Thus With a Kiss I Die

 

Thus With A Kiss I Die- Christina Dodd

 A John Scognamiglio Book

Release Date: June 24, 2025

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: I’m 20-years-old and by my own design, never been wed, free as no married woman ever is. I’m beautiful, but without conceit, for Juliet, my legendary Mamma is the most gorgeous creature to ever walk the earth. Just ask Romeo, my legendary Papà. (Rumors of their deaths were premature.) I was heartwhole until I fell (literally) in love with Lysander of the House of Beautiful. But our love was not to be, for I was thwarted by Escalus, the Prince of Verona . . . who had designs on me. 

I’m trapped. 

Then! I’m presented with a solution. Escalus’s father, Prince Escalus the Elder, appears to me. He tasks that I find his killer. Did I mention Elder is a ghost?

Given that I only recently dispatched Verona’s first serial killer, I’m less than pleased. Yet Elder promises to unite me with my One True Love, so I gather clues. Meanwhile, revolution threatens, for beneath Verona society’s glittering surface lurk dark shadows—and an enemy eager to make me a tragic heroine in my own right . . .

___________________________________________________

After the events of A Daughter of Fair Verona Rosie (Rosalind Montague) was hoping for some quite time to figure out how to deal with her unwanted surprise betrothal to Prince Escalus- or even better, figure out how to get out of the betrothal. Then Escalus's father gives her the perfect solution: figure out who murdered him (yes, he's a ghost) and he'll help her out. That promise along with the fact that she can't back down from a challenge and Rosie's in. After all, how dangerous can investigating a 20 year old murder be?

Christina Dodd takes us back to Verona, where Romeo and Juliet didn't die but had a large family instead. Rosie claims to be the sensible one, but she's also headstrong and enjoys a challenge to prove she's as capable as any man. When murderers are about, some caution might be a good idea. In this book she shows some signs of growth into the role she'll inhabit as princess of Verone, and it will definitely be fun continuing to watch her drag the prince's household into her way of thinking. The signs are already clear in a few fun scenes (like when Rosie finally takes over the prince's kitchens) and she meets Escalus's grandmother, who looks like she'll be an enthusiastic participant. 

The scenes with Rosie and Escalus are a lot of fun, the two have good chemistry even if Rosie doesn't quite recognize that's what it is, and when Cal (as she starts calling him) gets off his dignity the two work really well together. Elder's ghost didn't contribute much to help solve the mystery but he is good comic relief.

The writing is mostly modern with some very comic one-liners: you should find yourself having some laugh out loud moments!

An excellent sequel to A Daughter of Fair Verona, I think I enjoyed it even more. A fun and fast summer read that will keep you entertained!

Daughter of Fair Verona

Daughter of Fair Verona- Christina Dodd

Release Date: June 25, 2024

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Once upon a time a young couple met and fell in love. You probably know that story, and how it ended ( badly). Only here’s the That’s not how it ended at all.

Romeo and Juliet are alive and well and the parents of seven kids. I’m the oldest, with the emphasis on ‘old’—a certified spinster at twenty, and happy to stay that way. It’s not easy to keep your taste for romance with parents like mine. Picture it—constant monologues, passionate declarations, fighting, making up, making out . . . it’s exhausting.

Each time they’ve presented me with a betrothal, I’ve set out to find the groom-to-be a more suitable bride. After all, someone sensible needs to stay home and manage this household. But their latest match, Duke Stephano, isn’t so easy to palm off on anyone else. The debaucher has had three previous wives—all of whom met unfortunate ends. Conscience forbids me from consigning another woman to that fate. As it turns out, I don’t have to . . .

At our betrothal ball—where, quite by accident, I meet a beautiful young man who makes me wonder if perhaps there is something to love at first sight—I stumble upon Duke Stephano with a dagger in his chest. But who killed him? His late wives’ families, his relatives, his mistress, his servants—half of Verona had motive. And when everyone around the Duke begins dying, disappearing, or descending into madness, I know I must uncover the killer . . . before death lies on me like an untimely frost.

