Great story as always by CJ Carmichael. Highly recommend to fans of this genre...great story and mystery, with characters you care for.

Unfortunately, I could not get into this novel...and I decided not to review it as it might be negative. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

This is classed as a thriller but for me it reads like a dark romance novel or general fiction. A little too light and no feel of danger to the story. The murder in itself feels like an added backstory for the characters rather than the important part of this story. If you like these new types of fiction then it's written well but for me I need more of a feeling of horror or pity for the victim but this really didn't seem to care about the victim.

The first book in a new mystery series by C.J. Carmichael introduces us to the quiet small town of Lost Trails, Montana where the worst crimes that occur are pranks played on a retired school teacher. Until a young woman's body is dumped on the clinic's steps in the middle of the night. Thus we find that the townspeople have more than one secret. Zak Waller is content to live his days as the Sheriff's dispatcher. He has flown under the radar his whole life, and has no desire to call attention to himself. Zak can't help investigating the murder on his own, convinced there is more to it, and finds an ally when his old friend Tiff Masterson returns to town. Tiff is back to start over, and is pulled into the mystery after finding the victim worked for her family.
Tiff and Zak are only two of the interesting characters in this book. I love reading Carmichael's books because the characters and the story always hook me from the beginning and don't let go until the end. I couldn't put this down. I am looking forward to the next book in the series and a return to Lost Trails.

I just loved Bitter Roots. This story gripped me from the beginning and I didn't stop reading until the end. With one plot twist after another and several story threads to follow, I was utterly intrigued. The story is set in the tiny Montana town of Lost Trail, a place where everybody knows everybody else and their business and a place where it is hard to believe one of the locals might be a murderer. The characters in this story are beautifully rounded. There are just enough out of towners to make things interesting, and just enough hints peppered through the story to keep readers guessing. This is my favourite CJ Carnichael story yet.

I really enjoyed this mystery. I liked the setting of Lost Trail, Montana and the residents of the town. It's a nice mix of ordinary people and the issues they are facing. Tiff and Zac, friends from childhood, renew their friendship when Tiff moves back home. Zac is a perfect Beta hero with his unassuming personality and sharp intelligence. When a young woman is murdered, it's Zac who pulls the clues together to solve the crime.

It's a nice change that Zac and Tiff are just friends and that future romance options are linked to other characters. But keep in mind, this is a mystery and not a romance. Which for me worked perfectly. I liked the author's writing style and I'm definitely interested in continuing this series.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Lost Trail is a small town in western Montana and in this story we meet some of its residents and learn that there are lots of secrets in that town. I liked the way in which the Ms. Carmichael kept me guessing who the killer was and all of the various paths the story took me down. I’m glad that Zak wasn’t tainted by his brutal dad and that he stayed behind in the town after the rest of his family moved. Tiff was a fresh breath of air, worrying about her mother and all the happenings and changes to the tree farm, yet finding time to help Zak. Then there were all these other characters we were introduced to, setting the stage for future stories, I assume.

I really enjoyed reading this book and had trouble putting this book down. I highly recommend this book to other readers and I for one look forward to the next book in this series.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Zak Waller likes his job as a Dispatcher in the Sheriff’s Office of Lost Trail, Montana. But when a young female is killed he joins with old school friend Tiff Masterson to try and determine who the killer is as he has little trust in the Sheriff's desire to find the real culprit.
An enjoyable mystery with some well-developed characters.

An amazing mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. Riley is new to Lost Trails, Montana when she is found dead on the steps of the medical clinic. Tiff has just returned home to the tree farm, after gone for many years. Dispatcher, Zach will use his own sleuthing to find the murderer.

Love the cast of characters, all with interesting lives. Many layered secrets in this small mountain town, that I really enjoyed. Loved the town library!! I can't wait to visit Lost Trails again.

