GRR Reviews Find Me, Save Me by Barbara Gee

FBI Special Agent Tucker had been chasing after the brutal and sadistic kingpin Jimmy for years. He actually arrested Jimmy once, but he somehow bribed enough cops to convince a judge that the evidence was planted and he was released on bail. By the time the dirty cops confessed, Jimmy is gone. Now Jimmy wants revenge... by kidnapping Libby, Tucker's sister. Unfortunately, they got the wrong girl... Her neighbor Madison instead. No matter, they'll torture her on camera. // Tucker must save Maddie, and eventually, he did. He admired the courage of Madison for standing up to the sadistic kingpin but he didn't know she had admired him from afar through his sister. Can he dare love her? Or will he decide his job only bring pain to those he loved?

The procedural stuff seems okay, and the tech details looks about right. But the problem here is Madison and Tucker didn't really spend that much time together. For half of the book she's being tortured hoping for a rescue. The other half she's mostly in the hospital and/or being moved to a secure location while Tucker tries to find Jimmy and arrest him for real. They barely met and spend much time together. Jimmy's plan and motivation also doesn't really make sense other than "he's a sadistic bastard". That's a pretty shallow villain.

3/5

GRR Reviews Help Me, Hold Me by Barbara Gee

Vince was thankful for the rehab he had received at the Full Heart Ranch that he had achieved his best hockey season ever. So when it's time to go back, he didn't hesitate. Sand and surf have can't compete with friendly people and horses. // Callie's grandpa Jeremiah is dying of cancer, and it's terminal. While Callie's happy about having a pro-hockey player in town (at least temporarily),  her mood is still somber... Vince met Callie, and wanted to protect her and help her, and Jeremiah, intending to matchmake the pair, revealed a secret to Vince... to be revealed to Callie only AFTER Jeremiah's death... But they didn't know that Callie's life is already in danger...

The plot sorta made sense, and sort of didn't. The problem I have is with the age, which means I have to spoil the plot.

SPOILER

AHEAD

I WARNED

YOU!

Okay, turns out Callie's actually a kidnapped heiress, and it was her brother that got the nanny (whom he's bonking) to "get rid of her", but nanny can't do it, so nanny ran off and pretended to be her mom, while making everybody else believe she drowned. Even if she didn't have much memory, she was, what? 4 or 6? And her brother, bonking the nanny is like what? More than eighteen? And it's now, what? Almost twenty years later, and he wants to finish the job? Motivation for cover-up here is really lame. She didn't know anything, and even with she around she wouldn't divide up the fortune THAT much, could she? By attempting to kill her, he had actually caused the very thing he tried to avoid. Really made no sense at all. There's a lot of tell not show, as a lot of background was revealed through a private investigator. And that barely made sense. Furthermore, the suspense didn't mix well with the romance. It's as if we are reading two different books spliced together. 3/5