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 If Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet didn't end in death, what would have happened? The "happily ever after" everyone wanted. Then 20 years later, we would get The Daughter of Fair Verona. Romeo and Juliet now have 6 kids and another on the way. The oldest, Rosaline (call me Rosie) is practical, hates poetry, and has managed to get out of her previous betrothals by matchmaking the men with women they were better suited for. She's smart, can do math, studies alchemy with the Friar who married her parents and promises he doesn't make those pesky sleep-like-death potions anymore. But when Duke Stephano insists on a betrothal, Romeo can't say no and Rosie doesn't know how to get out of it. It's rumored the man has murdered each of his three wives, no one likes him, so what is Rosie to do?

Nothing as it turns out. He's found dead at their engagement party, a knife in his chest. Which would be great, especially since Rosie meets a guy she's sure is her True Love the same day. But people start thinking she's the one who killed the Duke. More bodies follow and Rosie, her Nurse (who's gotten a lot tougher since her days trying to keep Juliet in line) and Prince Escalus need to find out who is killing people before Rosie is attacked by a mob- or gets killed herself. Rosie wants to be able to marry her love Lysander and not get killed, Prince Escalus really doesn't want a mob in his city, and Nurse was hoping at some point her job would involve less drama. Will anyone get their wish?

This was a fun rom-com historical mystery. Rosie's description of what actually happened to her parents instead of Shakespeare's version in the first few pages will have you laughing out loud (you've been warned!). Rosie herself is a delightful mix of snarky humor, self-awareness, and Montague temper that sometimes overrides good sense. And while she may be a good matchmaker for others, let's just say I saw what was coming her way by the time they'd hauled the first dead body out while she didn't figure it out until the surprise scene at the end. Everyone has blind spots for themselves I guess. 

Solving the murder was a fun combination of Rosie, Nurse, Prince Escalus, Lysander, Friar Laurent, and others each combining knowledge and clues. What was kind of fun was even when you had a good suspicion of who did it, you still didn't know who did it or why until the end, even though all the clues were there for you. 

I enjoyed how Christina Dodd played with the world and the characters, allowing Rosie's parents or the Nurse to be blind to something until Rosie realizes they are just pretending to not see it. Romeo teaches all his children sword skills and Juliet pretends not to know until she gets mad at him and then says he better make sure to step up the secret training- and Romeo and the kids realize they aren't as sneaky as they thought they were! There are beautiful descriptions of what it would be like to walk down the streets, what you'd see and smell and experience, that I loved. The foods and wines leap off the pages in wonderful descriptions.

The one thing that took a little getting used to was the odd combination of more 'historic' speech with very modern language. I'm still not sure how I feel about that. I'm glad the whole book didn't go for a 'Shakespeare' feel to the language, since that would have slowed the pacing and this worked really well as a fast paced romantic comedy. The older' language tended to stay in more 'formal' situations, which worked, but sometimes it inched out into others, which didn't. The more modern language mostly stayed in casual interactions, which worked, or when Rosie is talking to us as a narrator, which worked, but then sometimes bled over into other situations, where it didn't.  That's the reason I'd give the book an actual rating of 3.5.

Overall a fun read. Fast and humorous, with entertaining nods to Shakespeare if you look but nothing that won't ruin things if you aren't a big Shakespeare fan. Definitely note- this is book one of a series. The mystery gets solved, but there will be further adventures to look forward to!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Strangers She Knows

Strangers She Knows (Cape Charade 3)- Christina Dodd
HQN Books
Release Date: September 17, 2019

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: I have three deadly problems:

1. I've seriously offended a maniacal killer.

2. I just had a bullet removed from my brain.

3. My new daughter is growing up too fast--and she's in the line of fire.

Living on an obscure, technology-free island off California means safety from the murderer who hunts Kellen Adams and her new family.... Or does it? Family time becomes terror-time, and at last, alone, Kellen faces a killer playing a cruel game. Only one can survive, and Kellen knows who must win...and who must die.

