This is a good start to a series, a quick read that I worked through in an hour and a half or so. But I didn't connect with it very much. A few details seemed opposite of what I would have expected (things about Jane the grandmother and Henry the doctor, for instance, and Cate--a federal agent--encouraging an ice cream shop employee to make pot ice cream). Also, the frequent thoughts threw me off. This book is told in third person, so the constant first-person thoughts didn't help the story IMO. Those easily could have been written into the narrative so they weren't so jarring.

The rest of the series is partially written by another author, so I wonder if she does that too. Either way, I likely won't continue with these books. Reading the first one for free in exchange for a review was okay, but I have other things I would like to try. I appreciate the opportunity though.

I just love the Widows Island series. Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh are the perfect writing duo. This batch of two to the series explores more with Kate and Tessa, Logan and closer to the disappearance of Samantha

Actual rating: 3.5 out of 5

This quick read was a good start for a new series. For a novella, it had an interesting plot, a good pace and the characters were well developed. While this story was short, it packed a lot into it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Montlake Romance and Kendra Elliot for a copy of "Close to the Bone" in exchange of an honest review.

This is the first novella in the Widow's Island series and a very good start to a very entertaining series. The book was well written and recommended for anyone who loves a good read.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

Cate is called back home to investigate skeletal remains found on the island. Going back home always brings up memories but this investigation brings up more than the memory of bonfires and sneaking out. This is memories of a friend who was never found.

The author did a great job of making me want more since this is a first in a series. I am anxious in which direction she goes with the storyline. I am excited for the next book in this series.

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the first novella in the Widow's Island series and I found it to be a very good introduction. It was a great mystery, it was full of surprises and held me intrigued throughout. Kendra Elliot is a very successful writer and it's easy to see why. I found Cate and Tessa to be very credible characters. Their actions and reactions were carefully thought out and I actually think this would translate very well to screen also. I enjoyed it a lot and look forward to reading lots more from Kendra Elliot in the future.

The first book in a new series is always full of curiosity and excitement. Close to the Bone is no exception. It’s not as action packed as other books of hers but, it’s the first one in the series so things have to go slow at first.

Kate, an FBI woman who is on sick leave due to healing from an injury is now tossed into the middle of a new case. Bones have been found. The bones bring up old wounds of a missing girl from her childhood.

Now the investigation is in chaos as they try to figure out who the homes belong to, and why they were put there in the first place.

Can’t wait for more!

Close to the Bone by Kendra Elliot
Series: Widow’s Island Novella Book #1
Publisher: Montlake Romance

Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Montlake Romance for the ebook ARC of Close to the Bone by Kendra Elliot in exchange for an honest review.

FBI Special Agent Cate Wilde is back home on a remote Pacific Northwest Island when she gets a call. A teenager’s skeletal remains have been found on a nearby island.

Together with Tessa Black, a childhood friend turned local deputy, Cate confronts dreary weather and leads to make sense of the death. The complications pile up as Cate is distracted by the coroner on the case - and by memories that draw her twenty years into the past. The remains suggest eerie similarities between the victim, and Cate and Tessa’s friend Samantha, who disappeared when she was 14 years old.

Cate finds herself up against closemouthed locals, buried secrets and even her own heart. As the case unravels, will she be able to find justice for the missing and the dead.

I give this book a rating of 4 stars and recommend reading it. This was a good start to the series.
The series is all at novella length and written between Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh by alternating the books.

Thrilling story with a plot that kept me turning the pages, really well written with great characters. Highly recommend to everyone who is a fan of this genre.

*2 1/2 stars*
I liked the premise of this story, however I thought the length just didn’t work. The story (as it was written) required the detail and plotting afforded by a novel. The shorter novella length meant that the villain came from left field and the romantic relationship between the main protagonists, Cait and Henry appeared without explanation. This was a real shame as it had potential that failed to materialise.
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher*

Close to the bone is the first in a series following cases that take place on Widow's Island. Our main character, Cate, is on leave from her job in the FBI when she is asked to investigate the discovery of bones on a local island. She works alongside her childhood best friend Tessa who has also joined the FBI.

