Ariana (mostly offline)'s Reviews > Tallowwood

*4,25 stars*

I went into this unsure of what to expect. Some readers loved it, others weren’t overly awed. All I can say is …I ended up in the first camp. Easily.

August and Jake really grabbed my heart.

They are total opposites in many respects:

August – a recluse with no friends and no mentionable human contact living in a “self-imposed exclusion zone”, emotionally dead and disinterested, sad and withdrawn from the world.
Jake - a ray of warmth and sunshine, outgoing and hugely likeable, a touchy-feely guy surrounded by family and friends who love him.

“It wasn’t the first time August had noted that every single thing about Jacob was the polar opposite to August. If August was winter dreary, Jacob was summer sunshine. If August was night, Jacob was day.

I loved the dynamics between them with 12 years younger Jake totally in the driving seat. He is the ‘bossy’ one, but …

“He was the perfect mix of demanding and tender, commanding yet receptive. He was in charge, there was no doubt.

And that’s exactly what August needs to coax him out of his shell and make him want to live again. I really enjoyed the whole gentle procedure, Jake’s patience, his loyalty, enthusiasm and all the positive vibes he spreads around him and August’s gradual opening up to Jake and rediscovering life.

However, this book isn’t a romance in the first instant. The mystery plot is the predominant feature here, which, strangely, didn’t bother me too much. But it was a shame that there isn’t a lot of on page steam.

Apart from one really lovely and hot scene, all we get is a promise of Jake’s ‘bossiness’ in the bedroom and some nice making out. In some ways this goes with the gentleness of Jake and August's budding bond, but I would have loved to see how August and Jake’s relationship progresses in the bedroom, too, because there is so much meaning in it.

Saying that, the mystery is really well done and kept me glued to my seat. The killer’s MO is something I haven’t come across before and pretty horrifying. The tension in the last quarter of the book is sky high, and although I had some inkling who the killer might be, I was surprised in the end.
But .. there is one major hick-up that, imo, is totally illogical and unbelievable.
(view spoiler)[ Jake, being the super-efficient and clever cop he is, would NEVER, in a month of Sundays, act as idiotically and negligent as he did at 80%.This was out of character and incongruous with everything we know about him. (hide spoiler)]

I think NR Walker has done a pretty good job here, but, all in all, I would have liked a little bit more of August and Jake.