__________________________________________________________________

After years of fighting for it, Kellen Adams is finally starting to have the life and family she always wanted.  Her only problems now consist of recovering from brain surgery and her daughter Rae growing up too fast- while Kellen is only just getting used to even having a daughter! Then Kellen and husband Max learn that their old enemy, psychotic serial killer Mara Phillips, has escaped prison and is hunting them down.  The small family moves to a tiny, technology-free island off the coast of California for safety while the professionals track Mara down.  Family time has potential for bonding time, but also for danger when Mara and a typhoon visit the island.  Kellen knows it's up to her to face Mara- and only one of them can come out of this game alive.

Strangers She Knows concludes Christina Dodd's Cape Charade series (Dead Girl Running, What Doesn't Kill Her) in intense style. The trilogy has followed Kellen Adams: Army veteran, hotel manager, and a woman who has had more than her share of hardships, danger, and surprises in life, as she becomes part of a family with Max and Rae while still balancing danger and duty. The first part of Strangers focuses mostly on Kellen getting herself back together both physically and mentally, and the three of them creating memories and bonds that they missed out on as Rae was growing up without Kellen.  This includes some humorous father-daughter bonding over repairing (or trying to) a F-100 truck, discovering the story of the previous owners of the island, and wonderful reactions to dynamite in the fridge that are classic Kellen and Max. 

 Mara Phillips (Dead Girl Running) was supposed to be locked up forever, but in true criminal mastermind fashion, Mara escapes and comes after Kellen and anyone else she believes betrayed her.  When Dodd decides to go for a crazed and disturbing villain, she comes up with a villain who will chill your blood- and Mara is definitely her crowning achievement! The last hundred or so pages of Strangers, where Mara truly sets her plans into motion, is a non-stop terrifying roller coaster of action and emotion.  

New readers won't feel completely lost since enough background is provided to Kellen's former life and Mara to keep them going, but I think readers will certainly get the most out the characters and their growth by reading the trilogy in order. And I don't think I'm giving away any spoilers when I say I hope I'm not the only one who had the ending of Jaws in the back of their minds when reading the grand finale of Strangers. Followed closely by thinking: I never saw that coming and of course that's what would happen.   Readers of suspense thrillers by Jayne Ann Krentz and J.D. Robb, and Christina Dodd's earlier thrillers, will defiantly enjoy the adventures of Strangers She Knows!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

What Doesn't Kill Her

What Doesn't Kill Her (Cape Charade Book 2)- Christina Dodd
HQN Books
Release Date: January 29, 2019

Rating:
📚📚📚📚

Warning: Possible Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: Kellen Adams suffers from a yearlong gap in her memory. A bullet to the brain will cause that. But she's discovering the truth, and what she learns changes her life, her confidence, her very self. She finds herself in the wilderness, on the run, unprepared, her enemies unknown--and she is carrying a priceless burden she must protect at all costs. The consequences of failure would break her. And Kellen Adams does not break.

_____________________________________________________________________

When Captain Kellen Adams learned in the end of Dead Girl Running that she had a seven-year-old daughter she didn't know about, she knew that her life was going to change.  In the beginning of What Doesn't Kill Her , Kellen is trying to learn how to have a civilian life with a man she isn't sure still loves her, that man's mother (who really doesn't love her) and a daughter.  It isn't working well and Kellen is feeling lost. So when she gets offered a simple security job to help drive a potentially priceless artifact from the airport to a reclusive authenticator, she jumps on it.  Warning bells go off (and then explosions go off) and Kellen finds herself in the wilderness with an artifact, a stowaway daughter, and a bunch of bad guys trying to kill her.  While most people would call that impossible, to Kellen Adams "impossible" just means "harder to do".