A fairly short story that is really easy to read. The fact that there are self contained stories within the novella meant that there was still something to solve. The mystery of the bones was fairly straightforward, but was really well written with some brilliant characters. The fact that this book is so short means that there was not a lot of time to get to know the characters in any great depth however, but the second book has some recurring characters which meant that I felt more attached to them as the series went on. Some of my favs include Jane , Henry and Jerry.

The pacing is good, although the reveal happened a lot quicker than I was anticipating. It is a nice read for those who enjoy cosy mysteries as there was hardly any gore or sex involved. I just wish there had been more on the ghosts which supposedly haunted the island, as this would have created more atmosphere. I think I want a full length telling of this series rather than a novella as it is strangely addictive and enjoyable.

A good start to the series that makes me want to read more. The overarching mystery that will be present throughout this series is well used although we don't have a lot of information at this stage. I do want to continue on in order to see if it is possible to solve what happened to Samantha.

A suspenseful and chilling read, it keeps you on the edge of your seat long after you’ve finished. It leaves you ready for the concluding novella.

I have enjoyed all the "paired"/alternating novellas by Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leigh. This latest series is a fresh new start! New characters, new location, new premise/mystery - and it's off to a great start.

The story is enjoyable and it catches your interest right away. There is a romantic twist between some of the characters, but it is a side story and doesn't take away the focus from the mystery aspect of the book. The books are quick reads but like some novellas, these don't leave you wanting more. You get backstories on the town, including how it got its name and there's even a ghost backstory!

These two writers work well together and while I can tell the differences in their styles, I think it enhances the reading and gives you that little extra that you wouldn't get if only one of the pair were writing these series.

I look forward to the continuation of this series and hopefully lots more!

**Received from NetGalley for my honest review.**

FBI Special Agent Cate Wilde is back on the Pacific Northwest island she once called home, recovering from an injury when she gets a call of a body found on a nearby island. But with memories of a past case haunting her, reconnecting with an old friend who is now a local deputy, Cate is racing against the clock to figure out the clues even as she finds herself falling for the local coroner. Will Cate be able to find justice for the victim even as her memories of a similar case twenty years before haunting her?

I love this author’s Mercy Kilpatrick series and was intrigued by this new series she is writing with author Melinda Leigh. Overall, CLOSE TO THE BONE had potential to be a really good book if it was just a tad bit longer. For the length it was, I felt I couldn’t connect to the characters like I normally do. The storyline felt stilted in spots and rushed in others. The ending was a little too pat for my liking though the bad guy(s) were quite a surprise to me. With the premise of an island that if you leave, you want to come back home and if you don’t belong, the island will let you know one way or another. I liked the mystery that was hinted about between Cate and Tessa, one that haunts them to this day. It intrigued me whenever Cate and Tessa talked about it and it made the mystery of this new death on an adjacent island to Widow’s Island a bit more intriguing. The author tries to give the reader much within the number of pages that was in the book but for myself, it falls short. What I wished was the author expanding the story just a little more and expanding the story a little more but overall, it works within the novella format to a degree.

CLOSE TO THE BONE introduces new and old characters that had me smiling at times and some characters were from this author’s other series, so I am going to have to check that out later. Ms. Elliot delivers a new series that will keep you intrigued at times with a thriller that will intrigue the readers and flipping pages. The downside is its too short in my opinion. I look forward to seeing where Ms. Elliot and Ms. Leigh go with the characters in Widow’s Island series in future books.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement

Close to the Bone by Kendra Elliot is the first in a romantic suspense novella duology and features a creepy cold case on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest.

Cate Wilde is a FBI Special Agent who is taking some time off after being shot on the job. She’s staying with her grandmother on Widow’s Island, where she grew up, when a skeleton of a young woman is found on nearby Ruby Island. Cate and her childhood friend, police officer Tessa Black, team up to try and identify the remains. They might belong to a young woman who disappeared a few years ago or possibly to Cate and Tessa’s high school friend who vanished one night when they were all supposed to sneak out and meet each other, a case that haunts them both.

There’s a nice gothic quality to the mystery in this book, but the romance angle doesn’t appear until the end, and even then feels forced. Cate and the local doctor and coroner, Henry, develop some feelings for each other, but it feels like an after thought.

