This is one gritty and chilling book. A serial raper/murderer wants revenge and will stop at nothing. Chloe and Dana have to fight hard to catch the culprit and to stay alive. A good book, but not for the faint. It did leave me rattled after finishing reading it.

Overall a decent read. I'd pick up more books by Ms Larkin.

The downside of the story was the suspense/drama of the book was underplayed. I just kept hoping for something more to come from it and to evoke some feelings and it didn't happen.

Absolutely the best book I have read in a long time. This book is written so well, it has it all. i could see this being a lifetime movie,it's that good. I loved all the characters but Taz is my favorite,he will always be a Hero.

An "edge of your seat" thriller. Many exciting and scary action scenes. The characters are very likable and the dialog is crisp and natural. That being said..If I had written this review after reading the first 3/4's of the book , I would have said this was one of the best thrillers I've read but then the story got silly. The ending chapters are a bit fairy tale sappy. The friends are way over the top sweet. Almost a comical contrast to the horrors of the previous story. That sort of ruined it for me. If you like a good thrilled with a cutesy ending, this story is right for you.

3.5 Stars, I enjoyed the mystery of this book and how the crime played out. This story revolves around Dana Blake, a Boston detective whose wife Gabbi was murdered and Dr Chloe Maddox, a behavioral profiler who barely survived a kidnapping. Chloe does not remember anything from the kidnapping, where she left in front her old police department barely breathing. She sees her kidnapper and the memories come flooding back so Chloe and Dana work their hardest to find and stop this killer from committing any more crimes. They also find a connection to Gabbi's killer and Chloe's kidnapper.

This book was interesting, as the mystery and the tracking of the killer kept me reading the book. The book did drag a little, as to why I am only giving it 3.5 stars. A lot of the book was all the law with the killer, as they are trying to persecute him. The killer is flushed out and deep, as well as Chloe's and Dana's relationship as the book goes on. It does develop awfully fast in the middle of the book, which I find unbelievable. I would not necessarily re-read this book or recommend it.

A semi-thriller and full-on romance was a genre we were a little leery about. Mixed genres with a word limit find it a little difficult to do justice to either the thriller part or the romance part. But this one was a pleasant surprise.

Gorgeous Dr. Chloe Maddox was abducted and subjected to horrifying abuse. She becomes a behavioural profiler specialising in sexual abuse cases. However, she has no memory of her own abuse and torture that had left her barely alive.

Dana Blake is a detective whose wife was also abducted and abused in the past. Dana lost her wife to that crime and needs to find the perpetrator before she can move on. It is wholly possible that the person behind both the cases is the same man.

Chloe and Dana set out to get justice together.

This book has so many plusses. The first is Chloe. She is etched as a strong, independent person, not afraid to seek help. Also (thankfully), she is neither hiding from what happened not being angsty about sharing it so half the book is not spent in Dana (and the other characters) trying to break her barriers and trying to reach her. We are (obviously) semi-fangirls of Chloe (so, yeah, we do a lot of fangirling and crushing to some characters in lesfic…but it looks like the woman we really want in our lives live only in the imagination of various authors).

Dana is also drawn as a strong, sympathetic character. The attraction and emotional build-up between them is excellently handled and we found ourselves completely wanting it to happen without worrying whether it will – just wanted to know how and when it will manifest.

The other big plus is Chloe’s dog, Taz. He is utterly human and wonderful.

The thriller aspect is good and keeps us almost on the edge.

The minuses: the book felt about 20% longer than it could’ve been. The whole part from the point both are abducted need not have been there. The edge-of-the seat thrill got lost with that. The omnipotent villain could’ve been a little more fleshed out in terms of just how he is so omnipotent.

However, the author manages to keep us invested in the book, so it’s all good. This is a three-and-a-half rounded down to three.

This is the first book that I’ve read from Michelle Larkin and I had no idea if I was going to like this book but I am glad that I read it because it kept me hooked from the very beginning. Chloe has been through so much but that she did not let that stop her from finding out what actually happened to her and put the bad guy behind bars. Dana wants to catch the guy who killed her wife but as she works together with Chloe to catch Sylvia and put his behind bars for the rest of his life, feelings start to develop between Chloe and Dana. They both have been through so much but yet together they are great and unstoppable. I really liked this book.

***Received this ARC by NetGalley as an exchange for an honest review.

This is my first read of a Michelle Larkin novel, and I'll be back for more. Unexpected Partners was a super fast read - this one took me just about 2 hours total. This one is packed full of action, with every action packed scene pushing towards the next.

Honestly, the whole book could have been longer and it would have made it even better. I could have used quite a bit more back story and set-up to the romance. MC Chloe and MC Dana's characters were adequately described in the book, but personally, I felt like Larkin just didn't give any of the characters enough of a back story. With this novel being so short, I could have really used some extra pages to really make me LOVE the characters. It would have made some of their decisions much more understandable, and would have helped to make them more relatable.

