Book Review: Target Acquired (Lake City Heroes #2) by Lynette Eason

About the Book:

Tough-as-nails Kenzie King has finally earned her place as a tactical medic on a SWAT team. But not everyone on the all-male team accepts her. Rumor is, she didn’t get the position because of what she could do but because of who she knew. Which means she has to work harder and longer than anyone else to prove herself.

Cole Garrison is a man with deep faith who is finally ready to settle down and build a family of his own–if he can find the right person, that is. Kenzie sure has set off his interest meter, but trouble seems to follow in her wake. Since she joined the team, someone has begun to ambush and pick off team members, one by one.

It’s all hands on deck to discover the culprit and end the killing. Can Kenzie and Cole put aside their differences and work together as a team? Or will their budding attraction be snuffed out by a sniper’s bullet?

| Goodreads |

My Review:

Target Acquired by Lynette Eason
Rating: 3.5/5
Pages: 304
Published: August 20, 2024
Series: Lake City Heroes

Disclosure: I received this book free from the publisher/author. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

I’m going to try to do this review justice, but sometimes these are the hardest to write, at least for me. I am so thankful to the publisher for approving me to read this one on NetGalley, and for the publicist for inviting me to share about the book on release day. I really have enjoyed this series so far, and am glad I got to read this one. The story was good and the characters interesting. It’s just that… I don’t know, I guess that I’d just hoped for something a little more?

Okay, so I’ll try to break it down. (I really should start taking more notes and writing my thoughts down at I read to make these review better and easier on me, I guess, huh? Yeah, I know.)

I liked the characters, but while we do get to see them, it’s mostly in high action, heavy intensity scenes, not really any more casual or normal slice-of-life type situations here, and the one or two that might be able to be consider that…had their own baggage and drama attached. Nothing intentionally between the two main characters that offered a deeper look at who they really are, or any actual character growth going on between the two. There is a place what one character realized they messed up and needs to apologize, but yeah, that’s even done in a way that could have been better handled. It wasn’t bad, just perhaps a bit rushed? I don’t know, I kinda got that feeling about this whole book. I know it’s a romantic suspense, that’s kinda the name of the game, right? But I also admit, the first book set the bar HIGH and well…this one just didn’t really show up. Not to that level at least. I’m going to assume (or hope, might be a better word) that it’s just the second book or sequel slump, and that the next book bumps up my expectations of this series a bit more, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Still, there was a lot of enjoyable aspects about this one, I just ended up feeling like it was a bit average and standard for the genre, but nothing really special in and of itself, if that makes sense? The characters were okay, but could have been better. The plot was interesting, but again felt a little rushed and lacked real originality, but went more for hair-pin turns and sudden burst of action to cover that face. The historical thread was interesting, I guessed the secret a bit before it was actually revealed, but that’s normal for me. I do wish that the surprise was a bit more…I don’t really even know. I’m trying to not give spoilers, but I also ended up feeling like it was sort of pieced together, and the villain wasn’t all that believable, or at least he seemed more desperate and less convincing that I think was intended to come across?

It wasn’t a bad story, but very standard for the genre, and I guess since I’m so used to indie books now, and have found some amazing and original stories in the genre, I’m a bit biased, but this one felt a lot like several other romantic suspense books I have read over the years, almost like a formula is being used and creativity is no longer needed to produce a successful book…(I realize that is partly true, but there’s still usually some differences and creativity needed. At least, I would hope so, hard to tell in this age of AI…) And no, I’m not saying anything against Lynette Eason’s writing or this book, just that I loved reading Double Take, and I just didn’t quite connect as well with the sequel.

Cole Garrison was the typical Mr. Commander aka tall, dark, and handsome. I actually don’t remember his hair color…but otherwise when we start out we know only a few things about him. That he is known as a ‘player’ even though he doesn’t really even give them enough time to really call it a relationship, since he is more of a serial first-dater… We also know that he’s the commander of the local SWAT team, and James Cross’ partner on the police force as well. And, that him and Kenzie have something going on between them, even though they both adamantly deny anything at all is going on there.

But, on the flip side, I think starting out we might know even less about Kenzie. We know that she’s the new medic for the SWAT team, that Cole is her superior, and that she’s friends with Lainie, James’ fiancé that we meet in Double Take.

From what little we know starting out, I had hoped that it would be an interesting story, and it was but it seemed to be a fast read more than an actually interesting or thought out story. The romance was okay, there was definitely a bit of effort there, but they often got interrupted with all the action and craziness going on, and never really get to talk. They honestly needed to just sit down and talk it out, but the conversations seemed stilted and always lacked any true depth, not that they didn’t mean what they said, but they just didn’t really say anything that really mattered. There were a few times that something important was discussed, but the dialogue always felt a little shallow to me in this one. A fact that frustrated me though-out since I wanted to like Cole and Kenzie, and never quite got there. Even the later scene with Micah could have had loads of potential as an effort to win me over, but fell flat for me. Oh, well…

This was a fun story, and it kept me reading into the night. I was also left guessing for most of the story, and wasn’t sure until just before the reveal what was actually happening, but that might have been part of why it ended up sounding slightly unbelievable? It was all just too convenient and coincidental, as if by that point, the story just needed to end so it was all wrapped up in a nice neat package…Even after so much suspicion and doubt being thrown around. Maybe the story tried too hard to convince us it was someone else…to the point of being too much? I don’t know, but I was left feeling like this story had more potential and just never quite lived up to all the things it seemed to promise along the way. I do hope to read the next book in this series, but now my expectations are much lower than they were going into this one.

Other books in the series:
(Below is a list of the other books I’ve read & reviewed for this series)

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