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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From Australia

Pete

Plays with serious issues but not very seriously.

Reviewed in Australia on 21 October 2020

All the gravitas of an American network TV show. If you like your characters shallow with a neatly packaged happy ending, you will probably enjoy it.

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Ecaep

An enjoyable read.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 August 2020

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An enjoyable read.

But first, an annoying niggle. I got to page 6 where the author included some initials to do with law enforcement but with no indication as to their meaning. Presumably if you are in an American police force you know what they mean but to the rest of us it’s meaningless. I wasted some time searching the web to find out what they mean but to no avail and I can only conclude it was put in there to show how well the author has researched her subject. They added nothing to the story or our understanding. All it did was to annoy me and it wasn’t a good start to the book. Further into the book and it happened again. Leaving a book to research what’s she’s trying to convey does nothing for the enjoyment of said book. Again I couldn’t find the meaning. I won’t bore you by listing the other instances.

Onto the none niggle part! Does that even make sense? Anyway,
I enjoyed the rest of the book, which is light and easy to read. The central characters were all pleasant and the story engaging enough to keep me interested and wanting to read the follow up, which is unpublished as I write this. It certainly has potential as a new series. In fact I would go as far to say I am looking forward to seeing how everyone gets on with the new direction their lives are taking them.

The book would have had a higher rating except for the ludicrous situation of a character being kept alive at the end for absolutely no reason. Don’t get me wrong I was pleased he wasn’t killed off but a reason why he wasn’t would have been good. Even the writer couldn’t dream anything much up. It took the shine off what would otherwise be a decent ending.

15 people found this helpful

bodicea 1955

Cross my heart

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 July 2020

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Cross my heart this is a good read if you like a slow burn that's turns into a bonfire great

Neelabh Pratap Singh

Half police procedural, half family drama

Reviewed in India on 29 April 2022

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Having read Morgan Dane and Widow's Island, I've a fair idea about how Melinda Leigh goes about her story. The chapters alternate between solving the mystery and dealing with the personal life of the protagonist which is affected by the murder. Though the personal life/family drama part didn't really contribute much to the overall and so I end up skimming through those chapters. The mystery unfold slowly where the protagonists Bree Taggert and Matt investigate each suspect. The climax wasn't something shocking which you expect in crime thrillers, probably because it was a romantic suspense. Will try next book after some time.

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.

32 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

k odonnell

Pleasant enough

Reviewed in the United States on 22 December 2021

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I was excited when I selected this book, because of the ratings, and had hoped to have found a new favorite author. The opening was riveting and the ending sweet, but everything in between was ordinary. I came across a few inconsistencies, some of which were outright mistakes, that should have been discovered during edit. For example; the placement of the murder weapon. I gave the book a three star rating because the main characters were likable and believable. The story, although ordinary, was told well...at a decent and steady pace of development. I will read more of her work.

3 people found this helpful

Bren

It took awhile for me to get into it

Reviewed in the United States on 30 June 2021

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I have read other series by this author and I have very much enjoyed them. I had high hopes for this. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed. I was hoping for a story that I couldn't put down. This didn't happen for me until the action began. The storyline was good, the characters were just ok for me. I will continue to read the series. I hope it gets better.

3 people found this helpful

secyatlaw

This one made me cry throughout

Reviewed in the United States on 23 October 2021

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Oddly, for some reason, the primary death in this story made tears well up in my eyes; I lost my brother this year, sequelae to a catastrophic stoke he suffered in 2013.

The plot brought up red herrings and divergent suspects with various potential motives, alibis, and weaponry, but the reason for the death of Bree’s sister was an “aha” moment.

A good read.

2 people found this helpful

Rosemary

Nice start of new series

Reviewed in the United States on 6 February 2022

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Bree and her siblings had a tragic beginning. That set her on a path to law enforcement.
Her sister’s murder sent her back to her tragic home town to solve the case.
This sets up the series and changes Bree’s life.

One person found this helpful

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