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sentrancedbookworm's review
Actual rating: 3.5/5
I am quite happy with this book. 'No trouble at all' had everything a good mystery book should have; murder, drama, thrill, anticipation and of course the suspense. It kept me hooked in till the end and if it weren't for the fact that I've been reading quite a few books at the same time, I would've finished it way earlier. As for the romance, I was absolutely in love with the chemistry between Jackson and Sophia.
I am quite happy with this book. 'No trouble at all' had everything a good mystery book should have; murder, drama, thrill, anticipation and of course the suspense. It kept me hooked in till the end and if it weren't for the fact that I've been reading quite a few books at the same time, I would've finished it way earlier. As for the romance, I was absolutely in love with the chemistry between Jackson and Sophia.
chrisistrangerthanu's review
2.0
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
1.5 stars
Generally, I do not like to rate books lower than 2 stars, as I feel that the act of being able to finish a completed book is at least deserving of 1 star alone. However, I promised an honest review, and I would have given this book 1.5 stars if I had paid for it, so 1.5 stars it is.
I like a good murder mystery and I love romance stories, so this book sounded like a match made in heaven for me. As soon as I started it, I knew I was going to have trouble finishing it though. The characters all felt two dimensional, and I did not feel invested in any of them. The romance between the lead characters felt awkward and no amount of telling the audience that Jackson was "alluring" with his "green eyes" convinced me that it was so. By the end of the book I still felt like I knew absolutely nothing about Sophie as a person, and what we did learn about her was scattered and didn't make coherent sense. I spent so much of the book wanting to edit bits and pieces to make Sophie and Jackson into more realistic people. For example, we learn that Sophie used to be a nurse, but is now teaching nursing online as she got tired of the emotional strain that nursing takes on a person. This is all really important character information, but the way it was delivered provided no depth to the character. When did Sophie know that nursing was no longer for her? Why could she no longer handle the death? Everything I knew about her was provided by info-dumps, and I longed to get a grip on who she was by her actions. I also found a lot of inconsistencies between what we were told about both the main characters and how they behaved. It made it extremely difficult for me to engage with the story.
My issues with the plot stemmed from the unbelievable nature of Sophie's continued involvement with the case. There is no logical reason that a Forensic Officer would take someone completely unqualified, who found the body, on as a consultant. Especially not hiding their involvement from their superiors. Why wouldn't he get an expert on the Leather Man history, why someone with a passing interest who has no credentials to be a research consultant? Was she being paid? Because if she was, then the police would have known? If not, then was it a sort of pick up line? It didn't make sense. Then the blossoming romance felt too fast and I didn't really understand where their priorities were. When they were spotted by the news crews it didn't make sense either, because up until then Sophie's name hadn't showed up in the media (or at least it had not been mentioned), so how would they have known that she found the body? I didn't understand Jackson's insistence that he couldn't solve the case without her either, as she didn't seem to discover anything that he didn't, and it led me to believe that he must be the most incompetent officer ever, or ridiculously needy.
Lastly, while I felt that the Leather Man tale could have been quite compelling, I didn't understand how Jackson had never heard of him, as it seemed like everyone else in the area had. I wished that we had learned more about the Leather Man earlier in the book, as by the time his history was explained, I had completely lost interest. The murder connection to the Leather Man myth ended up being extremely tenuous too, which was disappointing. Also, the suspense was lost when we found out half way through who the murderer was. Having the murderer's perspective meant that there was no mystery about their motivations and I thought there were some much better options for the murderer.
So over all, I found too many holes in both the plot, writing and characterisation to rate this book higher. I do think that there was potential in the frame of the story, it just needed some editing and work on the characters. The times I most enjoyed the book were actually Sophie's conversations with her best friend Anna and her mum. They were the times when the character and story felt most honest and nuanced.
1.5 stars
Generally, I do not like to rate books lower than 2 stars, as I feel that the act of being able to finish a completed book is at least deserving of 1 star alone. However, I promised an honest review, and I would have given this book 1.5 stars if I had paid for it, so 1.5 stars it is.
I like a good murder mystery and I love romance stories, so this book sounded like a match made in heaven for me. As soon as I started it, I knew I was going to have trouble finishing it though. The characters all felt two dimensional, and I did not feel invested in any of them. The romance between the lead characters felt awkward and no amount of telling the audience that Jackson was "alluring" with his "green eyes" convinced me that it was so. By the end of the book I still felt like I knew absolutely nothing about Sophie as a person, and what we did learn about her was scattered and didn't make coherent sense. I spent so much of the book wanting to edit bits and pieces to make Sophie and Jackson into more realistic people. For example, we learn that Sophie used to be a nurse, but is now teaching nursing online as she got tired of the emotional strain that nursing takes on a person. This is all really important character information, but the way it was delivered provided no depth to the character. When did Sophie know that nursing was no longer for her? Why could she no longer handle the death? Everything I knew about her was provided by info-dumps, and I longed to get a grip on who she was by her actions. I also found a lot of inconsistencies between what we were told about both the main characters and how they behaved. It made it extremely difficult for me to engage with the story.
My issues with the plot stemmed from the unbelievable nature of Sophie's continued involvement with the case. There is no logical reason that a Forensic Officer would take someone completely unqualified, who found the body, on as a consultant. Especially not hiding their involvement from their superiors. Why wouldn't he get an expert on the Leather Man history, why someone with a passing interest who has no credentials to be a research consultant? Was she being paid? Because if she was, then the police would have known? If not, then was it a sort of pick up line? It didn't make sense. Then the blossoming romance felt too fast and I didn't really understand where their priorities were. When they were spotted by the news crews it didn't make sense either, because up until then Sophie's name hadn't showed up in the media (or at least it had not been mentioned), so how would they have known that she found the body? I didn't understand Jackson's insistence that he couldn't solve the case without her either, as she didn't seem to discover anything that he didn't, and it led me to believe that he must be the most incompetent officer ever, or ridiculously needy.
Lastly, while I felt that the Leather Man tale could have been quite compelling, I didn't understand how Jackson had never heard of him, as it seemed like everyone else in the area had. I wished that we had learned more about the Leather Man earlier in the book, as by the time his history was explained, I had completely lost interest. The murder connection to the Leather Man myth ended up being extremely tenuous too, which was disappointing. Also, the suspense was lost when we found out half way through who the murderer was. Having the murderer's perspective meant that there was no mystery about their motivations and I thought there were some much better options for the murderer.
So over all, I found too many holes in both the plot, writing and characterisation to rate this book higher. I do think that there was potential in the frame of the story, it just needed some editing and work on the characters. The times I most enjoyed the book were actually Sophie's conversations with her best friend Anna and her mum. They were the times when the character and story felt most honest and nuanced.
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