2 out of 4 stars
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The phrase “be careful what you wish for” comes to mind in Kasey Riley’s Do Not Assume. Being an orphan, Nicoleta Sofia Parcells was fortunate enough to be raised by two loving fathers. Though everyday with them is filled with love and comfort, she has had the desire to learn of her biological parents for as long as she can remember. Knowing this, her fathers gift her a DNA testing kit as part of her graduation gift. Filled with anticipation, excitement, and fear, Nicoleta sends the kit in and awaits for the results.
In the meantime, the recent graduate accepts a new job as Media Specialist at Foxborough Enterprises that requires both travel and a body guard. The mission of her body guard, James Woodruff, is to keep Nicoleta safe in various European countries while Foxborough Enterprises looks for hotel location possibilities. What they both don’t see is that danger might be closer than they first realized.
Written in the third-person omniscient point-of-view, the reader follows mainly Nicoleta and James. Due to their distinct roles in the novel, it was easy to distinguish one point-of-view versus the other, which I compliment the author. I also found the romance building here sweet in an almost careful and subtle way. Even with a sexual scene, it was more love-making and gentle than erotic and harsh, which I also appreciate. In addition, I love the small fantasy nuggets throughout the read; I found them unique and were woven in well.
Unfortunately, the writing here could use some improvement. I believe this novel would fall under the suspense and maybe crime genre, however, due to much of the story’s pacing, it was challenging to feel any suspense throughout. Especially in the beginning, scenes were long, tedious, and repetitive. Such as, Nicoleta explaining her makeup process, going to fancy parties, and the repetition of how beautiful and attractive she is made these parts of the story a chore to read. Some of the dialogue was also unrealistic and stiff. For instance, one of Nicoleta’s fathers says to her, “I’ll follow you into the kitchen with the empty casserole dish and we can write down the number before I start washing up.” (page 62). There is too much information included here to make this sound like a typical conversation.
There were several errors throughout, including missing quotation marks, added words, and paragraph indentation missing. For instance, on page 337 the following sentence includes two conjunctions, “He was facing forward and but that didn’t...” One example of missing paragraph indentation can be found on page 56 in the lines, “…Where are we going?” “Let me call...” These two lines were within one paragraph though there were spoken by two different people. This happened quite often throughout the read.
Due to the errors found throughout and the pacing of the book, I give this read a 2 out of 4 stars. It was a fair read due to some of the fantasy nuggets and romance building, but could use more editing and better plot flow. For those who don’t mind a somewhat slower plot might enjoy Do Not Assume, while others who don’t might want to pass on this one.
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Do Not Assume
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