Hello everyone. I’m sorta back. Things are still up in the air with illness in my family, but I’m here. Frankly, I’d much rather be here than anywhere else. So, here I am with a new book, L. K. Shaw’s Striking Distance. It’s the second book in a series, and I haven’t read the first book, but that’s OK, I had no problem figuring out what was going on. Each book is a standalone, but you will be able to pick up what happened in the previous books with no problem. Shaw did a great job at giving us just enough background without overwhelming us.
So, here’s our story. Estelle is a school teacher, teaching 6 year olds. Her best friend Ines is in hiding with her boyfriend because they were undercover LEOs who had infiltrated a cartel. Ines stayed in contact with Estelle while she was undercover, but isn’t much in contact now. But, one day, as she’s trying to leave work, Estelle is attacked by a man who is trying to abduct her. Luckily, she knows some defense techniques and manages to get away from him. She runs back int the school and calls the police. Which is a good thing.
The not so good thing is that one of the responding officers is Victor, Ines’ brother. Estelle has been in and out of their house for her entire life, so she knows Victor. The problem is that there is some bubbling tension going on there. Victor has developed a thing for Estelle, well developed one a long time ago. Victor gives Estelle an option. She can either go to her own house and have some extra patrols come by, stay at a safe house so that a cop can stay with her all the time, or she can just stay at his house, in Ines’ old bedroom. His dad and one of his brothers also live these, and they are all cops, so really, totally safe.
Overall, I liked the book. I think that the story was generally good. However, I thought that there was a spot in the middle of the book where it felt like the book was pulling toward a close, but there was still more to come. I don’t think that is a problem, really, it just felt a little weird, and threw my reading rhythm off a little bit. I think that if that particular point were pushed a little bit further back, I would’ve had a more satisfying emotional connection through the full end of the book.
I like Estelle, generally. I think that she has a really good heart, but she’s been dealing with so much shit, she ended up turtling because it was the only way that she could manage to live.
Victor is a great mix of brash and vulnerable. I don’t think it’s something that can be written easily, but somehow Shaw really pulled it off here. So, kudos for that.
I will probably go on to read the next book, because the end chapter of this one gives us a little preview, soo I’m eager to see what happens.
I have to say that I thought that the person who was creepy was creepy from the beginning.
OK, that’s all I have to say on this one. Go check it out! Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 