Mini-review: Harmonized (Mary Behre)

July 21, 2015 Book Reviews 16 ★★★½

Mini-review: Harmonized (Mary Behre)Harmonized by Mary Behre
Series: Tidewater #2.5
Published by Berkley on July 21st 2015
Genres: Paranormal mystery, Paranormal romantic suspense
Pages: 85
Format: Kindle or ebook
Source: purchased
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three-half-stars
Also in this series: Spirited, Guarded, Energized
Also by this author: Spirited, Guarded, Energized

After nearly dying on assignment, Tidewater police officer Zig Harmon has been awarded the Silver Star and desk duty. But handling every case that walks through the door while his entire department is out hunting a serial killer is nothing compared to dealing with his former flame, Karma De La Cruz. As much as she hates it, Karma knows that her best chance of finding the kidnapped baby haunting her visions is the man she once left behind. Forced to work together, Karma and Zig start to realize that they may have let go of something incredible. But now, time is running out, both for the missing infant and for their chance to start again...

Review

Harmonized kept me turning the pages until late at night! The Tidewater series novella delivers suspense, second-chance romance, and an opportunity to revisit characters from the previous books – it stars Zig Harmon from Spirited, and offers a glimpse of Seth and Jules from the same novel. Behre packs a lot into a short time frame, and the story and relationship develop quickly. Karma’s passionate defense of her friend and determination to find the baby give an early glimpse into her character, and Zig exhibits the integrity, protectiveness, and empathy I look for in a hero. There’s a lot of pain and anger between them over their breakup, but the attraction and feelings between them are palpable, which makes the swift pacing easier to believe – and the resolution something to cheer about. Whether or not you’ve read the other books, Harmonized will whet your appetite for the forthcoming Energized.

 

Full disclosure: I do my best to be honest in my reviews regardless of personal acquaintance, but I do know the author slightly.

Content warning: there’s a fair bit of profanity and one explicit scene. (I don’t usually include a content warning but the level of profanity, though probably true to life, is higher than some readers will be comfortable with.)

 

Challenges: COYER Scavenger Hunt – #20, a book with two people fully clothed on the cover (2 pts)

three-half-stars

About Mary Behre

Mary Behre could never decide which kind of story she liked more, paranormal, mysteries or romances. So it only made sense that she combined all three in her books. Her debut novel, SPIRITED, is the first in the Tidewater Series. Stories with humor suspense and a psychic love-connection. When not writing in her closet/office, she can be found hanging out with the most important men her life, her family.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • COYER Scavenger Hunt - Summer 2015

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16 Responses to “Mini-review: Harmonized (Mary Behre)”

  1. R_Hunt @ View From My Home

    Thanks for being honest about your relationship and the heat/mature language warning.

    I try to put that in my reviews because I know that some blog readers are at one end of the spectrum: light-behind closed doors-no explicit language & violence scenes,and some at the other: no limit to anything. I don’t like to recommend a read and then have the person who thinks I don’t read those kind of books get a big surprise.

    Sounds good and I never heard of it, so thanks Lark!
    R_Hunt @ View From My Home recently posted…The Concrete Blonde ReviewMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Thanks, Rita! I do feel it’s important to disclose when I have some sort of relationship with an author when I review their books. (Although in these days when authors are so much more accessible to fans and bloggers through social media, a lot of us have had some sort of contact or exchange with an author.) But I would enjoy this series regardless – they’re fun and sometimes funny and definitely exciting, and they’re set in my state.

      As for the content warning – again, I don’t usually put one in, though I will often mention something in the review. The profanity in this one didn’t bother me – you’ll hear as much in any high school corridor and I’ve learned to just ignore it – but it does include one word that tends to bother many readers more than the others, so I thought it was worth mentioning. But the mini-review format was so short, I just stuck it at the end.

  2. R_Hunt @ View From My Home

    Apologies to the author of this book but I wanted to comment on your TTT today and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to leave a comment there.

    Sorry for stepping on your toes for this particular discussion but I wanted to add something to TTT. Is it already closed to discussion? Anyway, I wanted to say that I thought of Lincoln Rhyme, the parapalegic detective in the Jeffery Deaver series who has such an incredible brain that folks forget he can’t physically do more.

    Only one that came to my mind on short notice… I liked your list and you obviously put a lot of work into it, and I agree that people who are not Caucasian, of European ancestry, straight, and physically/mentally able, are frequently not given the “starring role” in books, or else they overly-stereotyped. Glad to see SF/F is more on the ball. Thanks!
    R_Hunt @ View From My Home recently posted…The Concrete Blonde ReviewMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      Oh, great suggestion, Rita! I’ve seen Jeffrey Deaver’s books around for years and had no idea the MC was paraplegic. Thanks! SF/F may be a little more on the ball, but it’s not fully representative yet; one reason there are so many SF/F books on my list is that I read a lot of them. Or did – I seem to be reading more romance and mystery now, because it’s what shows up on NetGalley more often.

      About the problem on the TTT post: Somehow WordPress managed to turn off comments on that one post. I have no idea how or why. I’ve turned them back on and hopefully it won’t happen again.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I think that 85 pages thing (from Goodreads) is a little misleading. My Kindle put it at 125 pages, though admittedly that included a chapter from the next book – but only a chapter.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I really enjoyed the first two books, too – even more so, because they are full-length so there’s more time to develop the characters and plot. If you want to see my reviews, you can click on the title links at the top of the page, right above the purple blurb.

  6. Lola

    This must have been a good one if it kept you up at night! There are very little books that I read that are so good they can make me stay up longer than planned. I like the sound of the paranormal, suspense and romance combination. Will have to check out this series! Great review!
    Lola recently posted…Review: Second Chance Summer by Jill ShalvisMy Profile

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I have been starved for reading time recently, which also had something to do with it. 🙂 But yes, it did keep me turning the pages!

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      I don’t usually worry about profanity too much, but there is one word I know some readers are more uncomfortable with, so I thought I’d give them a heads-up. And I agree, Mary is a wonderful person.

    • Lark_Bookwyrm

      It’s a quick novella and would be a pretty good intro to the series – but another place to start is at the beginning, with Spirited, which is also really good.