Laura’s Review of Property Of by C.P. Smith

Synopsis

          “Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.” ― Oscar Wilde

          Author Nicola Royse dreamed of Scottish Highlanders as a teen then wrote about them as an adult. Always looking but never finding her own White Knight, she still held out hope that he would one day ride up on his trusty steed. He rode up all right, on a silver Harley with heat in his eyes and a detective's badge on his hip while she and her friends plotted her first contemporary romantic suspense. Of course, life couldn't' imitate art without a killer on the loose, one that had Nicola and her friends in his sights.

          Detective Dallas Vaughn dedicated his life to catching killers. Then one day he bumped into the girl-next-door, and all that changed. Now he's her White Knight fighting against a Dark Prince—one who would love to see her dead.

What I Loved

          I loved Nicola’s quirky personality, I think it’s probably what made this story so amazing.  She sees everything around her as one big romance; people watching turns into character development, catfishing on the internet turns into a new romantic mystery plot and so the story develops from there.  Nicola was definitely a character that is instantly lovable and relatable, which made it so easy for me to become engrossed in her story.  The same can be said for one hot alpha male detective Dallas Vaughn.  He’s a total bad ass, built like the college football player he used to be makes for some fun times between him and Nicola.  I loved the instant chemistry between them, but also the complete klutziness mostly on Nicola’s part the first few times they meet.  This story makes me want to visit a coffee shop every day of the week and see if I can run into some man and spill my coffee all over him. 

          I love that not only is this a romance, but a murder mystery wrapped up into it.  The scary parts as well as the romantic ones kept me on my toes and turning the page just so I can see how all this was going to end.  There are some really funny moments in this story, along with heart breaking, and suspenseful ones, and I loved every minute of it.

Not So Much

            Usually I can’t stand books that severely lack details that are needed to paint the whole picture of a story.  But with this story there were times where was there was just a little too much.  Don’t get me wrong, I love that we got to learn just as much about Tulsa as we did Nicola and Dallas, but it became tiresome after a while.  Sometimes the descriptions were just a little too long winded and I felt stalled the plot rather than adding to the story.

          Also I kind of wish there was a bit more action and danger.  There’s a couple times the story switches to the killer’s point of view, and I wish there was a little bit more of that.  The story didn’t really start to move until about 60% of the way through which made the beginning of the book a little slow and kind of boring at times.

To Sum It All Up!

          I really enjoy C.P. Smith books and this one is no exception to that.  I love that not only do we get introduced to Dallas and Nicola and her group of friends but we also learn tons about Tulsa Oklahoma.  The details at times were a little too weighted down but C.P. Smith is one of the few authors that has the ability to introduce you to a town or city and it almost be another character added in.  She has such a wonderful way of painting the entire picture, by not only telling you the background but showing how it connects to the plot and characters. 

          Along with some pretty funny moments caused by Nicola’s two twin brothers and her friends.  There are some really heartfelt ones and some very sad ones as well.  I love books that can cause a range of emotions in a reader and this one did exactly that.  This was a great read filled with a quirky lovable female character and hot sexy alpha male detective.  There isn’t a thing I don’t love about Nicola or Dallas and even though the epilogue was great and gives you closure, I still wanted more!