The ending to the mystery is pretty satisfying and it sets up nicely for the sequel, A Bone to Pick by Melinda Leigh. As straight suspense I’d give this novella an A, but it fails to hit its mark with the romance angle.

Stevie‘s review of Close to the Bone (Widow’s Island Novella, Book 1) by Kendra Elliot
Contemporary Romantic Suspense published by Montlake Romance 23 Oct 18

Continuing my fascination with shared universes, I decided to investigate a new series by a pair of new-to-me authors, overcoming my general wariness around romantic suspense. This first book follows an FBI agent returning to her childhood home, staying with the grandmother who raised her while on medical leave, although she soon finds herself embroiled in a pair of murder mysteries, one considerably older than the other, and helped by one of the two best friends from her youth.

Special Agent Cate Wilde and Deputy Tessa Black, who returned to the islands some months before Cate, made up a trio with their other best friend, Samantha Bishop, until she vanished at age fourteen. When the skeleton of a young girl is unearthed on one of the islands, both women fear the remains are those of their friend, although the more likely theory is that the bones are of a girl who disappeared two years before, the daughter of a reclusive writer. Due to her personal connection with the case, and the increased isolation of the islands while the one ferry to the mainland is out of commission, Cate agrees to help Tessa’s investigation into the identity of the skeleton and the mystery of how she came to be buried where she was found. As a further incentive, the islands’ new doctor and coroner, Henry Powers, seems as interested in Cate as she finds she is in him.

As the investigation gets underway, Cate remembers more and more about the events leading up to Samantha’s disappearance, including some out-of-character behaviour and sneaking around, which the other two girls had not joined in at the time, and which now seems to point to Samantha having been involved with someone local, who then did away with her. Although the body turns out not to be Samantha, new clues are uncovered, while Cate grows closer to Henry. Meanwhile, we get to meet a variety of other local characters, including Cate’s grandmother, Jane, who is involved with a variety of local projects, and is a mine of information, as well as being the driving force behind a range of local activist activities.

I really like the world this novella introduces us to; however, it seemed that an awful lot was packed into the short format, meaning that the main mystery felt a little flat to me. I’m intrigued as to what more there is to learn about Samantha, though, as well as by the prospect of seeing how a different author is going to tackle the same setting and characters.

Grade: C

Received from NetGalley
Completed 1/7/19
83 page ebook & 101 page ebook

I enjoy all of Kendra Elliot's books so I was looking forward to this new series from her. I haven't been a fan of Melinda Leigh's books in the same series, but this book I liked much better. Their new series takes them to a new area in the Pacific Northwest and the first book follows an FBI agent (Kendra's books) and a police officer (Melinda's books) as they try to figure out whose bones are found. Not just one girl has gone missing from the area, so they are looking into who the bones are, and who killed them.

In the 2nd book, they are on the trail of a killer who left a body harpooned to a sign. They find out that the killed man may not be who everyone thinks that he is.

Both books were enjoyable and typical for these series. They move quickly but are so enjoyable and it doesn't feel like you are missing out when you are getting a novella rather than a full length book. I think I'll enjoy this series more than the Rogue River series as I enjoyed both the characters of these, while I dislike one of the characters of Rogue River.

Recommended to fans of romantic suspense. These books by Kendra Elliot are always enjoyable, and while I personally don't enjoy Melinda's books as much, they are worth it to get the full story from Kendra's books. And the covers are awesome!


Setting = A
Plot = A
Conflict = A
Characters = A
Theme = A

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for a copy of this book!

Highly recommended novellas and a great mystery.

The first book in the Widow's Island series of novellas written alternatively by either Kendra Elliot or Melissa Leigh, we are introduced to our cast of characters when Cate Wilde, an FBI agent on medical leave, is the closest agent to a crime scene so must secure and investigate. Helped along the way by several local characters plus the main cast of the series, Cate will scramble to solve the crime while keeping her family and friends from danger.
These novellas are centered on a cast of characters that are all law enforcement officers in differing branches of the law. There is also a back story that runs through the books of a friend's disappearance at 13. The main characters are all connected as they work on the cold case and try to solve the main crimes in each story. It's an original way to keep their readers happy and coming back for more. I know I will.