Delighted to see that this is a series. Great characters with lots of potential for future personal stories. The murder mystery was solved, but I do want to read more about Tiff, Zak, Kenny, etc. This may take place in a small town in Montana, but I am sure there will be more murders to solve. Shed a tear or two and enjoyed a few laughs. I am eager to read the next one.

An intriguing new mystery with an unpredictable ending.

No one knew much about Riley Concurran or what brought her to Lost Trail, but her brutal murder has everyone shook up. The sheriff thinks it was an outsider who tracked her down. But best friends, Zak Waller and Tiff Masterson think differently. Together, they put all the pieces together and solve the crime.

I enjoyed this story a lot. It was a nice change from what I usually read. I liked the characters and plot. I look forward to the rest of the series to learn more about other characters in the book. The book kept me attention the entire time and I was unable to figure out who the killer was. It was an exciting surprise to learn who it was.

I enjoyed this mystery set in a modest, ranching town. There was plenty going on within this small town and many of the characters were suspects. The two main characters were interesting, as well as all the secondary characters. Zak was a different lead character for me. He was an underachiever, one that avoids the spotlight and I enjoyed his role. His character shows growth and I believe we may see a different career for him in upcoming books in the series. His longtime friend, Tiff, returns to town still dealing with the grief of losing two family members from over 20 years ago. I liked how she began to have more patience with her mother, be less judgmental and more accepting of her mother’s grief. Strong writing and the words flowed very well. I look forward to reading more books from this series as there are many great characters with stories of their own.

If you’re in the mood for a relatively quick murder mystery read with a definite small town feel, then Bitter Roots is a perfect story to get you started on this three story series (at this time). Zak may be a small town police dispatcher, but he has the heart and soul of a mystery sleuth hidden in that ‘can’t be bothered’ surface he cultivates. There’s a mystery in town and his fellow officers seem to be overlooking the obvious. He’s not above doing a bit of sniffing around since he’s certain the officials are on the completely wrong track.

Tiff knew of the most recent victim, they had worked for her family’s Christmas tree farm. The official story doesn’t make a lot of sense. When she meets up with a childhood friend they find that their thoughts on the murder and the department’s are very different. What makes them so sure it was an outsider? Zak and Riff end up doing some investigating of their own – and the results will be some small town surprises.

I enjoyed Bitter Roots. The small town feel is very realistic, and the suspects are numerous. Small towns usually hold a few secrets, but murder isn’t usually at the top of that list. Tiff and Zak were enjoyable to follow as they got to know the adult they’d each become, and figure out why the obvious is so hidden from the sheriff’s department. If you enjoy putting puzzle pieces in just the right spots, then Bitter Roots is a story and a series that you’ll want to get started on. Enjoyed this one and would recommend it to any Romantic Suspense or Murder Mystery reader.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

This is my first experience with C.J. Carmichael’s work, and sadly, I really did not enjoy Bitter Roots at all. You could potentially say that it left a “bitter” taste in my mouth. The synopsis sounded fantastic when I first found this novel—and it was an extremely quick read—but the plot was rather poorly executed. There was no aspect of this novel that was particularly memorable or that made me feel motivated to continue reading. Thankfully, this is a short novel, so I did manage to make it to the end, but there was really no payoff for my efforts once I got there.

First of all, I will admit that I had the wrong impression of this novel from the very start. I believed it to be a mystery/thriller novel, however I did not realize that the author is known primarily for writing romantic suspense novels until I looked it up on Goodreads. At this point, I had already agreed to read and review it, so I decided to give it a fair chance. And I did in fact go into this novel with no bias, lowered expectations, or belief that I would end up disliking it. The overall idea sounded intriguing, so I was still eager to give it a try.

This novel is a third person narrative that predominately follows the lives of three characters—Tiff, Zak, and Justin—as they navigate their experiences and relationships in the small town of Lost Trail following the murder of a young woman. Tiff, an accountant, has just made the difficult choice of moving back to her family’s ranch after her life in Seattle falls apart. Zak is the dispatcher at the local sheriff’s office who seems content with his life behind the desk, but uses his talents to inspect the murder case on his own time. Justin is a lawyer who is settling down with his wife and her daughter, though there are many unresolved issues floating around behind the scenes of this seemingly perfect marriage.

