Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Save the Date
SERIES: Private Eyes #1
AUTHOR: Romeo Alexander
NARRATOR: Jackson Davis Lake
PUBLISHER: Books Unite People
RELEASE DATE: December 12, 2018
LENGTH: 4 hours, 39 minutes
BLURB:
Something sinister lurks behind the white picket fences and perfectly manicured lawns of Highland Estates, and it will take a seasoned private eye to discover the truth before it’s too late.
After moving into the exclusive gated community of Highland Estates, Derrick Marlow and Ethan Reynolds thought their lives would be perfect. With their wedding only a few weeks away, these childhood sweethearts knew they were ready for anything.
What they weren’t ready for was the appearance of a mysterious figure who seems hell-bent on ruining their big day.
Wrapped up in wedding details, Derrick and Ethan don’t have time for negativity, but when a harmless prank turns into something more sinister, they turn to the one man who may be able to find who is behind the harassment.
Raymond Knott is an openly gay private investigator with a history of solving difficult cases. But when a young couple comes to him in desperation, things get personal. Can this seasoned detective discover who is behind these crimes before the lovers walk down the aisle?
REVIEW:
So…. this book had some flaws, both in the writing and the narration.
It all starts with Derrick and Ethan. They’ve recently moved into their new home and their wedding is only two weeks away. Sadly the bliss doesn’t last long as harassment soon follows. With bricks thrown into their windows time and again with threatening notes they are starting to feel more and more unsafe in their own home. Derrick hits his limit when his beloved dog gets hurt in one of the attacks. In a desperate attempt to keep Derrick and their home Ethan hires a private detective to find and stop the one responsible for the vandalism and threats.
One of my main problem with this book was that I just couldn’t connect to the story or the characters. We were told what was going on, what everyone felt and should feel. I want to be shown it, be there for it, and not hear about it second hand. It doesn’t have the same effect. Then there were Derrick and Ethan who I never believed in as a couple. There was too much manipulations, not enough feelings and when things got tough, they separated. They didn’t fight for or with each other, they weren’t a unit or solid in any way. So I can’t say that I was all that invested in their wedding or happily ever after.
This was a short book. Too short to have a secondary plotline – especially since the first one was so underdeveloped and underwhelming. But that’s what we got here; the book is told from three POVs, adding in Ray, the private investigator. We learn a lot about him, his past hopes and wants, and I have to say that they were much more interesting than those of our main couple. In this secondary plotline a vicious serial killer is introduced and one who’s causing some mayhem. So for me this book would have benefitted from either being much, much longer exploring all avenues, or divided into two books. There were a lot of potential, it just wasn’t utilised as it could have been.
I’ve been trying a lot of different narrators lately – found a few great ones and a few not as great. Jackson Davis Lake ends up in the latter category. I liked his voice, it was pleasant to listen to. My main issue though was the strange sentence structure, or rather emphasis of the wrong words, pausing in the middle of the sentence and where it doesn’t make sense. It wasn’t all the time, but it happened enough that it got distracting at times. I did enjoy that he had different voices for the different characters and I might come back to this narrator for another book at a later date.
RATING: 
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