Romance Lovers for the Challenge-Impaired discussion

Alone (Bone Secrets #4), by Kendra Elliot

One rainy night in the woods outside of Portland, Dr. Victoria Peres is called to the site of a haunting crime scene. Six beautiful young girls—all in white dresses and arranged in a perfect circle—have been left for dead. Only one girl, fighting for her life at a nearby hospital, has survived the carnage. Things get stranger still when Victoria and the police discover that the disturbing arrangement of the bodies—as meticulous as it is mysterious—is straight from the pages of a decades-old cold case. Victoria is called on to do what she does best, read the bones of the dead for clues…while dealing with the surprise return of her first love, medical examiner Seth Rutledge. Only this time she must figure out how the two cases, fifty years apart, are connected.

**************************************************

As always expect spoilers!

Note:


Veiled(Bone Secrets #3.5), by Kendra Elliot is a novella before this book in the series.

I'm in.

I'm in although I probably won't read the novella. I just don't enjoy them.

My library has all of this author books on audio, except #3.5 and #4 :(

ShoSho wrote: "My library has all of this author books on audio, except #3.5 and #4 :("

Mine doesn't have the ebooks or the audiobooks. I got the whole series a while ago on Kindle when it was on sale.

I just finished it was great for a short novella.
I'll start in the morning.

I'm traveling abroad from tomorrow and don't know how much reading I will get done, but I will read it soon.

Lauren wrote: "I'm traveling abroad from tomorrow and don't know how much reading I will get done, but I will read it soon."

Fun places to go? :D

I'm listening to the audio so it'll probably take me a week to finish this.

I'm on chapter 3
(view spoiler)[
I'm trying to figure out their ages.
They met we she was 19. He should have been around the same age. They haven't seen each other in 20 years. and Seth is older that Mason. Mason is 40 something. So Victoria and Seth are in their late 40s? (hide spoiler)]

Maastricht to visit my brother and then we are all going to London.

Lauren wrote: "Maastricht to visit my brother and then we are all going to London."

Sounds great :) have fun, Lauren!

chapter 11 and before

(view spoiler)[

The old man: He seems to be behind both mass murders. What does he get out of it? It seems to be some sort of ritual but it didn't seem like sexual or even religious.

Jason: The guy who texted Trinity is involved with this. He can't be the same guy that homeless person saw with the girls. He said he was in his 30s but Trinity seems to think he's around the same age as her.

Seth's decision 18 years ago: That was the most stupid decision ever! Who is in their right mind would think that marrying a woman who cheated on you can give your child a good peaceful life?

Lorenzo: He seemed to know more than he told the police, that's why he was killed. He might have been even involved with the old murders and offered up her own sister? (that's too sick!!!!)
He also could have lied about a whole lot of things to the police!! (hide spoiler)]

Comments up the chapter 3:

The ages - (view spoiler)[Yes, they are older than the other couples in the series. I'm thinking early 40s too (hide spoiler)]

One thing that I don't like is (view spoiler)[that Seth dumped Victoria for another woman and had a daughter with her. I'm not a fan of this trope at all.

Of course, we don't know exactly what happened yet so I'm willing to give Seth the benefit of the doubt. (hide spoiler)]

Lauren wrote: "Comments up the chapter 3:

The ages - [spoilers removed]

One thing that I don't like is that Seth dumped Victoria for another woman and had a daughter with her. I'm not a fan of this trope at all..."

The break up 18 years ago (view spoiler)[ I think it's justified somehow. I don't think he did the right thing but he had good intentions. I don't think I would have forgiven him as easily as Victoria did though.(view spoiler)[

With new information from the book Victoria is 37 years old. It seems the book is a little bit inconsistent regarding the ages of the characters. (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]

chapter 21
(view spoiler)[
Her mother being alive was a surprise. I thought they were hinting that he mother is one of the dead women from the old murders.
I'm guessing the old man is her father.
I don't like Jason contacting Trinity! He doesn't seems like a very bad person like his father and grandfather but still he's involved with the murders.

What does the old man do with the dead bodies in the shed? eeeek Just photograph them or ..... ewwwwww (hide spoiler)]

Chapter22
(view spoiler)[

Grrrr be smart Trinity! She's acting so dumb! Why would she pick up a boy she doesn't know well but knows that he's involved with how Brook met with the photographer?! grrrrr (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 24

(view spoiler)[
I don't like how the moment they saw the "mother' the started hating her! She's obviously a woman who has had a hard life. They are judging her without knowing anything about her. She might not be a bad person but someone whose life has driven her to bad choices.
I didn't like their sexy times either. It didn't sit right with me. (hide spoiler)]

I'm done.
(view spoiler)[
The romance part wasn't bad but wasn't good either. I didn't like how easiky she forg a ve him and how he assumed that they would be together now that he had divorced his wife.
The murders: why the black hair and white dresses? Why did the old man kept the women in shed and bondage? Did he just photograph them?
Did Lucia family offer her to the priest knowing how he was like?
So many unanswered questions!
I think this book wasn't well thought as the other books. (hide spoiler)]

Been running around London spending too much money... haven't had time to read but I'm enjoying what I have read.

