Review of ‘Queen of Humboldt’ by Tagan Shepard
Talk about a wlw action book! I think I’m still trying to catch my breath over here. I was really excited about Bella’s new releases this month. I’m a big fan of both Shepard and Elizabeth and I even thought that the debut book by Arden looked interesting. Since I was hoping to go to sleep at a half normal time today, I decided to read Shepard’s book tonight since it was the shortest. But that might not have been the best idea because I feel like my blood and adrenaline are still pumping after that read.
While Shepard writes mostly contemporary romances (and one futuristic book) I was excited to see her mix it up again with an action-romance. And when I say action I mean ACTION! I was completely glued to my seat almost the entire book. I don’t think I even put it down to get a drink, I was on edge too much to move. For me, a read like this is just really fun and super entertaining.
I did mention the action part but I also want to mention the romance part. While I’m pushing a little calling this a second chance romance, I feel comfortable enough using that tag. And because there is so much action in this book, part of the reason the romance works is because there is that shared history between the main characters even if it was brief. While this is a light second chance, this is also an enemies to lovers. And when I say enemies I mean enemies. You have a district attorney’s main character and the other main who is the queen of Chicago’s criminal underground. You can’t be on much more opposite sides than that.
This book is on the shorter side and has some twists and turns so I don’t want to dive too much into the plot. I do have to mention, just for the record, that a storyline in this book is very similar to something that almost happened in real life not too long ago. I had the chills a bit when I read that part since you could picture it happening since it almost really did. 2020 is such a shit show.
I did have two small complaints I feel I need to mention. One, I was not big on one of the sex scenes which was a disappointment since Shepard can write some real steam. The problem was my OCD and germaphobic issues reared their ugly heads. When you are gone for days, no showers, or toothpaste, with injuries, I just can’t get into a sex scene like that. Couldn’t there have at least been a shower first, please?
My second small complaint was the ending. I’m calling this small since it didn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the story but I still didn’t like it. Let’s just say that Shepard got yelled at and there were some curse words used to express my anger. It was not a major cliffhanger, but it just ended out of the blue, and I was shocked to look down and see my Kindle at 99%. I thought this was a one and done book but it’s not and it ends right when you want to see what is going to happen next, which is frustrating, to say the least. Again, not as bad as a huge cliffy but some swear words were definitely called for.
Even with my two negatives, I would still easily recommend this to action-romance fans. There is a lot of violence and this book deals with tough subjects, but it’s not a depressing read. It’s a buckle your seat belt and hang on for the ride kind of read. Tagan, after that ending I sure hope you are busy writing book two. 4 stars.
An ARC was given to me for an honest review.
Queen of Humboldt
Talk about a wlw action book! I think I’m still trying to catch my breath over here. I was really excited about Bella’s new releases this month. I’m a big fan of both Shepard and Elizabeth and I even thought that the debut book by Arden looked interesting. Since I was hoping to go to sleep at a half normal time today, I decided to read Shepard’s book tonight since it was the shortest. But that might not have been the best idea because I feel like my blood and adrenaline are still pumping after that read.
URL: 4 stars, Enemies to lovers, Ex convict, Lawyer, Second chances
Author: Tagan Shepard
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