All the Pretty Faces by Rita Herron

​ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

Publication date: 03/29/2016
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

OK, I’ll admit that I made a half-assed buying decision on this one. I didn’t even read the blurb. I downloaded it because I saw that it was written by a bestselling author, and...I liked the cover. There, I admitted that I’m totally shallow. It has a pretty cover, OK??? Don’t judge.

​But once I got past the cover, I was less than blown away, which I found surprising. The writing was great. The story flowed beautifully. There was a totally WTF plot twist at the end that I loved. But the main characters? Yawn.

Josie is smart and kinda brave (I guess), but a little whiny and too goody-goody for my liking. Dane is robotic. He’s a justice-seeking machine, and I never got any real sense of why he loved Josie (other than the fact that she’s perfect in every way, of course. Seriously, she probably runs a rescue for lonely unicorns and poops rainbows, for Christ’s sake).

Both characters are also walking, talking, romantic suspense cliches. She’s a spunky reporter who insists she can take care of herself and doesn’t need any help (except she can’t and she does), and he’s a I-can’t-fall-in-love-because-I’m-on-a-mission-and-my-job-is-my-life, growling, snarling, bear of a cop. I’ve seen these characters so many times that it’s eye-roll inducing. How about a hero who understands that cops can have love lives, and a heroine who is willing to admit that she occasionally needs help? Can I see THOSE characters every now and then in romance land?    

Long-story short, I most likely won’t read the other books in the Graveyard Falls series. Although, they do have really pretty covers...     

Full disclosure: I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and (most of) that review originally ran on Knockin’ Books.

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It pretty much contributes on every front, except that it is technically well-written.  

Other reading suggestions
Check out Cynthia Eden, Scarlett Cole, and Melinda Leigh.  ​

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