River Road by Jayne Ann Krentz (thoughts)

River Road was one of those books that I wanted to read almost as soon as I heard about it.  I am a sucker for a good romantic suspense but I will admit that I don't read enough from this genre.  I enjoyed this book enough as I was reading it, but didn't end up really loving it.  For me it ended up being one of those books that you can describe as good but not great. 

In River Road, Lucy Sheridan is returning to her aunt's home for the first time in years due to her aunt's death.  Although she spent many summers with her aunt, the last time that she visited Lucy found herself in over her head at a teenage party.  She was sent back home and never ended up returning to Summer River.  Until now.  Unfortunately, it seems that all of those ghosts from the past are determined to resurface thanks to her aunt's will leaving Lucy everything.  Lucy soon finds herself in danger and turns to Mason Fletcher (her former crush/protector from the past).  Will Mason be able to protect Lucy yet again?  Or will the past come back to haunt her?

This book was easy to sink into from the very beginning.  I found myself steadily pulled into the mystery of Lucy's aunt's death but especially pulled into the mystery of what happened the night that Lucy left Summer River.  I was curious from the very beginning and couldn't help but try to figure out who the killer might be.  That being said, even though this book was able to draw me into it, I never was able to connect to the characters like I usually do.  I liked Mason and Lucy, was hoping to see them end up together, but wasn't really pulling for them.  I don't know what it is but I just found myself very disconnected from the book as a whole.  I'm not even sure that I can explain why.  It just felt a bit formulaic and there was nothing that really hooked me in completely.  I wanted to like this book more than I did.  And I did like it to a certain extent but there was just something that held me back.  I wish I could explain more but it is hard to describe other than I found it to be predictable.  Sometimes predicable is completely okay if you are fully invested in the characters but this time I wasn't. 

One of the things that I really did enjoy about this book was the ending.  Like I mentioned earlier, I instantly started off trying to figure out who the killer was on my own.  Happily enough, I was completely wrong and this author threw me for a complete loop by the end.  In fact this book would have been great rather than just good, if I had connected more based off of this ending.  That is how surprised I was!

Overall, I liked it but didn't love it.  That is the easiest way to explain my reading experience with this book.  I will be open to reading more by this author (I actually already have more of her books on my shelves) but this just wasn't quite the book for me.  I think that fans of Sandra Brown and Nora Roberts will enjoy this book as there are some similarities in their writing styles.  For me, I would recommend it but with a few hesitations.  Maybe check it out from the library like I did?

Bottom Line:  A book that I just couldn't quite connect to but with a really great ending.  Is that confusing enough for you?

Disclosure:  I checked this book out from my local library.  Thoughts are my own.

Fans of this author:  Please tell me which books of hers are MUST reads!  She is a very prolific author and I would love to know which of her books are your favorites.  I feel like she is an author that I will enjoy, I just need to find the right book of hers (and there are so many to choose from).