Justified

3.5 stars

Before I get into my thoughts on this book there's two things I need to mention. First is that the copy I read is an uncorrected proof copy so things could have potentially been changed in the final book. I didn't receive this from the publisher or anything like that I just won it in a giveaway from some instagrammers. The second thing is that this review is going to be SPOILERY. I usually do spoiler free reviews but I just can't get my thoughts across without spoilers so if you haven't read this book yet please skip this review until you have read it.

LAST WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD

I feel like I have said this for the last several books I have read but I am torn on my feelings about this book. Overall I did really enjoy it but I also had several issues with it as well.

This is a friends to enemies to lovers book. Case and Aspen were “friends” in high school which is when Aspen first had a crush on him which some how ended up continuing on into adulthood for her even though she was married and Case was a complete jerk to her. I also found it a little repetitive. I don't need to continuously be told about Aspens crush on Case and how she thinks he's so amazing and I don't need to me reminded of how much Case hated Aspen for what she did.

He blamed Aspen for him losing custody of his son. Which we know isn't true but Case has no problems making her life hell pretty much. I guess I should point out that this is a romantic suspense and Case is the Sheriff. Once Aspen has her office vandalized and her life threatened Case obviously steps in. He is very professional but at the same time just because they are in close proximity to each other now he is starting to have feelings for Aspen and he's torn between hating her and caring about her which is fine but it didn't feel genuine to me.

They definitely have chemistry and the romance is hot and once they established their relationship I was happy but the step from being enemies to lovers just didn't work for me for some reason.

I also didn't feel like the investigation aspect and the romance aspect were balanced. This was mostly about the romance and the investigation seemed to kind of take a back seat. Yes there were mentions of little progress and then all of a sudden they've caught the person(s) responsible. It was way to easy for the little amount of investigating that was being done in my opinion.

I will say that there was a couple twists thrown in at the end that I didn't see coming at all. It ends in a way where there's a cliffhanger but it's a good opening for the next book which despite my issues with this one I really want to read.

My review makes it sound like I didn't care for this book at all but I did. Even though I had several issues with this book the author managed to reel me in. I am invested in these characters and I want to know what happens next.