How many of this woman's books can I read before I tire? Well, apparently a couple more.

This particular one was quite enjoyable and I now know a lot more about snakes than I did before. I like to read books that actually teach me something. As for the plot, I liked the fact that a series of murders in our present day ended up being connected to a tragedy that happened fifty years ago. It was fun to puzzle it all together and it was helped by the interesting characters.

That said, it became a little frustrating to listen to the main character's insecurities about her looks. I don't blame her — she's had facial scars since she was a child — but the fact that several of the eligible men in the story take an obvious interest in her almost immediately had me rolling my eyes. And yes, I get that she was exaggerating her own scarring in her head and usually shied away from people because of it, but it still felt pretty cliché. Perhaps because I've read a fair share of YA novels where it is a very common thing for the heroine to THINK she's plain and ugly yet lo and behold, she was beautiful all along! What I'm trying to say is that Bolton did nothing wrong, I just got annoyed because of previous experiences.

That said, I have to admit that I quite like how this woman writes romance, because it's down-to-earth and relatable. Not that there was a whole lot of romance in this one (more like tension) but still. She does it well.

I've been debating whether to give this three or four stars and I'm going to go with four, if only because I remember this one quite fondly even years after having read it.