A different but good read

I’m a little late in reviewing this as I was out of town, visiting family, for America’s holiday. As much fun as I had, I’m glad to be back home and found that I almost devoured this book. This book covers some tough subjects and I even felt a little uncomfortable reading at times, but I still flew through the pages. It’s odd because I don’t think I really liked the book, but I could not stop reading and thought it was pretty well done.

I’ve been reading Maiorisi for a while now and I think this is my seventh book by her. I’m in love with her Chiara Corelli Mystery series and I think they just keep getting better and better with each book. It is turning into one of my favorite ongoing mystery series at this current time. While Maiorisi writes excellent mysteries, she also writes romance. I’m not sure what it is but I don’t seem to connect to them like I do her mysteries. The romance that I ended up enjoying the most –it was good but had a few bumps for me- was Taking a Chance on Love, the book about when Quincy ‘The Hero’ and Lindy first meet and the story of their romance. This story had such a happy, happily ever after –almost too happy even for me- that when I read the blurb for The Disappearance of Lindy James, I did not put two and two together that this was the same couple. If Goodreads reviewer MZ didn’t point it out in her review, it might have taken me reading half this new book before it would have clicked.

When it comes to the answer of should someone read Taking a Chance on Love before reading The Disappearance of Lindy James, I’m finding the answer is pretty mixed. The Disappearance of Lindy James is a drama about an already established couple and it is not a romance at all, since that already happened in Taking a Chance on Love. Both stories feel very complete so I can see how someone could read Taking…, but never read he Disappearance…, and the opposite with someone never reading Taking… and just starting here. When it comes to readers who are very careful about reading books in order, like myself, I would go with reading Taking… first. The reason I say this is because there are certain things that Quincy, Lindy’s wife, does or is willing to put up with that I understood much more because I knew their backstory. Had I not read it, I think I would have found a lot of Quincy’s patience too unbelievable for the storyline. I also think the fact that I got to see that they could be so damn happy in Taking a Chance on Love, that it pushed me too root for them to find a way to connect again in this book.

While I found myself very engrossed in the story, I didn’t like some of the things I was reading about. I think that was the point of the whole story, that Maiorisi wanted us to feel a bit uncomfortable like most drama books aim to do. Plus, the fact that I could not put this book down is why I went with a rating that really considers everything and is a bit higher than my actual likeability rating.

TLDR: This was an interesting and dramatic WLW book that was pretty gripping to read. I didn’t always like what I was reading about, but I thought Maiorisi really delivered on the type of book she was trying to write. While you can read this book now and act like it is a standalone, I would recommend reading Taking a Chance on Love, if you want to read the story of the romance between these two main characters. I think it gave me a few insights that let me understand the characters more because I knew of their backstory. While I still prefer Maiorisi as a mystery writer, I think this book proves that she can write drama too.

A copy was given to me for a review.