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A well-paced mystery that will keep you guessing at every turn.

Welcome!
It’s been cold outside, yea? The perfect time to be reading!

I won this book in Goodreads Giveaways a while back but have, until now, failed to get a review up. I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to read ‘Woman in Shadow,’ these are 100% my own thoughts and opinions.

Do you like mystery novels that are decently paced, have a lot going on, and are surprisingly free of any real romance? This should do it.

Let’s find out why..
Enjoy!

Trigger Warning: Animal abuse, PTSD, Graphic violence, Murder, Arson, Suicide and more..

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Woman in Shadow by Carrie Stuart Parks

Standalone

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

First line: “Why are those dogs barking?”

Darby’s been through hell.

After one terrible mistake destroys her life and career, Darby’s given the task of discovering the perpetrator behind a string of pranks at an isolated ranch in Idaho.. but is she ready to get back in the saddle?

Three and a Half Stars!

Possible spoilers ahead!
But, don’t worry, it won’t likely effect your reading experience.

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Characters:

Darby Graham – Main character. Forensic linguist. Only just beginning to heal from devastating loss and trauma. Strong, sarcastic, kind, and driven.. Darby is a wonderful character to follow. I think what I loved about her the most was the patience, respect, and care she showed for the two dogs she rescues.
Sam – Owner of the general store in town, this guy is a real piece of work.
Roy Zaring – Owner of Mule Shoe Ranch, Roy’s been having problems, and that’s where Darby comes in. Someone is pulling pranks that are growing more and more aggressive and it needs to stop. Can she find out what’s going on without ending up a target herself?
Abraham White ‘Bram’ – Sheriff’s deputy and potential love interest. He lost points with me for being an unbelievable douche later on. Darby forgives his poor judgement pretty quickly.. but me? I’ll continue to be offended for her, thanks.

Pace: Decent enough.
Storyline: Full. Slightly underwhelming.
Overall? There were some great ideas here.. but I don’t believe they were written in a way that satisfied the potential this book had.

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About the book:

On her last assignment for a mysterious organization ‘Clan Firinn,’ Darby arrives in Targhee Falls with little to no information, all she’s been told is that ‘something isn’t right’ at the Mule Shoe Ranch. Unpleasant pranks have driven guests away from the pricey getaway and the owner has requested help in discovering the culprit before it’s too late..

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Liked:

This book dives right into things from page one and maintains a decently healthy pace throughout.

The dogs (Maverick and Holly) were a big, lovable, heartwarming, heartbreaking part of this story for me. I loved them. I wanted to protect them. (Let me clarify that real quick.. It’s inconceivable to me that anyone would allow an animal be abused or neglected and I wanted to kick some serious ass because of what these two were put through.) And I adored the fact that Darby apparently felt the same way.
Props to the author for dragging my animal loving heart into the mix!
But, I digress, they are also quite important ‘characters’ throughout the storyline itself.

Something else I enjoyed was that there were so many quotable lines! I chuckled, I winced, I snorted..
Here are some of my favorites:

“Are you Sherlock Holmes disguised as . . . as Audrey Hepburn?”
“Hardly.”

An early morning jogger passed through the trees in the distance. I admired the discipline it took to run daily when no one was chasing you.

“I won’t be that long. Here’s the deal. I’m pretty sure something is dangerously wrong here at the Mule Shoe. I don’t know if I’m being targeted or maybe just paranoid. If I’m losing my mind, I suppose someone will eventually notice that I’m sitting around with tinfoil on my head.”
Maverick yawned.
“Don’t be so cavalier, Maverick. You’ll be wearing a tinfoil hoodie as well.”
He blinked.

I love a character willing to talk to their dogs like they’re going to answer back. It’s great.

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Disliked:

There’s a lot going on here, some of which doesn’t even seem relevant in the beginning, and it keeps you pretty busy trying to put all the pieces together. It doesn’t overwhelm, per se, but there were times I found myself slightly baffled by what exactly the author was going for..
No worries, though, it’s mostly all sorted out in the end.

I also didn’t get whatever “romance” was supposedly between Darby and Bram. It was pointless in the story as a whole and the attraction was elementary.
She should stick with the dogs.

Oh.. and, get this, all of this *waves hand around madly* happens in less than 48 hours. Wait.. What? No way! Way.
For some reason (probably the insane amount of crap that’s been going on) this really got to me.

This may not have been a five star read for me but, with the multitude of books she’s written to choose from, I’ll look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

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Thanks so much for stopping in and checking out my review!
Have you read anything by this author before?

Stay safe, stay warm, and read a book or ten.. it’s too cold to do anything else.

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