Kellen is a great heroine.  She has overcome the trauma and torture of her past to become a fast-acting, fast-thinking Army veteran on par with J.D. Robb's Eve Dallas.  But, like Eve, while Kellen is confident the Army has trained her for handling life-and-death situations, she has no idea how to handle a seven-year-old daughter and all the complications that come with a new civilian family life. She doesn't instantly fall in love with daughter Rae and while Rae's father Max doesn't understand that, the reader certainly can.  Rae may be a happy and intelligent child, but insta-bonding with a strange kid is not realistic- in fiction or reality.  Having to keep Rae alive through a mountain journey teaches both mother and daughter important lessons, and the ties that develop during the trip make a much better foundation for a relationship than Max had hoped for.  As Kellen and Max begin to think that at least some of the trouble had less to do with a priceless artifact and more to do with someone wanting Kellen dead, the two of them do some much needed bonding of their own.  By the end of the book, I was convinced that the little family had a great start to a long and happy, trouble free life.  Except of course, Kellen never does anything the easy way. Be ready for a bit of a cliffhanger ending that Dodd will have to solve in the next book!

The double plot of people after the artifact and people after Kellen blended well- Dodd is a master of her craft and knows how to keep readers engaged with drama and suspense.  People who have read Dead Girl Running will be happy to see some cameos from those characters and be proud of Kellen as she continues to battle the past and the present.  People new to the series will get good backgrounds and explanations and not feel lost dropping in to the second book in a series.  And all of us will probably secretly (or not so secretly) wish we were bad-ass enough to take Kellen's life motto as our own:

What doesn't kill her . . . had better start running!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Dead Girl Running

Dead Girl Running (Cape Charade)- Christina Dodd
HQN Books
Release Date: April 24, 2018

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Synopsis: Girl running...from a year she can't remember, from a husband she prays is dead, from homelessness and fear. Tough, capable Kellen Adams takes a job as assistant manager of a remote vacation resort on the North Pacific Coast. There amid the towering storms and the lashing waves, she hopes to find sanctuary. But when she discovers a woman's dead and mutilated body, she's soon trying to keep her own secrets while investigating first one murder...then another. 

Now every guest and employee is a suspect. Every friendly face a mask. Every kind word a lie. Kellen's driven to defend her job, her friends and the place she's come to call home. Yet she wonders--with the scar of a gunshot on her forehead and amnesia that leaves her unsure of her own past--could the killer be staring her in the face?

________________________________________________________________

Dead Girl Running begins Christina Dodd's new Cape Charade series with a bang.  Smuggling, stolen artifacts, murder and blackmail all within the first few pages let the reader know just what kind of pace Dodd is going to set for the book, and she lives up to it.  Running's heroine, Kellen Adams, is a puzzle of conflicting pieces: strong, intelligent, independent, while also plagued by nightmares, emotionally fragile, and not always sure she trusts her own mind.  A retired Army veteran, Kellen has been through the war zones (literally) but some of her worst nightmares happened in the United States.  She has a gunshot wound scar on her head and can't remember a year of her life.  

Dodd (Because I'm Watching) does a good job of introducing the reader to Kellen, and let's us see Kellen's confusion and divided self more and more as the book progresses.  Kellen spends most of the book trying to live up to the memory of her cousin and make her proud- only to discover that while she pretended to be that strong person, she actually became that person. In trying to solve the murders shaking up her quiet life at Cape Charade, Kellen finds herself dealing with a suspicious possible-federal agent, obnoxious hotel staff, suspicious guests, and friends she thought she knew and trusted.  Then in comes security expert Max Di Luca (of the Bella Terra De Lucas) and Kellen gets even more confused.  She doesn't know Max, but something about him seems familiar.  Could he be a part of her missing year?  The ending of Dead Girl Running was as energetic and action-packed as any action movie.  But what I liked best was that Kellen remained the independent warrior she had trained herself to be.  She didn't need Max to save her, she saved herself. Repeatedly.     