Lauren wrote: "Been running around London spending too much money... haven't had time to read but I'm enjoying what I have read."

Have fun, Lauren! That's definitely better than reading!
(it's controversial but true lol)

;0)

Comments up to chapter 11 (including):

Jason - (view spoiler)[I agree that he is involved. I think he is a disciple of the old man and continuing his "work" (hide spoiler)]

Seth - (view spoiler)[Yes, leaving the woman you love to marry a woman who cheated on you and then staying with her for 18 years for the sake of the child is just stupid!
The impression I get is that the daughter was under no illusions as to her parents' relationship (hide spoiler)]

Lorenzo - (view spoiler)[There is something suspicious about his connection to the case. I wonder if Lucia was even his sister. Perhaps they were members of the same cult.

Also, he said he had five sons but there is no evidence of a family in his house - strange... (hide spoiler)]

Sorry its taken me so long to get back to this one. I'm home from Europe, but I've been catching up on marking student papers.

Comments up to chapter 21 (including):

The case - (view spoiler)[So here's my theory:

Cesare and Isabel are Victoria's parents. Isabel left him when she was pregnant or just after giving birth because she was afraid of him or his cult. She gave Victoria up to protect her.

Cesare was already or became a serial killer and kills girls who look like his ex.

Leo is adopted or a son from another woman and Jason is his son. One of them killed the new girls. I'm leaning toward Leo but Jason knows something.

I also think Jason might have been trying to kill Trinity at Glory's funeral. (hide spoiler)]

Victoria and Seth - (view spoiler)[I'm glad that they got everything out in the open quickly with relatively little angst. I hate long drawn out grudges.

That said, I'm not really feeling their chemistry, and the fact that he left, married Jennifer and stayed with her for 18 years is just ridiculous. He had other options! (hide spoiler)]

Rory - (view spoiler)[He's up to something... (hide spoiler)]

Lorenzo's family - (view spoiler)[I think Lorenzo was a cult member and his sons disowned him when they learned he might have had something to do with Lucia's disappearance. (hide spoiler)]

ShoSho wrote: "chapter 21..."

Ewww! Is right!

Jason and Trinity - (view spoiler)[If Jason is the killer (and not Leo like I'm inclined to believe), then he might was to add Trinity to his "collection" because he can't get at Brooke. (hide spoiler)]

ShoSho wrote: "Chapter22 Grrrr be smart Trinity"

(view spoiler)[Trinity just acted like an idiot. Why did she go to get Jason against her better judgment?!

Jason knows that his father is the killer. I wonder if he helped Leo contact the girls or if Leo used Jason's social media behind his back (hide spoiler)]

Kyle - (view spoiler)[Sounds like he is following in Cesare and Leo's footsteps (hide spoiler)]

ShoSho wrote: "Chapter 24."

Isabel - (view spoiler)[I agree, ShoSho. They made snap judgments based on her appearance and manner with absolutely no knowledge of her life circumstances.

They also completely forgot that someone sent an anonymous note to get Victoria there - weren't they curious about whether it was related to the arson and the bones?!

This is a missed opportunity! (hide spoiler)]

Seth and Victoria - (view spoiler)[I also didn't think much of their sexy times. I don't feel the emotional or physical connection between them.

Also, the phone call with Jennifer was irritating. It was obvious that she was manipulating Seth yet he was still willing to drop everything (including Tori) to go down to visit Eden. He wants to be with Tori, but he would repeat the past and dump her for Eden even though she is now an adult. (hide spoiler)]

OK - I'm done.
The mystery was alright, but the romance was meh. I agree that (view spoiler)[Victoria was far too forgiving considering that Seth had other options than marrying the woman who cheated on him and lied to him.

He could have been around for Eden without dumping Victoria. (hide spoiler)]

I also agree with your questions about the case, ShoSho. Moreover, (view spoiler)[The information on the cult and the misogyny lack sufficient foundation. There is a lot of retrospective telling and very little showing.

Furthermore, there are too many inconsistencies. For example, the Cavallo brothers shunned their father for wanting to return to the cult, but they treat their wives abominably.
Also, why did Lorenzo go to the police about Lucia if he was a member of the cult and worshiped Cesare like Esther said? (hide spoiler)]

I just realized Rory's story line didn't go anywhere, he was acting weird and guilty. But apparently it was only red herring! Another bad mark against the plot!

Lorenzo (view spoiler)[ It would have more sense if Lorenzo had left the cult and the sons stayed in. It would explain why Lorenzo went to the police and why the sons treat their wives like that. It's definitely an inconsistency that could have been fixed easily and it was the author's mistake. (hide spoiler)]

Seth (view spoiler)[ Yes he would dump Victoria in a heartbeat if the daughter tells her to! (hide spoiler)]

Over all it wasn't a bad book but it could have been much better with a little effort.

ShoSho wrote: "I just realized Rory's story line didn't go anywhere, he was acting weird and guilty. But apparently it was only red herring! Another bad mark against the plot!."

Yes. That went absolutely nowhere. We don't even learn why he wanted to speak to Victoria so badly. Annoying!

Lorenzo - (view spoiler)[That is how I had worked in out for myself. I really didn't make sense the way it was written. (hide spoiler)]