A Kiss Before Dawn by Laurie Salzler

A Kiss Before Dawn
by Laurie Salzler
Pages: 258
Date: October 27 2015
Publisher: Bedazzled Ink Publishing, LLC
Series: Dawn (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 18 to 23 2016
I received a copy of this book free from the author

This is the third book that I’ve read by this author, all of the books falling within a series called ‘Dawn’.

I read this series kind of weirdly – I read the middle one first – the one that followed a different set of main characters than those that populate the first and third books in the series. Hmms, that was confusing. The main characters in the first book pop up in the second, but aren’t the main focus of that book, and then take back the lead spot for the third book.

Then, while attempting to read the first book in the series, I – and I still am unsure how this happened, acquired and read the third book in the series. And now, finally, I’ve read the first and final book. Heh. First and final. Well, it’s the first book in the series, and the final book I needed to read to have read them all.

So, with this experience I say this – the middle book is connected to the other two books but can very easily be read as a stand-alone. Sure, you learn in it that Mary Jo and Chris are a couple, and that there was some incident that they don’t like to talk about (I actually forget how forthcoming they were about ‘the incident’ and have a vague recollection, this long time later, that they just mentioned that something had happened). But there wasn’t really any secret, I can now say having read the first book, that Chris and Mary Jo were potentially going to be a couple or really good friends.

I kind of messed this up, sorry. All I had been attempting to note was 1) I accidentally read the books out of order, reading the second book 1st, the third book 2nd, and the first book last; 2) after reading the books in that order, I’d say that there is no inherent problem with reading the second book first; or second. On the other hand, beyond that I don’t know what to say. 3) I know I got a lot more out of the third book, reading it second, that I might have if I had read it third.

I like the concept of actually seeing a couple be a couple, instead of yet another book wherein two people meet, circle, and potentially ‘hook up’ and then book ends. So if you read the series 1, 2, 3, then you would see Chris and Mary Jo come together, be a couple in 2, then . . . do the thing they do in the third book that I can’t actually mention without going into spoiler territory. Though I can say that I now understand why people might have been disappointed or rated that book lower than I did. Since I read that third book in the series with those two, Chris and Mary Jo, after having only read them as being a ‘presence’ in the book I had read; when they took center stage in the third book in the series. So I had nothing specifically invested in them. As such, the events that unfolded in that book didn’t impact me the way I know they would if I read the series in order.

Right, so, that was a lot of me basically saying that I can’t recommend which direction to read this series. Though reading the second book first seems safe enough.

This specific book here involves Chris Martel and Mary Jo Cavanaugh. Before I move too far, let me briefly note that I kept thinking, in my mind, ‘Charlemagne’ when I saw Chris’ name pop up. And that’s all I’ll mention about that (eta: actually, I see I noted that specific issue in at least one other review; I see that I repeat myself).

Okay then – Mary Jo Cavanaugh is the new vet in the area, and Chris Martel owns a horse farm – one specifically designed to be a breeding farm (people keep their mares there). They first meet when Mary Jo’s partner/mentor/friend introduces Mary Jo around (partner as in veterinary office partner). They kind of meet badly, what with Mary Jo doing something stupid, and Chris yelling at her.

They attempt to move past this bad start, and something of a friendship/romance proceeds to unfold. Slowly.

I am not certain how I might have felt about this book if I had read it first, but know two things – I had some vague idea how things would unfold since I had read the other books first, and … I don’t remember the second thing. Right, so – I knew that certain things would unfold, but I didn’t specifically know everything that would occur.

The characterization of Chris, Mary Jo, and Frances (the elderly neighbor lady) was good. The story unfolded naturally. The sex was fade to black (unless I missed something), oh except . . well, it depends on how much information constitutes fade to black, and how much leads to the word graphic being used. I mean, there was this scene in a bar that was kind of detailed. Mostly, though, events would start to unfold, and then the next morning would arrive – suddenly. The violence, though, was graphic.

I liked the book. I enjoyed having the chance to read the book. I’d recommend the individual books in this series, though am unsure how to recommend them – as in what order to read them. On the one hand, things obviously enough flow more naturally when you read them chronologically; on the other hand I believe I personally was able to ‘get more’ out of the third book than I might have if I had read things in order (as in, I’m fairly certain I’d have been really annoyed by the stuff going on in that book if I had been more invested in the characters when I read that book; annoyed to the point I’m not sure I’d even been able to actually finish the book; and yet I did finish the book, and enjoyed the book).

March 23 2016