Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: Cross Her Heart (Bree Taggert Book 1)

Top positive review

My new favourite character

Reviewed in Australia on 2 September 2021

Ladybug is quite possibly the best supporting character ever. Now I’ve got that out of the way, all the other characters in Cross Her Heart are pretty outstanding, too. With Melinda Leigh each book series just gets better than the last and the bar is extremely high.

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Fergie51

Shame

Reviewed in Australia on 15 June 2022

I cannot wrap my head around the frivolous ownership and lack of control of guns in America and when I began reading this it sent chills down my spine. Pulled out at less than halfway, this book just sells the concept that violence and shooting is acceptable. More social responsibility is needed.

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Kindle Customer

Well worth reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 May 2022

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Excellent characters and a good story with character development and twists. Looking forward to the next book in the series

Kindle Customert

Really worth reading

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 September 2020

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A good book. Lots of twists and turns. Keeps you guessing until (almost) the end. Interesting characters all worked in together.

ladyluck

Thrilling

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 February 2022

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Good characters

Pip and Nigel Davey

Well written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 July 2020

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As all Melinda Leigh's book, this is well written with good characters.

Valerie

A very good read got to know characters now reading second book in series

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2020

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A good read

Mindo'ermatter

Familiar Story With New Twists!

Reviewed in the United States on 19 March 2020

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Without a doubt, Melinda Leigh is a great storyteller! She brings her strong women characters to life, making them people we want to know---friends. This first book of a new series will not disappoint. I've already preordered Book 2.

The story focuses on Bree Taggert, a Philadelphia homicide detective who gets a desperate voicemail from her younger sister saying she's it trouble. Yikes!

Bree and her sister had a troubled youth, something that created a special bond, but the urgent call brings Bree unexpectedly back to her hometown an into the middle of a murder with more questions than answers. Once you start reading, you'll want to finish. Hold on!!

The author's reader-friendly storyline creates an engaging mystery thriller with plenty of suspense and tension but without the cheap shock and trauma elements that too easily destroy a good book.

The story plotline has a strong human element with believable dialogue, all built around family needs and small town values, but not without lots of conflicts and differing motivations, each revealed as the story develops. I especially enjoyed how the author made me feel I was right there---trying to figure everything out. Who to trust? Who to watch?

Even though the storyline is similar to many of the author's previous works, it was a satisfying reading experience because I trusted the author and knew it would be a worthwhile read. This novel is a great escape read for a rainy weekend or a long trip.

I've also become a big fan of Audible's narrations that make the storytelling even more interesting with just the right amount of dramatic flair in this version.

After several recent strange books, it was good to get lost in a reader-friendly novel again. So glad this first book in the series had a solid ending, while also creating a good series foundation with some interesting characters and potential adventures for future installments.

118 people found this helpful

M A Martin

In my opinion, Melinda Leigh has written many 5-star books but this one is really, really good

Reviewed in the United States on 22 March 2020

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This is one very good thriller - I highly recommend it.

It’s always good to start a book series with the first book. To do so provides you with the history of the main characters. Cross Her Heart provides a thorough description of what Philadelphia Police Department Homicide Detective Bree Taggert and former Sheriff’s deputy Matt Flynn have been through.

After Bree collars a criminal she has chased down, she listens to a voice mail message from her sister, Erin, in which Erin sounds like she is scared and says she is in trouble asking for Bree’s help. Bree immediately arranges for time off to go to Grey’s Hollow, New York, where she was born and where her sister Erin, and her brother Adam, still live.

Before Bree can get there, Matt Flynn, a former Sheriff’s deputy and K9 officer, who was shot in the line of duty, as a result of which can no longer pass a firearms test because of the damage done to his dominate hand from a “friendly fire” bullet, arrives at the house where his long-time friend Justin Moore, lives. Because of an injury received in an automobile accident, Justin has become addicted to OxyContin.

Erin did not want drugs in the house where her children lived and so she asked him to move out. He was now attending NA meetings and, since he was not allowed to drive, Matt picked him up and took him to meetings. When Matt and Brody, his former K9 partner and now his personal pet, arrived to pick Justin up, Brody alerted Matt to the fact that something was not right. When Matt finally entered the house he found Erin in Justin’s bedroom floor dead from a gunshot wound with Justin nowhere to be found.

Bree arrived at Erin’s house to find two deputies searching it. Upon their advice, she went to the Sheriff’s office to learn where her sister was and why her house was being searched. The acting Sheriff, Chief Deputy Todd Harvey, advised her that her sister had been shot and killed and her nephew and niece were with their Uncle Adam. The previous Sheriff had been found guilty of corruption and had committed suicide and it seemed as though no one wanted the job.

Realizing that both the individual who found the body and the individual who knew the victim best were experienced police officers, Todd asked both of them to steer clear of the investigation since they were too close to it. Since Bree knew of Matt’s history as a deputy sheriff, she wanted to talk to him about the situation.

