My Fallen Saint by J. KennerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Although I had seen J. Kenner’s name on blogs all over the place, this was my first read by this author. I cannot say that I’m disappointed, but I wasn’t overly impressed. Kenner’s strengths are plotting and storytelling. I can see this author writing a great mystery or thriller without romantic elements.
This review will be divided into two parts: Great Story Elements and Not-So Great.
Great Story Elements:
Plotting. As I stated above, the plotting was excellent. We were not given too much information too soon. (Will elaborate more about the timeline in the Not-So-Great section).
Writing quality. Excellent. And it should be. This author is well known with a large and established repeat reader base. Thankfully, this wasn’t an issue because I have purchased books by other well-known authors that were just plain junk.
Dialogue. It was great. Natural and flowed well.
Not-So-Great Elements:
The heroine, Ellie. Most authors think a strong female character with a cop’s background should be written as a superhero, but I find that strategy super annoying. I do appreciate the fact that Kenner did not create Ellie to leap tall buildings in a single bound or make bombs our of mascara wands. However, Ellie was not a stimulating character either. (Well, if you don’t consider that she was basically a dog in heat from all the one-night stands with bar pickups).
Timeline. Another not-so-great point is the time in which this story unfolded. Sure, Ellie returned to California to write a story and investigate her uncle's death but pining away for a guy for ten years is unrealistic and just plain silly. When Ellie first met Alex, they were incredibly young…she was under the age of 18. So, if Ellie was 17 when she first met Alex, this would put her current age at 27. Most women have LONG moved on and forgotten about their teenage hook ups. (At least I know I would have). To the author's mild defense, I do think Kenner’s goal was to create/keep a pre-made connection between Alex and Ellie. Otherwise, the two characters would have to meet and develop a relationship. And this would be a LOT of work for Kenner.
Ellie the instigator/slut. I’ve read a ton of romance novels and I can’t remember a single story where the heroine pursued the hero. When Ellie and Alex arrived in Las Vegas, she turned into a desperate, pushy slut. Yuck. Maybe some readers are okay with it, but it didn’t work for me at all.
Minor Editing Issue. In one of the last love scenes, Alex blindfolds Ellie. But a few lines later, Ellie notes that Alex twitches his mouth. How would Ellie know if she cannot see him?
The Ending: I hate cliffhangers…I hate serials. (sigh). But this is exactly what we got with this story. Although we were not left hanging with a character trapped inside a burning car, we were left with Ellie receiving a mysterious text.
According to the ARC I received, the next installment is not released until 2021. The characters and plot will have LONG become a distant memory by then.
RATING: THREE STARTS
Extra Cup of Regular
Was willing to read on to see what happened next.
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