Scorched
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Love is a fire. But who will get burned?
Ember Lord is facing charges for the murder of her father. She was found at the scene of the crime, holding the murder weapon, and refuses to explain herself.
Joe Masters is tasked with getting under Ember's skin, and breaking through her stony facade; to gain her trust and find out what her plans are now her father's legally-questionable business is under her control.
But as the two get closer, Joe begins to break down the wall that Ember has built around herself, and gets a glimpse of the truth behind. Is he really falling for a cold-hearted killer? Or is there more to the murder than meets the eye?
The incredible final instalment of Joss Stirling's Young Detective Agency series, a companion novel to Stung, Shaken, and the award-winning Struck. Romantic thrillers that will make your heart skip a beat.
As you all know, I'm a huge fan of Joss Stirling's books. They pick me up when I'm feeling down, and they give me the warm and fuzzies when I need it, with a nice dose of originality! Her Savants series is my complete favourite and I so wish there where more books in that series, but this series comes in a close second, and I'm so sad to see it finish with this book!
There's intrigue from the start as usual, as Stirling combines mystery, action and romance for one last time....or maybe not. I can hope. Everyone's undercover, so we get to see a lot of Nathan, Kate, Raven and Kieran. Damien and Rose make an appearance but not as much as the others which made me a little sad as this is supposed to be the last book. (I'm so hoping she'll do a series with the branch that Joe's opening in the US. PLEASE JOSS PLEASE!).
I've loved Joe in every single one of the other books and I've been waiting to finally get his story, and the fact he's still dealing with the after effects of something from the first book made this book even better. No detail is unmissed and it made Joe an even more believable character, you could understand his motivations and how he ticked. Ember is the perfect match for Joe, and I really liked seeing the two different sides to Ember. The real her we see from her POV and the fake her that Joe see's in the beginning. I really love how Stirling gives us both POV's, so we see Embers side of things and then Joe's side. We start off with Ember and get to know her, but she still makes you question if she did it...but you could understand why she would. Then we see Joe and you see how Ember appears to the outside world and that makes you wonder too, so you're constantly trying to guess for the first part of the book did she or didn't she? And then you discover what kind of person she really is, and the plot thickens. I love it. Such a brilliant approach.
Ember herself may be prickly on the outside, but you can see throughout the book why she made up her facade, to protect herself and her brother. She's intelligent, she's funny, and she loves her brother so much it was so heartwarming to see, and I loved her brother too!
There are so many brilliant characters in this, like Max, Ember's brother! And Henry, the theatre director. And speaking of, I really loved the way the play, Midsummer Night's Dream, was used in the book and adapted. But I have to say....Raymond may be a tiny character in the grand scheme of the book, but he has one of the best lines and Henry's response to it cracked me up a ridiculous amount. I could picture the scene in my head so clearly, and the way they spoke and the difference so clearly!
Scorched kept me guessing right up until the end, and the surprise reveal that became so obvious in the moment it was revealed! The killer wasn't at all who I thought it was! This is a brilliant final book, wrapping everything up for each of the characters along with Joe and Ember's story. We find out what the others are planning to do and so on. It made me quite sad actually because I'm going to miss the group!
The characters are relatable, and believable and you end up rooting for them in spades, as well as fully understanding them and their actions. It was brilliant to see Joe get his happy ending, he and Ember where so well matched, and get a glimpse of how the story ends for the other couples, although Damien and Rose will forever be my favourite! I'm so, so sad to see this series end, especially as Savants came to an end recently as well, and there was a nice little connection between the two series in this book too!
Scorched is the perfect ending to this series, and is full of everything I loved in the other books. A perfect blend of humour, action, mystery, tension and romance that keeps you guessing throughout!
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Shaken
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher, OUP!
