Monday, January 28, 2019

Review: What Doesn’t Kill Her by Christina Dodd

What Doesn’t Kill Her by Christina Dodd
Series: Cape Charade, Book 2
Publisher: HQN
Genre: Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9781335005786
Release Date: January 29, 2019
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Audible
Christina Dodd Reading Order

One secret, one nightmare, one lie. You guess which is which.
1. I have the scar of a gunshot on my forehead.
2. I have willfully misrepresented my identity to the US military.
3. I'm the new mother of a seven-year-old girl.


Kellen Adams suffers from a yearlong gap in her memory. A bullet to the brain will cause that. But she's discovering the truth, and what she learns changes her life, her confidence, her very self. She finds herself in the wilderness, on the run, unprepared, her enemies unknown--and she is carrying a priceless burden she must protect at all costs. The consequences of failure would break her. And Kellen Adams does not break.

What doesn't kill her…had better start running.

Kellen Adams has been a victim, a survivor, and a warrior. She’s prepared for anything…except learning that she’s the mother of a seven-year-old that she never knew existed. Kellen doesn’t know what to do with her daughter, Rae, or with Max, the lover she only has fleeting memories of thanks to the bullet in her head that took her memories and left her in a coma for a year. Kellen is floundering when she takes the opportunity for what should be a simple security job. A few days away from Rae and Max may help to clear her head. But when her mission turns deadly, it’s a race through the wilderness and a fight for survival Kellen can’t afford to lose.

What Doesn’t Kill Her is a tense thriller that had me eagerly turning the pages late into the night. I loved Kellen in Dead Girl Running and I continued to do so as I learned more about her. She is so strong, has been through absolute hell more than once, and she never stops fighting. She has looked death in the face but what scares her most at the start of this is trying to navigate the waters of motherhood. Rae is bright, chatty, endearing, and just a fun kid. She’s adorable and Kellen can see she’s a good kid, but she’s having trouble bonding with her. Her reasons make sense and I actually liked that Kellen didn’t instantly bond with Rae, but rather we got to watch their relationship develop. We also get to see how Kellen’s relationship with Max plays out. Even though he’s caring and patient with Kellen, things can be (understandably) bumpy between Kellen and Max because he’s an incredibly loving, protective father who wants Rae to have the mother she yearns for. The romance between Kellen and Max starts out as a slow burn, but when things pick up speed it’s clear that old feelings never died. I loved watching the romantic and familial relationships develop over the course of the story.

Of course, if Kellen, Max, and Rae want to become one happy family, they all have to survive the events of What Doesn’t Kill Her. It’s difficult for me to talk about the suspense element without giving away spoilers, so forgive me for being overly vague. A race up the mountain is only the beginning of Kellen’s problems in this story. She faces multiple threats and horrible odds, is beaten, bruised, and pushed to her limits, but she never gives up. I hated having to put the book down as the tension mounted and the stakes were raised higher and higher.

What Doesn’t Kill Her is the second full-length book in the Cape Charade series and you should definitely read Dead Girl Running before diving into this book. Like its predecessor, What Doesn’t Kill Her is captivating from beginning to end. Christina Dodd knows how to make readers beg for more and – given the cliffhanger ending in this book – I am definitely on the edge of my seat as I wait to discover what happens next.


FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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