The romance between Chloe and Dana wasn't insta-love, but it was really fast-paced. I rolled my eyes at one particular decision that Larkin made towards the end, but all in all, it didn't bother me too much that they moved so quickly. Throughout this entire novel, both MCs are thrown into some intense and quite dark situations. I suppose two people could form that deep of a bond that quickly in those circumstances.

Speaking of - this novel needs to come with a trigger warning. Some of the material is very dark. I've read a lot of novels like this and it didn't bother me, but as others have mentioned, there's some intense scenes of violence and descriptions of rape. Larkin didn't make me feel like I was living the situation, but if rape / torture triggers you, you should skip this novel. The bad guy is one sick bastard.

If you are a lover of the crime / suspense genre who can handle some violence, I think you will enjoy this one.

3.5 stars for length, rounded up to 4.

**Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.**

'Unexpected Partners' by Michelle Larkin is an action packed adventure/romance that tells the story of two Boston police detectives who are being stalked by a serial killer. Dr. Chloe Maddox has a history with the killer since he murdered her fiancé two years ago and left Chloe for dead. Detective Dana Blake’s wife was assassinated by the same suspect four years ago, and now he has chosen Dana as his next victim. Both team up to first stay out of his clutches, which isn’t easy, and then to find the evidence they need to bring him to justice.

There is a lot of action in this story that will keep you interested and sometimes on the edge of your seat as you read, so those of you who like action and violence in a story should be well satisfied here. I liked the main characters and could see the chemistry between the two, and enjoyed the way the romance was treated throughout the story. The secondary characters were also well-developed and made the tale better. My absolute favorite character is Taz, Chloe’s German shepherd, who was trained to be an attack dog in the police K-9 unit but was flunked out by his trainer. It was a good thing Chloe took him before he could be euthanized, what they usually do to trainees that don’t make the cut. He turned out to be one of the most important characters in the book as far as I’m concerned. I fell in love with Taz.

I did have one problem with the story line. There were a couple of plot holes in the story, things that were mentioned and then just dropped. It kind of bugged me because I think it would have made the story stronger if those things had been resolved. I still enjoyed the book, but felt it could have been a stronger tale if all the loose ends had been tied up.

I’m giving a trigger alert here. There are discussions of rape and violence against women in this book. If that is going to make you uncomfortable, then you might want to miss this one. If, however, you like a good action-packed adventure and don’t mind some violence in a story, then this might just be the book for you.

3.5 Stars. Not as good as Larkin’s first book, but this is still a good crime-romance story. Larkin’s debut book Mercy really stuck with me because it was so entertaining. It had some bumps, but I didn’t care. In this book the entertainment factor wasn’t as high which made the few bumps less palatable. It still was a good read and Larkin is on my authors to watch list.

The story is about two women, Chloe and Dana, who work for the Boston Police Department. Chloe, who now works with victims, was actually a victim of her own. Left for dead, Chloe has trouble remembering everything she went through. Shortly after working in Boston Chloe sees the man who tortured her and her memories start coming back. Can Chloe and Dana get him behind bars before he takes another victim?

This book actually had a darker tone than I was expecting. I read a lot of crime books so I’m used to gritty but this serial killer/rapist/torturer didn’t sit so well with me. Most of what happens comes across in memories so you are not reading about actual rape scenes, but still this is some sick shit so it was not pleasant to read about.

There is a good amount of action which I liked. The book is a good quick pace and you don’t really want to put it down. There were a few suspend disbelief moments. Times you wanted to say why is this character doing this? With everything going on you would think they would be smarter. I also thought it was odd how much Chloe’s character changed. She is completely different in the first quarter of the book compared to the rest.

I thought the romance was decent for the circumstances. There is only so much new relationship building you can do in one book when lives are on the line. I would not call the relationship insta-love but it is a fast progressing relationship. I don’t mind so much when danger is all around so I’m giving Larkin a pass here.

Overall this was a good read. I wish I liked this more than her debut, but Larkin is definitely on my radar now. If you are looking for a crime-romance with some grit, give this a shot.

Entertaining and suspenseful this book had me on the edge of my seat with plenty of twists and turns to keep me engaged the entire story. Chloe and Dana’s romance was more than just tantalizing with chemistry but was healing as well for both of them. Great story!

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and I am voluntarily leaving my review.

What a fantastic read. I loved the characters of Chloe and Dana (not forgetting Taz the dog). I could not help but laugh when Dana met Taz for the first time. I was in stitches at that part. The story line flowed well for me and the secondary characters were all good. My favourite from the main characters has to be Chloe. She has been through the mill and back and still has the strength to go on. Dana has also been suffering but in a different way. I stayed up half the night to finish it, I was completely hooked. Definitely recommend giving it a read.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great story even though it had me at times saying really.

Dana Blake's and Dr. Chloe Maddox are both survivors.