Tiff is still struggling to find closure after the deaths of her father and brother years ago, and to come to terms with her mother’s mental health, which seems to be spiraling even more out of control than it was the last time they were together. Tiff becomes involved in the search to find the killer, as the murdered young woman had been under her family’s employment, working on their Christmas tree farm.

Zak, with his inquisitive mind, cannot help but work on the case of the murdered woman, even though it is really not his place to do so. On top of this, he is rekindling a friendship with Tiff and dealing with his confusing feelings toward the new deputy at the station. And lastly, Justin’s storyline mostly focuses on his home life with his family, leaving him less involved in the crime solving area of the novel.

Sadly, the murder mystery aspect of the story took a backseat to the troubles, fractured relationships, and sometimes perverted musings of the main characters. Now don’t get me wrong, I always enjoy some family drama in novels, but I hated the fact that everything overshadowed a murder and the obviously shoddy detective work surrounding the case.

The plot was exceedingly slow and repetitive as well. The main characters spent most of their time being suspicious of one person and never even considering anyone else. Tiff and Justin also met up every few chapters and basically recapped, in great detail, everything that had just been read. It felt like we were never getting anywhere, until the last three chapters when Carmichael slammed down on the accelerator and plowed into the conclusion.

Comparatively, the plot wrapped up uncannily quickly and was far too rushed. The big twist was not very impressive—it was a surprise, but that was not enough to salvage the rest of the plot. It seemed very out of the blue, as the reader only gets to hear the most important information in these last few chapters. So while it is unexpected, it is unexpected due to lack of any information in prior points of the novel.

The characters and their personalities really fell flat for me. They were incredibly one dimensional throughout the entire narrative, and I found it hard to connect with almost all of them. I spent a lot of the novel feeling quite fed up with them and their choices. The only character I felt at all invested in was Justin. He was the most genuinely kind human being, and his relationship with his family really pulled me in.

Another positive factor of the characterization was the relationship between Tiff and Zak. Prior to even knowing there would be elements of romance to this novel (if you can even call them that), I assumed that this friendship between them would probably end up turning into something more. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they maintained a strong companionship throughout the narrative without falling for each other. This is honestly something that I personally see becoming much rarer in novels these days, so I commend Carmichael for making this choice.

One of the other positives about this novel was the writing. I didn’t have any real complaints about the style itself. I thought that Carmichael was a strong writer, and her experience and talent still shine through. This was one of the only things that pushed me to finish off the book. Her words flowed very well and this is what carried me so quickly through the narrative. Her descriptions, for the most part, were very detailed, but I wish there had been a bit more of them, and that she had gone about them differently.

There was a big downside to the descriptions, in my opinion. This was the aspect of the novel that left me feeling a bit offended. The only characters who really got any sort of detailed description were all the young and implausibly attractive ones. These people were mostly women, and everyone was “tall and slender” with unrealistically perfect appearances. This is another part of the novel that overshadowed not only the severity of the situation, but also the intelligence and capability of the females in this narrative. Overall, I was taken aback at this and quite unimpressed and annoyed.

I thought this might possibly be due to the fact that I am unaware of the common conventions of romance novels, but that is still something I’m unsure of. It doesn’t really excuse the moments of sexism and perverted thoughts that really angered me. For example, most of the men in this novel—especially Zak—were extremely focused on and judgmental of the appearances of women, and way too focused on leering at them.

Unfortunately, I would not recommend this novel or series. It was not at all what I was expecting given the promising synopsis. The story is very repetitive and lacks depth, and it is even mildly offensive at times—at least it was for me. Despite the writing itself being relatively good, there was nothing, in my opinion, redeeming about this novel, nor was there anything worth reading plot-wise. I would definitely be willing to try another one of Carmichael’s novels, but I don’t think I will be continuing on with this particular series.