Readers should be warned that the end of Dead Girl Running isn't the end.  We have to wait until next year's What Doesn't Kill Me to answer some of the questions about Kellen's past- not to mention what she decides for her future!  But the mystery to Running is solved, so don't fear a cliff-hanger of an ending!  Dead Girl Running does contain some scenes of domestic violence and abuse. Dodd handles these scenes and their emotional aftermath with sensitivity, but readers should be aware for possible triggers.

Fans of Dodd's Virtue Falls series will cheer this move down the coast to the Yearning Sands Resort and new readers will wonder how they went so long without reading anything by Christina Dodd.  A must read for all mystery/suspense lovers! 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Woman Who Couldn't Scream

The Woman Who Couldn't Scream (Virtue Falls #4)- Christina Dodd
St. Martin's Press
Release Date: September 5, 2017

Warning: Potential Spoilers Ahead!

Taking (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Merida Falcon is a world-class beauty, a trophy wife who seems to have it all...except she has no voice. For nine bitter years, she lived to serve her wealthy elderly husband. On his death, Merida vanishes...and reappears in Virtue Falls with a new name, a new look, and a plot to take revenge on the man who loved her, betrayed her and walked away, leaving her silent, abused and bound to an old man's obsession.

But Merida faces challenges. Her school friend Kateri Kwinault is the newly elected sheriff of Virtue Falls. A chance meeting with her former lover intrigues him and brings him on the hunt for her, and meeting him face to face shakes her convictions. Will she have time to discover the truth about the events that occurred nine years ago? For someone in Virtue Falls is stalking women and slashing them...to death.

Danger closes in. Merida's fears build. There's no one to turn to...no one she dares to trust. And she has to wonder--who is the killer stalking? Is he trying to silence forever THE WOMAN WHO COULDN'T SCREAM?

_______________________________

Christina Dodd ends her Virtue Falls series with a bang in The Woman Who Couldn't Scream.  It's the story Kateri Kwinault fans have been waiting for since Virtue Falls first came out, combined with the suspenseful story of Merida Falcon.  Merida and Kateri were friends years ago, before life pulled them in separate ways.  Kateri shunned her rich father's family for Virtue Falls, her drunken mother, and life on the rez. She's just been elected the first woman (and first Native American) sheriff in Virtue Falls and its an uphill battle all the way.  Fortunately she's got a loyal cocker spaniel named Lacey and a love interest/complication named Stag to keep her grounded.   Merida fell in love, nearly died, lost her voice, married an abusive older man, and then disappeared after his death.  She's in Virtue Falls with a new name and a plan for revenge.  Meeting Kateri after so many years, she begins to wonder if revenge will make her feel better after all.  Reconnecting with an old lover (and a man who may have tried to kill her) means her emotions start getting tangled in her plans.  Now there are at least two killers running around Virtue Falls.  It's Kateri's job to figure out who they are and stop them, it's Merida's job to stay alive long enough to separate the murderers from the friends!

Like the last Virtue Falls book (one of my all time personal favorites) Because I'm Watching, The Woman Who Couldn't Scream is a high-octane, fast-paced psychological thriller.  We meet Merida in small pieces, through the eyes of others, before she moves to Virtue Falls. Once there we see things through her eyes, but even Merida doesn't know all the pieces of her past- which means we get to discover along with her the twists and turns of the tragic 'accident' that took her voice and changed the course of her life forever.  Dodd does a masterful job giving us hints to the truth while keeping the big surprises for the very end.  It was also great to have so much of the story focus on Kateri.  If you'e read the rest of the series it's guaranteed you've been waiting to see how she does as sheriff, how she's going to deal with the tragedy that changed her own life, and what the deal is with Stag.  Good guy, bad guy? Bit of both?  Both women struggle with internal conflicts as well as external preconceptions and prejudices to make (and keep) a life they are happy with and entitled to- you're cheering them on from page one. 

