Reviewed by Valerie and Taylin
TITLE: Real Trouble
SERIES: West Coast Forensics #1
AUTHOR: Elle Keaton
PUBLISHER: Dirty Dog Press
LENGTH: 258 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 20, 2021
BLURB:
Two men on opposite sides of the law: will they be able to set aside their differences and trust love?
Danylo Peters has issues, lots of them. He’s not on Piedras Island by accident, he’s not a nice guy, and Peters isn’t his real name. Dany’s in hiding, trying to escape his family’s influence and start a new life. But Dany must have been born under a bad sign because the very man he’s really running from is one of the first he runs into.
A new life in a new town seemed like the right decision for Soren Jorgensen, especially after a difficult case left him recovering from a gunshot wound and lonely as he’d ever been. Finding Dany living on Piedras brings back all the feelings he’d tried to lock away. He’s angry and bitter and Dany is not going to continue to get away with his old tricks. Too bad Dany is just as compelling as he ever was.
The two men find themselves on opposite sides of Soren’s first case on Piedras, but neither is able to deny the attraction between them. They keep finding themselves in compromising situations; if they’re found out there will be Real Trouble.
VALERIE’S REVIEW:
Danny Peters (aka Danylo Petyr) comes from the Petyr crime family, known for their human trafficking. Dany has a juvenile record he’s not proud of, but he’s cleaned his life up and hasn’t been involved in criminal activity as an adult. Trying to escape his family’s reach – and their reputation – he decides to start over on Piedras Island, which makes no sense since his uncle recently murdered someone on the island. Deputy Soren Jorgensen has also recently relocated to the island and it turns out he has a romantic history with Dany from two years ago. When Dany and Soren first run into each other in this book, it’s said that they still love each other, yet there’s no big show of emotions and no real indication of that love. I just didn’t feel the chemistry between these characters.
In addition to the love story, there is an interesting mystery involving a murder and multiple arsons. The suspects are somewhat obvious from the onset even though the motives aren’t. The suspense involved in solving the crimes is satisfying. The secondary characters are mostly likeable, including friends Kim and Winston whose story is told somewhere in a previous book. I suspect other characters might have appeared previously, also.
The real trouble with Real Trouble – the first book in a new series – is that it’s not fully a standalone novel. I constantly felt at a loss not knowing the past history of Dany and Soren that is alluded to, particularly the events that led to Dany leaving Soren and disappearing. The blurb mentions that this is a standalone book in the Veiled Intentions universe, so in the middle of reading Real Trouble, I began to download books on Kindle Unlimited from Veiled Intentions and then the Accidental Roots series to find out the details of their history. (To add to the confusion, Accidental Roots is now called the Shielded Hearts series.) With each book I downloaded, I had to use the search feature for “Dany” or “Soren” until I found them in When It Rains, book eight of Accidental Roots/Shielded Hearts. I’m still not sure in which book(s) the Petyr crime family appears. Did you follow all of that? If you think this irritated me, you’re correct.
Furthermore, it wasn’t until the author’s notes at the end of the book that it mentions a short story prequel, Looking for Trouble, that explains how the men met. Why this isn’t mentioned at the beginning of the book or in the blurb, as many authors do, I can’t fathom. So, I had to download the free story from Book Funnel to read after finishing Real Trouble.
Sometimes when an author links multiple series in a shared world (in this case, all of the aforementioned series … I think?) it can alienate new readers unfamiliar to the author or the previous series. Since at least some of those series are set on Piedras Island, I felt I was missing something, and indeed, felt alienated.
Another thing that bothered me is that the location of fictional Piedras Island isn’t identified until much later in the book. It was important for me to know this so I could visualize the world in my head. At first, I thought Florida, except the series is called West Coast Forensics. Maybe the west coast (gulf coast) of Florida? I eventually had to Google Anacortes, a locale mentioned as being nearby Piedras Island. Ah, it’s off the coast of Washington state. I shouldn’t have to go to that effort. You can imagine this completely took me out of the story. Again.
It’s a shame because, otherwise, this is a good story with interesting characters. But considering the problems I encountered, I only feel comfortable recommending this to readers of the previous series.
VALERIE’S RATING: 
TAYLIN’S REVIEW:
REVIEW:
When Deputy Soren takes a new job on Piedras, the last person he thought he’d see is ‘the one that ran away.’ Dany believed the island would be the last place his family would look for him and was carving out a new life as a chef. It was also the last place he thought he’d find the ‘one he left behind.’ Crime brings Soren and Dany together, albeit from differing viewpoints. Nevertheless, the spark they’d tried to douse was still burning bright.
Real Trouble is the first of a two-novel series called West Coast Forensics. Each book involves a different couple. However, as the blurb reveals – the setting is the island community of Piedras, which some may be familiar with from the Veiled Intentions series involving the gorgeous Hamarsson and Dempsey. As such, recognizable places and characters appear alongside new cast members. While the background available suggests this story can be read as a standalone, I feel new readers will still feel left out. I say this because the tale includes phrases like ‘involved in what happened on Piedras last summer’ and other elements alluding to the world of H&D.
Having thoroughly enjoyed the whole Veiled Intensions series, returning to the island with a new couple was akin to catching up with old friends. With Soren being new to Piedras, familiarization and much of the world-building is done through him. Further aspects are expanded on via Dany.
The story is told in the third person from Dany and Soren’s viewpoints. The pace, too, is engaging. The opening scenes kick off the ambiance before leaping to a section of ‘previously’ where the timeline slowly lines up with the opening chapters.
Soren and Dany are easy to fall for, and it was lovely to see them NOT pussyfoot around each other. However, the stated period they were apart wasn’t exactly consistent. Timeliness shift from a general couple of years to nearly three. For such a painful event in their lives, I would have thought a specific month (perhaps day) would be etched into memory. Even if the characters didn’t wish to voice the actual time, internal monologue would be time and date stamped.
As for the storyline, the arc started slow, and heated up towards the end, providing, investigations, love and drama. It mixed a small community with big-city action – arson, murder, treasure hunting, gossip, and some old-timer’s I’d love to get drunk with but wouldn’t want to cross.
I gave the novel an above-average rating because I enjoyed the story of Soren and Dany. Revisiting Piedras was great, but I felt that if this novel were my introduction to the island, I’d be at a disadvantage, needing to read the previous series to enjoy the universe fully.
TAYLIN’S RATING: 
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