This is the first book I've read by Carmichael and after reading Bitter Roots I intend to read more soon.

I don't read that many mysteries or thrillers anymore because my enjoyment of extreme tension when reading no longer exists. Luckily, there is very little tension in Bitter Roots. Basically, just enough tension to keep the book interesting. After all, you have to have dark anticipation in a book to drive a murder mystery.

I found the mystery itself tight and believable. I figured out why the victim was murdered long before the actual murderer was named but I didn't have trouble accepting the murderer as the true culprit. (I hate books and tv shows where the murderer turns out to be someone very unlikely with a secret and random motive.) I also liked that there were many possible killers and possible motives, at least initially, in the story.

In my opinion, the balance of mystery and possible romances in the book is spot on. Future romantic relationships are laid out as we get to know the characters in Lost Trail but there is no feeling of romance masquerading as a mystery.

Most importantly of all, the characters in the book are well written and likable (except for the killer). I especially liked Zak and Tiff (I do have to say that Tiff sounds more like the name of a ginger cat than an adult woman, but whatever). Zak is smart and intriguing character dressed up in the costume of an underachiever. I look forward to reading the next books in the series to see exactly what Zak will make of his professional and personal lives.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys well written mysteries that are not too gruesome or tense. I think many contemporary romance readers would enjoy it as well.

Bitter Roots is book one in the new series. This book has lots of twists and turns. There was a brutal murder that Dispatcher Zac Waller of the Sheriff's Department was trying to solve. His friend Tiff Masterson moves back to town to her families tree farm and finds all kinds of mysteries. I really enjoyed trying guess what was going on and following all the clues. I still have some unanswered questions about some of things happening in the book but I'm hoping they will be answered in the next book. CJ Carmichael did some fantastic writing in this book. She was creative and weaved a fine mystery..

Zak Waller is working as a dispatcher for the Sheriff’s Office of Lost Trail, Montana when he gets a call the morning after Halloween that a body has been found outside the medical clinic. A newcomer to the small town had been brutally beaten and left to die on her own in the middle of the night.

Tiff Masterson has just returned to Lost Trail when she hears that an employee of her family business was murdered. Tiff and Zak were friends and when the two run into one another again they can’t help but put their heads together trying to solve the case since it seems the sheriff and deputies are set on proving the killer was not from their small town instead of following all the leads.

Bitter Roots is the first book in a new series by C.J. Carmichael. The book is a fairly short read but even with it being shorter I found there was plenty involved in the mystery to keep my attention and enjoyed the fast pace, page turning story.

The story has all the feel of a small own read with the characters all knowing one another but this small town has plenty of drama going on to keep a reader guessing what could have possibly happened to this poor newcomer into their lives. Zak quickly became a favorite character of mine as he tried to keep to himself and out of the law enforcement spotlight by insisting on staying the dispatcher but in this job had all of the insight to everything going on.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend this one and look forward to reading more books from this series and from this author.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Bitter Roots is the first book I have read by C.J. Carmichael and I am glad I did. I enjoyed this fast-paced mystery, the story is well written and I found myself engaged in the storyline from the very beginning. I look forward to exploring more by this author

Bitter Roots (is the first book in the Bitter Root Mysteries series by C.J. Carmichael. I have read romance books of Carmichael's in the past and always enjoyed them. Bitter Roots is fast read and a good mystery. It is well written and enjoyable to read.

The story centers around Tiff Masterson who has returned to the small Montana town of Lost Trail. An accountant, she had been living in Seattle until her work and home life ended in chaos. She headed to Lost Trail and is quickly caught up in a mystery involving the death of a young woman working on her family's Christmas tree farm. Together with Tiff's high school friend and now police dispatcher Zak, they begin to look into the mystery.

I enjoyed the characters. It will be interesting to see in future books if Zak decides to become a police officer instead of a dispatcher.

Good fast read. Mystery fans will enjoy Bitter Roots. I am looking forward to the next books in the series.