"She's the Angel of Death come to claim me for my past sins."
- Cain Archer
"Cain Archer is the sun, and his proximity the burn."
- Layla
Thank you, Ava Harrison and Wildfire Marketing Solutions for the chance to read an early copy of Here Lies North for an honest review!
Ava Harrison is an author of many dark romances that tickle my fancy. Her male leads are dark, mysterious, and definitely red-flag material - all of our favorite characteristics in a male character. Here Lies North is Ava's big attempt at writing a suspense romance, she kept her usual tactic of the mysterious male lead, with a great suspenseful ending!
Layla is a journalist for a home magazine and she hates everything about her job. Her dream is to be an investigative journalist, not someone who writes about faucets and window blinds. She gets assigned to get the exclusive interview and first look at a new residential development called The Elysium. In addition to a free week's stay, she gets a full access interview with the elusive architect and visionary, Cain Archer.
Once on the property, and having met Cain, she immediately feels a connection with him while he gives her tours around the property. Their constant flirting sends Layla into an obsessive spiral about Cain. She wants to know everything about him - why is he so emotionless, why does he snap at the drop of a hat, what is he hiding?
After a week's stay, Layla returns to her apartment and her terrible job. Between her article coming out on The Elysium, and her thinking about getting a new job, a series of murders start happening in the area. These murders light a spark in Layla and she goes out to find the killer.
Doing research on the murders she starts discovering many things that Cain Archer wants hidden - how does Cainf it into these murders, and will Layla be the next victim?
Now that the synopsis is done, let's get into the nitty-gritty of this book. For starters, the first 45-50% of the book was completely unnecessary. I do understand you needed to get a feel of Cain's lack of emotions and his spiraling emotions, and they had to fall in love somehow, but my god it did not need to be done at The Elysium. It was truly a waste of 150 pages. Once Layla leaves The Elysium, it doesn't really get brought up much for the rest of the novel. The idea of The Elysium is amazing, but man oh man... didn't need to be half of the book.
Another aspect of this novel that bugged me was that all of the action happened in the last 10% of the book. The other 90% was Layla pining over Cain and being upset at herself for becoming so obsessed with him, and upset at him for not ever calling her when she knew that he was a social recluse. I do love a good pining in a book for the male lead, but for some reason Layla's just seemed super desperate and annoying. Layla also had this amazing best friend and you got just snippets of her - she was a great side character.
Now let's get into what I really enjoyed about Here Lie's North: Even though the ending of the book seemed rushed, I did enjoy how it was executed. You could see the ending a mile away, but it was written in such a way that it wrapped up nicely.
What I really enjoyed about this book was the dual perspective. I really liked the story from Cain's point of view rather than Layla's. He is a very troubled hero and his inner monologues were a little f**ked up - my cup of tea!
If you are looking for a book to get started in the romance genre, this is a good one to start with. The spice level is low, and the suspense is good. If you like shows like Criminal Minds or NCIS, then this book is definitely for you!
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