Dana is struggling to survive her wife being kidnapped and murder while she in the hunt for her killer. Chloe is a rape survivor even though she still carrying scars from her attack.

When a chance encounter they both realize the one who attack Chloe is the same one who murder Dana wife. As they team up to find the murderer there an attraction that developed between.

When the killer comes back to finished what he started it up to Dana to protect Chloe.

I like the other characters are well developed and play an important role in the women’s survival it what kept them grounded in dark times in their life.

I like that these are two strong women who despite what happen to them came out stronger then they were before.

My first time reading anything by this Michelle Larkin, and if her other books are anything like Unexpected Partners then this won't be my last time.

A gripping story that kept me hooked, its a real page turn, so much so that I started it one Saturday morning and continued until later that evening as I could not put it down. I really wanted to know what happened next

2.75 Stars Unexpected Partners is my first read by this author. I like the premise of this story but it felt a little lost and inconsistent in some parts. I would still recommend you pick it up and give it a read as this is just my pov.

The details and descriptions in this book are excellent. This author has a way of setting a scene. I agree with a few other reviewers about the storyline being a little over the top, but it is fiction after all. My favorite stories are the instalove type, so this was an added bonus to an otherwise devastating plot. I'll definitely reread this book, but not until I wash my brain out with some hearts and flowers. I'm guessing that is what the author intended. All I all, this is a top notch THRILLER.

Wow, Larkin gives her characters truly awful back stories. It’s been four years since Dana Blake’s wife was abducted and murdered but she’s still in mourning until the murderer is found. While chatting to her friend Maribel, who is a prosecutor, she meets Dr Chloe Maddox. Chloe is a behavioural profiler in the sex crimes division and fairly new to Boston Police Department. She is also a rape survivor. They have a good connection almost immediately

I was riveted by this story even though there were a couple of holes in the plot and at times my suspension of disbelief was a little stretched. One thing was that someone shoots a 9mm and nobody in the house heard it. I don’t know, maybe a 9mm is a really quiet gun. Dana and Chloe are both strong women and likeable characters. Given their respective traumas, they’re both perhaps a little too strong. The pace and my desire for a good outcome made it easy to sweep the inconsistencies to the back of my mind.

Taz, from the K-9 unit, was a great supporting character with a lot of personality. I hope I don’t get shot down in flames for this but I’m not really a fan of animals playing big role in romance novels because I sometimes feel like I’m being tricked into liking the novel based on the cute pet rather than the writing skill, even more so when the animal takes centre stage on the cover. Taz wasn’t like that for me here, partly because I am in awe of working dogs and partly because he may as well have been another human character.

I enjoyed this so much more than Larkin’s first novel, Mercy, and I liked that there wasn’t a paranormal aspect to this one. There are a lot of vicious and violent aspects to the novel because of the nature of the crime committed and some were difficult to read. I’m glad she didn’t shy away from them but if rape and violence are triggers for you, this might not be a good one to read.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded to 4. Instalove alert. If you dig that then you will love this. If instalove is not your favorite then this may rub you the wrong way. The two leads are confident and competent. They work together as police partners and as romantic partners. The bad guy is particularly evil, but that's all he is. He's a cookie cutter evil jerk. The dog is seriously too amazing to be true. There's lots of action and suspense, but it keeps piling on until it's a little bit too much. Overall not bad. The romance is good.

ARC received for an honest review.

Hmmm, I don’t read same sex romance books. I’m sorry. I’m Sure this is a good book. I did like the description. I will pass on this book to those I know who read these books.

Enjoyed this even more than the authors first book, Mercy. No paranormal help with this one. Just a ruthless serial killer with unfinished business and two women in his sights.

Chloe is the woman who survived although she continues to carry scars both physical and emotional from her attack. She now works as therapist for the Boston PD, helping other victims assist the police in finding their attackers. Dana lost her wife two years before to the same serial killer who attacked Chloe and soon finds herself both running from the killer and trying to protect this woman she has just met.

I loved the fast pace and non stop action in this crime thriller/romantic intrigue novel. The women form an instant bond over their shared hatred for this killer with seemingly unlimited funds and connections which reach beyond prison bars. Their relationship heats up but so too do the dangers they face. The secondary characters are well developed and play an important role in the women’s survival throughout the novel. Taz the K-9 dropout and Chloe’s personal bodyguard, Maribel and Charlie are all effective at keeping the women grounded and adding some levity to an otherwise dark and dangerous story. I loved how strong both Chloe and Dana prove to be. They are facing a talented killer but they remain determined to catch him using all the resources they know.

There were times when the book takes on action movie sized proportions and yes there are grim scenes which might upset some readers. There were also times when I thought the women raced into danger without full use of the police resources available to them. Suspending belief is sometimes part of the fun reading thrillers and Unexpected Partners finds a nice balance between action and the reality of two strong women facing down their enemy.

4.5 stars

ARC received with thanks from publisher via NetGalley for review.