Fatal Embrace by Aris Whittier

Jess and Michael's book

Fatal Embrace

By Aris Whittier

I received a copy of this book from the author for a fair and honest review

Book Blurb:

High-spirited horse trainer Jessica Stanson stumbles into the perfect job on one of the most elite ranches in Montana. Or at least it would be if her boss, ex-detective Michael Carven, stopped acting like he didn't want her there. Jessica has to prove herself to him on the ranch, and also try to penetrate his armor to get to the man inside.

Michael Carven is a man who has left a difficult past behind him, and now works at his dream job raising horses under the Montana sky. But he knows that the past has a way of coming back to him, and soon enough, it does.

A wave of violence hits the nearby small town of Riverside, nestled deep in the mountains, as a cunning serial killer preys on the population. Against his will, Michael finds himself both drawn into the case and coming to care for his independent new trainer. And if having a killer on the loose wasn't enough, his two worlds collide when Jessica becomes the only material witness in the case. Before it is over, Michael and Jessica will put everything they know and hold dear on the line to catch a vicious, cunning killer - and to protect each other as well.

I received a copy of Fatal Embrace by the author way back in May to complete a book review. It took me a long time to finally read Fatal Embrace as it is now July. I kept putting it off and putting it off because I am a romance book junkie and Fatal Embrace didn’t scream romance to me. However, I did commit to the author that I’d review her book, so Fatal Embrace was added to my vacation reading calendar and I was hoping to just get it off my TBR list.

Now why did I include the above paragraph? Because when I tell you how much I loved Fatal Embrace you’ll understand that I truly liked it and I’m not “giving” this a solid 4 heart rating just because the author gave me a copy to read. My eyes were glued to the pages of Fatal Embrace and I really kick myself for taking my sweet time to read such a wonderful exciting book.

In just the first few lines of Chapter One, I knew I was going to read quality writing and the style was exactly what I prefer to read. I love to read when authors add extra descriptions and actions while conveying an image. There was a scene further in the book where Jessica is so tired but Michael wants her to keep reviewing mug shots. The banter was so real, the actions were so life like that I felt I was with the couple participating in the conversation.

Jessica was a truly a delight as a female lead. I liked her from the get go and I love how she teased and bantered with Michael. She constantly pushed and challenged him to come out of his iron shell. Michael was so emotionally damaged that he was simply existing and not living. As a reader you were experiencing her falling for Michael without being deliberately told how she was feeling. Her gestures, her kindness, her wit, her willingness to know when to leave him alone spoke volumes without having it spelled out to the reader. That is probably one of my most favourite writing styles. Thank you Aris Whittier for trusting your readers to “get it”.

The serial killer hunt was full of angst and suspense. There is a particular scene in Fatal Embrace where there was a storm outside and it was brilliantly written. I was chewing my bottom lip. I don’t read a lot of mysteries so I am horrible at guessing the “who done it” but I loved how it all ended and came about.

The only reason I am not granting a perfect 5 hearts for Fatal Embrace is because of the low heat factor. Not all of my stories need to have intense love making scenes by any means but Fatal Embrace would have spectacular if we had more than one passionate scene. Michael had been so conservative and bottled up in Fatal Embrace that when he finally did let his guard down and his allow his feelings to pour out, the pages burned up. But that was the one and only time. There were other alluded intimate moments but I craved a bit more from Michael and Jessica. Not erotica but more passion. Otherwise excellent excellent book. 

Teasers – stormy weather, rat surprise, slow dancing, late night horseback ride