Review: My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey
SYNOPSIS:
It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in sweet, sunny Cape Cod—just me and my beloved brother—but discovering a corpse in our rental house really throws a wrench into our tanning schedule. Now a rude, crude bounty hunter has arrived on the back of his motorcycle to catch the killer and refuses to believe I can be helpful, despite countless hours of true crime podcast listening. Not to mention a fulfilling teaching career of wrangling second graders.
A brash bounty hunter and an energetic elementary schoolteacher: the murder-solving team no one asked for, but thanks to these pesky attempts on my life, we’re stuck together, come hell or high tide.
I’m just here to do a job, not babysit an amateur sleuth. Although…it is becoming less and less of a hardship to have her around. Sure, she’s stubborn, distracting and can’t stay out of harm’s way. She’s also brave and beautiful and reminds me of the home I left behind three years ago. In other words, the painful hunger and protectiveness she is waking up in me is a threat to my peace of mind. Before I sink any deeper into this dangerous attraction, I need to solve this murder and get back on the road. But will fate take her from me before I realize the road has been leading to her all along?
REVIEW:
*Book Received in Exchange for Honest Opinion/Review*
I finished this book several days ago and I still don’t know how I feel about it. On one hand, this is Tessa Bailey. You know you are going to get sizzling sex scenes, intense character chemistry, and laugh out loud banter. On the other hand, the murder mystery kinda felt like an after thought at times.
So the whole story takes place in about a week, which if you think is fast to fall in love, you would be absolutely correct. There is a whole lot of insta-lust, insta-attraction, and insta-love. But past that, Taylor and Myles have off the charts chemistry and sexual tension you come to associate with Tessa Bailey novels. There is no lack of angst between these two and the constant game of will they or won’t they is certainly enticing. But some of these scenes just needed to be moved to a new location.
Which brings me to the murder. Myles shows up and starts his investigation, there are some intimate scenes that happen in the house where the murder took place, mere days after the body was removed. Nope, I can’t like the smell that would be lingering in the air you would be able to taste it. Body gone or not…and no mention of professional cleaners coming in, etc. But Taylor’s personality doesn’t mesh, something is off for me. She sees the dead body, suddenly decides she is gonna solve a murder, become a rebel, and almost dies; I mean it’s almost like she has a quarter-life crisis in the span of a week.
The romance needed more time, it felt so rushed and was a hard balance with the whole we have a murder to solve thing. And like I said, this is Tessa so there is plenty of dirty talk and sexy times but I wanted to see some heart from these characters too and it just lacked that. In terms of the murder, well I never saw that coming but that might be because it all felt very anti-climatic. And the reasoning behind everything, well it just was meh. Shortly after that, the story wrapped up and by that point, I was far more interested in Taylor’s brother (Jude) than I was Taylor of Myles.
LINKS:
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