In a tall, narrow brownstone, in Brooklyn, New York, there is a girl with a secret. That girl is Rose Knight. She needs to raise millions of dollars to save her father's life. The arrogant and suave Damien Castle is good at uncovering secrets. He's even better at catching criminals. When he meets Rose he knows something is amiss but he can't help but get distracted. It isn't her terrible dress sense that confuses him, or even her obsession with Egyptology. It's the fact that he has never felt this way about a girl before.
But when duty and love are both on the line, which one will Damien choose?
I'm not going to lie to you guys, I'm a huge Joss Stirling fangirl! Ever since I came across Seeking Crystal in the library and ended up buying all three books from the Finding Sky trilogy, I've been hooked! I'm so sad that the savant series is coming to an end after the 6th and final book this year! But it's all good because then we have the Struck series to keep us going! I bought Struck when it first came out, so I actually have the edition that's called Storm and Stone and has a different cover *eye twitch* which definitely does not bother me at all....anyway....so I've been looking forward to finally getting to Damien's story, especially after seeing him in Stung! I even made time to re-read the first two books because why not!
First things first...Joe's back! We haven't seen him since the first book so it was good to get to see him again! He was a brilliant character and I was gutted he wasn't in the second book! Although, the other characters aren't in this book much as it's across the pond from the other two stories! I love how Stirling keeps all the previous characters in, not as much as their own books, but you do get to see them and how they're getting on!
Damien we've already met, and I really liked him except for the whole tackling Kate thing in the cottage, it was at that point when I was like...yep you need to find yourself a lady friend next mate. I've always been curious about Damien because he lives with his completely brilliant Uncle Julian. I seriously love Uncle Julian okay, he's hilarious! Anyway, he lives with him and his parents are off in another part of the world doing their work and Damien is clearly a bit resentful about this and you can't really blame him and so I've been curious to get to know his character better and Stirling goes one step further and lets you see what Damien's family life is like, which was brilliant! I love how things where resolved for him! Having said that, while I was so curious for Damien's story..I still can't believe we haven't had Joe's story!
We have our new character in the form of Rose and I seriously loved her, in fact I think she might be my favourite! How can she not be with the obsession with Egyptology and Ancient History!? She was also delightfully eccentric and intelligent and so determined to do things her way! I mean I get why Joe and Damien did what they did, they where trying to help but I was right there with her being annoyed at them!
Damien and Rose are so perfect for each other, not going to lie! I mean I can't picture Damien with anyone but an Owl, and it makes for some brilliant scenes! I was sad we didn't get a scene with Rose and Kieran meeting properly though! Anyway, Damien gets Rose to have fun, and Rose gets Damien to chill out a bit, and they where so cute and adorable together!
OH and I want to mention a secondary character called Lindy because I completely loved the fact that she wasn't your standard popular girl, meaning she wasn't uber bitchy. She was actually really nice and I love how she was determined to befriend Rose, and was almost like a sister to her, telling others about Rose's achievements proudly and taking her under her wing! It was a nice touch!
Shaken was another brilliant book in a fantastic series! Stirling always delivers for me, we have more brilliant characters, a complex plot with plenty of action and twists to keep you on you guessing that's wrapped up perfectly by the end of the book without feeling rushed! Not to mention an adorable romance that brings the warm and fuzzies to the cold cockles of my heart! Seriously, the ending was so freaking adorable I can't even. I still can't even!
Shaken is romance and thrills with plenty of action to keep you on the edge of your seat, and glued to the book! I love the idea of the YDA, Young Detective Agency, it sounds awesome and I love reading about it and the students and the different groups they occupy, I kind of wish it existed! Brilliantly written, you can easily breeze through it in one sitting like I did! It's one of those books and series that you can re-read whenever you need a mood lift, or just fancy it! The books have plenty of humour to them to have you laughing out loud and looking like a crazy person! I'm not sure how many other books there will be in this series, but I'm really hoping we'll be getting Joe's story next, poor old Joe, he's had a rough time of it! For now I'll be getting pumped for the release of the 6th and final Savant book which is Summer's story! I'm so excited for it!
