Ah, Sacramento. My hometown. We are the home of lovely trees and rivers. We have also been the home of Dorothea Puente, the “Death House Landlady,” The Vampire of Sacramento, The Golden State Killer, and the headline, “Woman With Skull on Stick Leads Police to Body.” So I guess it makes sense that Karen Rose’s new romantic suspense series is set in Sacramento. I don’t normally read romantic suspense, but since the first book is set in Midtown (a Sacramento neighborhood) and I had two hours to kill in Midtown I figured I’d give it a try. I subsequently lost the rest of my day. I didn’t love everything about Say You’re Sorry, but it’s one hell of a page-turner.
Say You’re Sorry is the first book in a new series but it involves characters from previous books. Complicated and traumatic backgrounds abound. TW for references to rape, child abuse, and paedophilia as well as torture. There’s no animal abuse. Rest assured – the dogs in this story are fine.
Daisy is working as a DJ in Sacramento. She’s a recovering alcoholic, sober for eight years. She carries (literally) an emotional support dog who helps her manage her anxiety, which in turn helps her stay sober. Daisy was raised under complicated circumstances on an isolated ranch with an overprotective (understatement) ex-military father. As a result, she knows how to take care of herself and she ferociously guards her independence and freedom.
When Daisy is attacked by a stranger, she fights him off. In the process she grabs a locket from her assailant. The locket ties her attack to Federal Agent Gideon Reynolds, who has a tattoo with a similar design. Gideon escaped from a cult when he was a teen. Now Gideon and Daisy, along with their mutual friend Rafe, who is a member of the Sacramento Police Department, have to use the locket as a clue to find Daisy’s attacker.
The romance is, of course, between Daisy and Gideon. This is a bodyguard romance that happens very quickly. As several characters gently remind Daisy, she and Gideon are a couple after day two or so of meeting. As Daisy points out, they are long and unusual days. I liked that Daisy is able to nurture the physically and emotionally wounded Gideon, and that he is able to help her make peace with her own painful past. I also liked that Gideon quickly comes to respect Daisy’s intelligence and capabilities, although I fail to see why people are so slow to believe that Daisy is a good shot.
Gideon never stops being protective, but he and Daisy quickly fall into more of a partner relationship than a bodyguard/witness one. On the other hand, Gideon is possessive, a quality that I always find concerning. Daisy states that with anyone else she wouldn’t like it but with him she doesn’t mind. So…I guess it works? Suffice to say that Daisy and Gideon seem very happy together – non-judgmental, mutually respectful and caring, and nicely balancing each other’s emotional quirks. I liked them.
Daisy hates giving up her independence. HATES IT. However, she also says that she accepts protection because she is “not too stupid to live.” She is also a small woman who hates being called “cute,” stating that she’d rather be called “badass.” As one small woman to another, Daisy, I salute you. I loathe being called cute. I also appreciated that Daisy points out to Gabriel and to the press that they are giving her attention because she is white and and “respectable” while ignoring the simultaneous disappearance of a prostitute who deserves equal attention. Daisy is my everything. A nitpick – her sobriety is discussed often but I didn’t feel that her anxiety was explored as much. I would have liked a little more discussion of what it feels like for her and how she treats it other than having a support dog.
Another strength of the book is that it is loaded with great supporting characters, including the supportive Sokolov family that Rafe is a part of and Zandra, a resourceful captive of the killer. The killer likes to show Zandra his trophies, hoping that this will intimidate her. Each trophy is labelled with a name and location. Zandra spends her time memorizing the names and locations, determined to escape not only for her own sake but so that she can help lay the victims to rest. It gives her purpose and focus. I found this to be intelligent, empathetic, and a realistic coping mechanism based on what I know of people who have survived long ordeals. Zandra not only provides urgency to the story but also serves to humanize the killer’s victims.
This is a graphically violent book with angst galore, but there is some humor, especially between Daisy and the Sokolovs. Some chapters are told from the point of view of the killer, which is horrifying, but I have to admit that as things began to go horribly wrong for him I snort-laughed on occasion. I’m not sure if I was supposed to laugh, or if I should maybe be concerned about my dark impulses or what, but every now and then he would find himself so beset that I couldn’t help but find it amusing.
For the most part, I thought the author got the feel of Sacramento down. It is true that almost everyone in Midtown seems to be walking a dog at all times. We have a huge Russian immigrant community and it was nice to see that represented with the Sokolov family. Rocklin and Granite Bay are indeed where the most fancy houses are – how much do Special Agents make, anyway? Also parking in Midtown is a lot harder to find than this book might lead one to assume.
Petty nipick alert #1: Daisy’s dog is awfully easy to take care of. You have no idea how many times I wondered how long it had been since anyone let that dog out to pee. The doggie does her job well (she senses when Daisy is becoming anxious and distracts her) but she sure was low maintenance, even for a support animal. Every now and then someone would provide some food and water and I’d breathe a sigh of relief. She’s a dog, not a teddy bear!
Petty nitpick alert #2: If this book had been true to Sacramento traffic nothing would have happened. The entire book would have consisted of people trying to drive places. If you don’t live here, you won’t notice. But I do live here and all I could think at times was, “Ugh, do you have ANY IDEA how long it takes to drive from Midtown to Granite Bay?” A lot, people. It takes a lot of time. It’s a pain in the butt. Don’t believe Google Maps when it says “35 minutes.” It’s a trap, my friends.
In general I don’t think Romantic Suspense will ever be my favorite genre, but I certainly found this example to be emotional and gripping, and it did a good job of including romance without making me feel that the violence was being used as some sort of adrenaline-providing backdrop. Instead, the romance was an organic part of teamwork and mutual healing. I also loved the thread of community. Finally, Zandra, FTW, always. While I’m not planning to read this genre often, this book made it easy to see why romantic suspense is so beloved by so many people.
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You got my attention with “Sacramento” – I lived in Midtown for several years and Roseville after that (before it became the scary suburban sprawl behemoth it is now). And even then, the traffic was insane; in fact it’s one of the reasons we moved back to my much-smaller, much-less-affordable hometown.
I have a love-hate relationship with romantic suspense, but I think I’ll check this one out.
I’ve read all of Karen Rose’s books (she’s an auto buy for me) and Daisy was a hell of a badass in the last book for her brief appearance (her step-sister Taylor has her own book, too). All her books for killer POV and some of them are super creepy.
This was unexpected, romantic suspense that sounds like something I would enjoy. Also, driving over 80 West in winter from Reno to anywhere may be impossible, but Sacramento traffic is whatever comes after that. I feel your pain.
@Kristin, thanks for the heads up about the killer’s POV. Those sections are easy to skip and I have never regretted doing so. OTOH, @CarrieS, your reaction to the killer’s travails makes me want to skim those pages.
This does sound strangely appealing. Thanks for the review, Carrie.
Very few things take me out of a story faster than not knowing who is taking care of the animals. Generally, writers have a good handle on where the children/babies are in their books, but sometimes animals get forgotten. I remember one book where the heroine walked her dog, brought the dog home, left for work, and ended up spending the weekend with her boss (yes, it was a CEO romance). I couldn’t focus on the story because I kept worrying about who was feeding and walking the heroine’s dog while she was having a spontaneous weekend in the Hamptons with her boss.
I like Karen Rose and I’ve been binge reading her lately BUT I find I have to skim through parts that I find disturbing. Her bad guys are really REALLY bad.
I love reading books set in places I know because it makes the story more personal for me. But I don’t like reading stories in places I know because my geography is terrible and I spend a lot of time falling out of the story to say, wait, where is that?