For being a small town Virtue Falls has more than its fair share of killers.  Kateri is trying to catch a father/son set of killers who shot up a cafe (injuring her and putting her good friend and fan favorite Rainbow into a coma) and now seem to be determined to pay back anyone who ever annoyed them.  Then more bodies start turning up, badly mutilated.  Serial killer or local crazy?  One or multiple killers?  You'd think the solution to this wouldn't work or be convincing, but Dodd pulls off another brilliant blending of characters and motives, ending in a chilling battle for survival.  There's so much to say about how great Merida and Kateri are portrayed, that there's no doing them justice except to say: these are two strong women who, in the end, aren't afraid to save themselves.

While you don't have to have read any of the other books in this series to thoroughly enjoy The Woman Who Couldn't Scream, many of the characters have appeared in the other books and you'll enjoy following their lives (plus the other books are also awesome) so I recommend if you don't read them first, you'll enjoy going back and reading them after finishing Woman.  

A great, fast-paced book that will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole way.  Warning- this may be a book you can't put down once you've started it!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Because I'm Watching

Because I'm Watching (Virtue Falls #3)- Christina Dodd
St. Martin's Press
Release Date: September 6, 2016

Warning: Potential Spoilers!

Rating (out of 5):

📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:The survivor of a college dorm massacre, a woman accused of her lover's murder, Madeline Hewitson is haunted by ghosts and tormented by a killer only she can see. At night, she works, writing and drawing the monster that slithers through her imagination, and living in fear of those moments when the doors of her mind unhinge and her nightmare lives in the daylight. 
A seasoned military veteran, Jacob Denisov lives alone in his small, darkened home, sleepless, starving, and angry. Every day he lives with the guilt that comes from his own failures and the carnage that followed. When neighbor Madeline Hewitson drives her car through the front wall of his house, she breaks his house--and his life--wide open. Forced to view the world outside, Jacob watches Maddie, recognizes a kindred spirit and wonders what she fears more than herself. Has someone caught her in a twisted labyrinth of revenge and compassion, guilt and redemption, murder and madness? 
When Maddie's imaginary killer takes form, she fights, screaming her fear and defiance. But will she be strong enough to triumph, or is the killer she fears no more than a shadow, an illusion ... that watches? 
        _____________________________________________________________________________

After reading Christina Dodd's last Virtue Falls book, Obsession Falls, I knew exactly how I was going to read Because I'm Watching.  During the day, with lights on, and absolutely not allow myself to read before then trying to go to sleep, no matter how deep into the book I was.  Obsession Falls took Dodd's mystery series to a whole new level of terrifying creepiness and psychological thriller that makes for a great read, but not a nighttime relaxing book when you live alone in the middle of nowhere.  Based on the blurb for Watching, I wasn't going to make this a night book!

Although book 3 in a series, it's a stand alone that allows new readers into the heart of the quaint little town of Virtue Falls.  The quiet kind of town where everyone gets in everyone's business, yet dangerous secrets still manage to hide.  New resident Jacob Denisov lives in a quiet historical neighborhood, dealing with demons from his army days, a massive case of PTSD, and no desire to interact with the outside world.  The outside world forces itself on him when neighbor Maddie Hewitson accidentally drives her car through the front of his house.  Suddenly Jacob has to deal with annoying insurance agents, nosy neighbors, incessant construction crews, arsonists, and Maddie.  Everyone is convinced Maddie is crazy, but Jacob sees a kindred spirit fighting her own demons.  The question is: are those demons in her head, or real?

Maddie and Jacob may be two of the most complex characters I've ever read.  Both damaged by past horrors, both trying to decide how to deal with them and if it is possible to move forward.  As always, Dodd's secondary characters are equally well-written and detailed.  Series readers will enjoy catching up with familiar faces, but new readers won't feel left behind.

Because I'm Watching definitely continues to make Virtue Falls a series of thrillers, but I was glad it didn't try to top Obsession Falls on the terror factor. It's a good, solid, fast paced mystery with twists and turns to keep you on your feet, wonderful atmosphere, and with Dodd's trademark humor coming through exactly when you need it.  A great new read for Christina Dodd fans and thriller fans alike!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.