Upon leaving the Sheriff’s office, Matt found Bree waiting for him. She asked to talk to him in private so he took her to his house. Unfortunately, because of an incident that happened when she was a child, Bree was terribly afraid of dogs and Brody was a large German Shepherd who looked a lot meaner than he was. Recognizing this, Matt sent Brody to his cage.

Matt and Bree agreed that it seemed certain Todd had already made up his mind that Justin had killed Erin. Matt assured Bree that he did not believe Justin was the killer. They also agreed they did not have confidence in the ability of the Sheriff’s office to find out who killed Erin. They decided to join forces and “work the case” together.

Then, of course, there is the matter of the secondary characters, Luke and Kayla, Erin’s children, Adam, Bree’s and Erin’s artist brother, Dana, Bree’s partner in Philadelphia, Craig, the children’s biological father, to whom Erin was never married and who is not named on their birth certificates, and Marge, who is the woman who “runs” the sheriff’s office from the receptionist’s desk.

All of these secondary characters have important roles and you will find them very interesting. So, by all means, read this book.

48 people found this helpful

Jessica Madden

Disappointed

Reviewed in the United States on 29 May 2020

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I was a little disappointed in this. I've really enjoyed the previous books I've read by Leigh, and I had high hopes for this one. But to me this "mystery" was incredibly obvious. As soon as the bad guy had a scene with Bree it was clear to me. I suppose when the mystery is obvious, but your main character is clueless, its hard not to see them as being at least somewhat incompetent. The only reason it was sort of acceptable is because of the grief she was going through. It was also disappointing that the ending was inevitable. While the POV of the killer insinuated Bree was going to stuff things up, it really had zero to do with Bree. Their entire investigation was just a wild goose chase meant to stretch out the book. That ending was always going to happen. A person in that frame of mind was always going to snap. When they were commended on their investigating skills I had to scoff. They got everything wrong/didn't add much to the overall case. The clue that lead them to the killer was there all along. And even then they focused on the wrong person. Add in a custody subplot which is a personal pet peeve of mine, and I found my mind drifting with this one. I hope the second one in this series will be smoother and the mystery less easy to solve. In terms of the romance, there was none. Having said that, there was also no chemistry between Bree and Matt. He doesn't really even need to feature in another book. But I'm sure he will. I didn't appreciate how pushy he was when it came to the dog thing. Bree has a legitimate fear and because he's not afraid, he pushed. It felt annoying and gross that he thought he knew better than Bree about her own mind. He forced her hand since he knew the kids would fall for that dog. He wasn't even apologetic about it.

Overall this is my least favourite book by Leigh. However, the narrator on the audible version was good, and it'd make for a good distraction if you're looking for an afternoon read. If you have liked her previous works then you'll likely like this one. There are many similarities. Dead sibling and kids needing to be looked after resulting in a move back to a hometown and career change (Hour of Need), the name Brody (Minutes to Kill), Dana is clearly the new version of Grandpa (Morgan Dane series), ex-cop shot in the line of duty (Lance from the Morgan Dane series) and I'm sure there are more, but you get the point.

33 people found this helpful

Chitown Reader

Good set-up for the books to come

Reviewed in the United States on 19 March 2020

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Cross Her Heart introduces us to Bree, a Philadelphia detective, and Matt, a former detective in Bree's hometown of Grey's Hollow. Bree left Grey's Hollow as a child after a traumatic event left Bree, her sister Erin and their baby brother Adam parentless. It reminds me very much of Say You're Sorry, the first book in the Morgan Dane series. It lays a foundation for the characters and offers a good mystery. The downer for me in this book is the same with Say You're Sorry, and that is the lack of emotional connection between Matt and Bree. I know that element will come in future books and I look forward to it.

Pluses: good mystery that kept me guessing until late in the book when I was able to figure it out before the big reveal; depth of character development for Bree, her siblings and Matt; good background on Grey's Hollow; likeable characters who are not perfect but are good people. 4.5-stars and well worth the read.

36 people found this helpful

Chris A

First book in a new series

Reviewed in the United States on 8 April 2020

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I've not read any Melinda Leigh's books before and thought I'd try Cross Your Heart.

Reading some four and five star reviews I'm wondering if the readers read the same book as I did.

The book starts well and we are introduced to the central character (Bree); a fearless female cop. We learn about an awful past, there's a murder, and a commitment to investigate. All well and good.

Where the book begins to slide is through the introduction of the second central character - an ex-cop - who battles his own demons (shot in friendly fire and forced into retirement). This character has an ex-police dog. Don't get me wrong; I'm a dog lover but there's so much dog in the book, it distracts from the story.

The handy arrival of Bree's partner solves a convenient problem, the story is well-paced, but the ending was a little disappointing.

I'll probably read the next Bree book; there are elements in the first that make it an interesting read and opens the door to the next investigation.

21 people found this helpful

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