A good book. Well written with great characters and a good plot. The storyline flows and the mystery is enjoyable. I highly recommend.,

Willa and the rest of the characters are likeable. The plot is relatively realistic. The mystery and action are woven just right!

I enjoyed the first book but had a hard time getting into this one. The main character is an ex-cop who is currently trying to be a PI. Even though she is a professional and has the experience, it still feels like she's being treated like a brand new rookie.

I really enjoyed this novel and found the MC Willa to be prefect for this story and setting! I loved all the mystery and twist and turns!

Another thrill-packed adventure of Willa Pennington, apprentice PI. Angry at her PI boss, namely her father, for sending her out on a fake stakeout and her boyfriend for participating in said shakeout without letting her know it was fake, she decides to look into a cold case of a murdered teenage girl helping her cop friend/mentor. Only the cold case turns violent. Fascinating characters combined with non-stop action. Highly recommended!

Willa Pennington is recovering emotionally and physically from her first case as a PI, when she is asked to review the case notes of her mentor's first, and still unsolved, murder case. She also becomes involved in helping Aja, whom she met in a self-defense class. Soon Willa is up to her ears in danger, and her survival is not guaranteed.
Willa is a sharp, strong, and seriously kick-ass main character. I love that she recognizes her flaws, does her best to work through them, and pushes forward to solve her cases.
I enjoyed piecing the cases together along with Willa. I have to admit, I didn't make the last deductive leap, so I was surprised by the resolution.
I hope that the next book will be published soon - I am looking forward to spending more time with Willa.

Ex-cop Willa Pennington is still reeling from the death of her best friend Michael and traumatized from her close call during her last case. Then Willa meets teenager Aja at her mixed martial arts class. Aja asks for Willa's help when she is being stalked by an ex-boyfriend. While helping Aja, Willa is also asked by detective friend Jan Boyd to look over the cold case murder of Amanda Veitch. When Willa's PI dad sends her on a phony stakeout to teach her the ropes as an apprentice PI, she lashes out at him and her ATF boyfriend Seth. Nightmares, cold sweats, and endless rehashings of the past leave Willa angrily volatile but she soldiers on in her investigations.

Not as good as the first book, What Doesn't Kill You, but still a good read.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Midnight Ink with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

I've actually known a couple of women that are at their most gorgeous when they are pissed-off, so I fell in love with Willa at once. The other characters, the mystery and the action are also great, and with the descriptions of family situations this is actually a deep story. A MUST read book.

This book is a Willa Pennington P I Mystery 2 . Fast paced and a clever plot with realistic and believable characters ! I highly recommend ! Thanks to Netgalley and Midnight Ink for the digital copy in exchange for my honest review ! #Netgalley # MidnightInk #DarkStreetsColdSuburbs

This is the story of a Private Investigator in love with a cop and there was a fairly good storyline. I must say however, that it took me forever to get through it. There are also a lot of references to what I think must be the story of the first book. Maybe this seemed to drag because I hadn’t read the previous book.

There were some really neat characters here. Willa, the P.I. is in partnership with her dad which creates some funny moments and as you can imagine, some not so good moments too. Willa’s parents, the dad I mentioned, and a strong mother are portrayed so well you almost feel you are sitting in their kitchen at times. They have so much personality and are loving people, just what Aja, Willa’s “project”, needed. I thought there was a subject with Seth, the invisible boyfriend, that could have been developed a little more but once again, I think this misunderstanding may be because I didn’t read the previous book. This is not a stand-alone book.

There are some funny moments as well as some very moving moments and while I might have thought it moved slowly at times, I read it to the very end.

I was happy I requested this book as this was a great discovery.
It's the first one I read in this series and it won't surely be the last.
It's entertaining, engaging and full of action.
I loved the well developed characters and the mysteries.
I look forward to reading other instalment in this series.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Midnight Ink and Netgalley for this ARC

This was a good solid novel by a new author. It took me a little to get into but I am glad I finished it.

An excellent follow up to What Doesn’t Kill You. It dived into how Willa is dealing with all the emotions of what happened to her. I feel like she is growing and becoming stronger and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for her next.

Sometimes a series can be read as a stand alone. This is not the case with Hix' Dark Streets, Cold Suburbs. Just did not relate to the characters and felt the plot was slow and uninteresting. Granted this may be because I have not read the prior book. "A copy of this book was provided by Midnight Ink via Netgalley with no requirements for a review. Comments here are my honest opinion."

Dark Streets, Cold Suburbs was a fast paced read. Split between 2 cases, Willa Pennington stays busy. What I liked about this book was the deep family connections that Willa enjoys. The author does a great job of truly bringing the characters life.

A fast moving plot with two cases dividing Willa's time.

Willa's personal issues fuel her anger and impetuous actions in this second mystery.

When Det. Jan Boyd asks Willa to bring fresh eyes to a 17 yr old cold case, Willa is flattered.

A teenager at the dojo catches Willa's eye. Willa finds herself befriending and defending Aja, whose self absorbed parents have left her alone to look after herself from a dangerous world of steroid inflamed boyfriend and his friends.

Still reeling from Michael's death, Sean takes off on assignment abandoning Willa instead of working through their shared grief.''

Flipping between the two emotionally intense situations keeps Willa off balance and the plot twists steaming ahead. I read this in a day as I couldn't put it down..

This book picks up a few months after the last book. Willa has healed physically, taking self defense martial arts classes and seen a counselor. Sounds like her life should be back on track right? Wrong.

Willa's boyfriend, ATF agent Seth Anderson, has been surely and constantly picking fights and then he just disappears without a word on a secret training exercise. Her old mentor from her days on the police force Detective Jan Boyd gives her an old cold case she wants her to solve. And if all that wasn't enough a young teen named Aja reaches out to her for help with a ex boyfriend that has turned stalker and is escalating.

The description and narration at times seemed to drag but the  building action of the story holds your interest. Willa's family as strong secondary characters are also entertaining. Seth's issues are not brought to completion in this book so I am looking forward to reading more about that in the next book.

Dark Streets, Cold Suburbs was an excellent second in the Willa Pennington series. In this work, Willa is challenged with a cold case, a frightened teen, and a new case -- can she balance all three minus her partner? The characters of Willa, Detective Jan Boyd, Ben, and Willa's parents reach new depths in a non-stop, action-packed thriller that had me from page one. Once again, Ms. Hix develops a complex mystery while also inserting a commentary on society WITHOUT sounding preachy. This series is different while utilizing the best tools of this genre. I highly recommend it and the series!

Thank you NetGalley and Midnight Ink for this arc.

I found this a nice, easy read. While the plot wasn't very plausible, the characters were well-developed and interesting. I have not read the first Willa Pennington book, but there was enough detail in this one to follow it easily without overwhelming this second book. (I always feel cheated when the writer spends too much time recapping the previous books instead of getting on with the current story). While the book's blurb makes if sound almost gritty, I found it to be a nice family oriented book and Willa to be a prickly marshmallow -- especially with Fargo.


3.00 stars