Review: Stroke of Luck

Stroke of Luck by B.J. Daniels
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book wasn't what I was expecting. I thought I was getting a western contemporary cowboy romance, but the book turned out to be more crime drama than romance. There is a little romance at the beginning of the book, and there is a little romance at the end of the book.

The middle of the book was occupied with murders that happen at the ranch while they are all snowed in together. Reminds me of an old Agatha Christie novel. Anyhow, there ends up being three people murdered in total; and there turns out to be three people who are in on the murders. And there's not that many guests who came up there.

To say that I was disappointed in the book is putting it mildly. The violence and the murder aspect just did not appeal to me at all. A lot of the book was focused on who did it, who is involved, stuff like that. It was not the book I expected.

One part of the book that I particularly remember, that I did not like, that I thought was very stupid writing, was one point where the guy and the girl were up in his apartment alone and were starting to get sexually involved. Then there's an explosion outside and he looks out the window and his barn is on fire. Now this is a ranch, and he keeps horses in his barn, and barns are important on a ranch. Yet, he stands there with her in his arms, debating on whether he wants to go outside and check on his burning barn or whether he wants to continue to pursue having sex with her. Now that was about the stupidest piece of writing I've ever read in a book, and it sort of ruins the rest of the book for me. I mean, what kind of cowboy, rancher, is he if he debates about going out to check on the burning barn!

I'm giving the book 3 stars, and I feel like I'm being generous there in giving it three stars. This is a book that had great potential but did not live up to it, and that is the writer's fault. She failed to bring out of the book all the story that was there to get.

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