beckett and Kayden.  The progression of their relationship never quite meshed for me, even if I was rooting for them to get together, yeah, a little bit of a contradiction, but it is what it is.

The storyline continues, of course, but as in the previous books, the romantic sub-plot is wrapped up, leaving the main thread of murder, and corruption open and ready for the next instalment.  In the meantime, the growing threat by the Bullen family is supplemented by a twist that shall remain a secret in this review because giving it away would be a really mean thing for me to do (hint: it’s about Beckett, just sayin’).

Crisden truly did this story justice, heck, he has done a great job with the entire series, so far. Crisden’s narration added so much to the story, and was instrumental in making my enjoyment of the story greater than when I read Face Value years ago.  The only thing that I have noticed that puts me off for a bit at the beginning of each book is that Crisden uses the same voices for the different couples, causing me to have to adjust my worldview each time.

Story Rating:

AUDIO RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon