The pace of the writing was fantastic and after the first few chapters I was hooked. I’m a sucker for anything book related so a PI that owns a bookstore, she had my heart. Lelchuk left enough breadcrumbs to carry you through the novel to learn about Nikki’s past and her present. Honestly it is now one of my favorite novels and I hope she continues on with this character into a whole collection of novels so I can devour them!

What a fun read! Who knew that a bookshop owner could be such a badass? And who knew that a female protagonist who is both a competent killer and a wounded sensitive soul is just what we have needed in the genre? Nikki has had a very hard life, and she kicks serious ass, but she also is trying to meet people, be vulnerable, have real relationships. I adore her. And her story is appalling and gripping and kept me reading late into the night. Can't wait to see what Lelchuk comes up with next.

I only made it two pages before checking to confirm my suspicions that the author is a man.

For starters, "stone washed hip hugger jeans". That was the first thing that distracted me. Stone washing is a very common technique and doesn't need to be clarified to that level. Second, no one wears hip hugging jeans anymore. I saw that reference and started skimming for a year because the book obviously isn't set in the current time period.

Secondly, why would the main character order a drink, take a sip and then go to the bathroom? All women know that you can't leave your drink unattended because someone will mess with it. Did she take it to the bathroom with her?

Third, she was riding a motorcycle but also carrying a purse? A purse doesn't go with the whole look of motorcycle boots, leather (bomber? Not the right kind of leather jacket either) jacket, halter, etc. At that point, most women just shove everything in their pockets.

Plus, the descriptions just felt icky. One that stood out was "Could feel the whole bar staring at my ass in the tight jeans". It felt very male fantasy.

I'm not going to give this a star review because that isn't fair to the author since I didn't make it very far. But he needs to do much better. And get a woman to read the book and make notes before it gets published.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I liked this book.

Nikki Griffin, haunted by her past, currently works as a book store-owning PI. When she’s approached by a tech CEO to trail a woman who may be selling company secrets, she uncovers something much darker.

Let me get something out of the way. Knowing book Twitter, there will be some complaints about Nikki. She’s written somewhat as a male fantasy—she’s knockout gorgeous, rides a motorcycle, knows her way around every and any weapon, can quote any and every literary work. And yes, there’s something to be said for the way Nikki sees women—most of us don’t stand in front of mirrors noticing how toned we are and she also comments about how beautiful EVERY woman is that she meets.

That being said, I liked her. She spends a little too much time not answering questions, and the device the author uses to shun technology to advance the plot is a little frustrating given her age, but she’s compelling enough for me to read through her journey. I love that she’s flawed and empathetic and cares deeply about women in trouble.

The plot is also engaging. There’s plenty of suspense, mystery, and danger. I also appreciate, that while there is a vein of revenge fantasy in this book, and there certainly is blood, it’s not too gory.

This is definitely on the recommend list.

I wanted to love this one. It starts out with Nikki entering a bar, schooling fools out of their money and pool and then tricking a dangerous man into inviting her home. He's her mark and she's there with a purpose. I really wanted to like Nikki.

But with her first meeting with Greg Gunn, I was completely disappointed. Nikki missed so many points that felt obvious. For being so killer, she didn't make a lot of first steps any P.I. would make when taking on a new case. As she fumbled around and made additional mistakes (in between her kicking people's behinds), I was done with her. I hated being disappointed. The story was interesting, I just wish I'd like the MC and her capabilities more

I absolutely loved this book. Nikki is everything I ever wanted to be. Hard, gritty, a bada**, take no prisoners kind of woman. I’m a motorcycle riding book lover too, although I’ll never be a kick everyone’s a*s in a 50 mile radius kind of awesome like she is. The plot for this book was amazing too, right from the beginning, everything you think you know about where this story is going is absolutely wrong. We get to see Nikki’s softer side too, with a man she meets who is hesitant to trust where their romance is going because every time he sees her, she’s a little more battered than the time before. Her struggle with her brother and his addictions brings her home in a way that makes her real and relatable too. I’m really glad to see that this is just the Nikki Griffin #1 book, because I can’t wait to immerse myself in her world again.

The opening chapter of Save Me from Dangerous Men was very much old-fashioned Noir, which is not my thing, but by the end of the first chapter, I was intrigued.

The style changed, and I was hooked on Nikki , private investigator, bookstore owner, and vigilante. Now, although I believe a woman can be a physical threat in the right circumstances, Nikki does go a bit overboard. Regardless of how skilled a woman might be, men are typically at an advantage physically--so although Nikki prevails in the book, it isn't a logical outcome for most women to depend on strength and technique against a male opponent.

Nikki becomes something of the graphic novel hero in that regard. Not that we aren't delighted with the outcomes, but maybe less Lisbeth Salander and more Jessica Jones. :)

I hope the next book has more input from the characters in the Zebras, the bookclub that meets at Nikki's bookstore. This could easily become a series I want to follow, but I'd like more character-driven stories and much more about the bookstore and the book club members.

Read in June.

NetGalley/Flatiron Books
PI/Suspense. March 19, 2019. Print length: 326 pages.

I loved this book. After reading the synopsis and seeing it say part Jessica Jones I was sold. I had been looking for a good badass PI Heroine book and this book did not disappoint.
Although we don't know much of Nikki's back story in the beginning by the end of the book we have a better idea of who she is and why she does what she does. Does she have a dark past? Absolutely. Her dark past also leads her to cope in ways that the average person should not, this in turn leads to some major trouble where she not only haste fight for her life but also a boyfriend, Most people should not cope with their past by retaliating on other dangerous man for what they have done to others, but Nikki doesn't care she wasn't to protect as many people as she can.

DNF

This was one of my most looking forward to books of the first half of 2019, but unfortunately I did not like it. I fell in love with the cover and synopsis and was hoping for the start of a new series to sink my teeth into. However, our main character, Nikki, irritated me to no end. I did not like her personality or her voice and that made it hard for me to get through this book given that it's told in first person. DNF'd 25% in.

Nikki Griffin isn't your typical private investigator. In her office above her bookstore’s shelves and stacks, where she luxuriates in books and the comfort they provide, she also tracks certain men. Dangerous men. Men who have hurt the women they claim to love. And Nikki likes to teach those men a lesson, to teach them what it feels like to be hurt and helpless, so she can be sure that their victims are safe from them forever.


Thank you to net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book by S.A. Lelchuk. Save Me From Dangerous Men was a great solid read for me. It took me a little while to get into the book but it held my interest. I will not give spoilers. It’s definitely worth the read if you like these types of books. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

Save Me from Dangerous Men was an outstanding read with an excellent main character and an engrossing mystery.

Nikki Griffin doesn’t usually take normal PI jobs, but instead focuses on tracking dangerous men who hurt the women they love and teaching them what it’s like to be hurt. Nikki’s goal is to ensure her clients are free from their abusers forever and Nikki is very good at her job. After she is offered a large cash payment to follow a tech company employee who may be selling secrets, Nikki finds it hard to pass up what looks like easy money. But after the life of the woman she’s following is threatened, Nikki is forced to reveal herself and she attempts to help the woman. When a rendezvous with the woman goes wrong, Nikki isn’t just trying to solve a case anymore, she’s trying to save her own life.

I found Nikki to be a fascinating main character and I was easily drawn in by her story, eager to know how she came into her line of work. After learning Nikki’s backstory, I understood why she did the work she did and I fully supported her endeavor. One aspect of her work that I found interesting was how Nikki tailored each job based on the experiences of the client. For example, if her client received a broken wrist from her abuser then Nikki made sure said abuser was given a broken wrist during her interactions with them. It was very much an eye for an eye mentality and I found myself supporting her brand of justice.

The work Nikki does for the tech client was quite different from her normal work but there was some overlap in the skills she used. Through her normal jobs, Nikki has become an excellent observer as she often needs to follow people for extended periods to learn their routines. Nikki relies heavily on her ability to observe while surveilling Karen and I found myself enjoying the different techniques she employed. Nikki had a few contacts that have helped her in the past and I enjoyed the supporting cast in this book as they’re all quite unique. The story did ultimately end up going in a few directions I didn’t expect and I was quite surprised by the ending as I had a different theory as to who was behind everything.

Overall I found Save Me from Dangerous Men to be an exciting read from start to finish with plenty of action to keep the plot moving. I highly recommend this book and I’m looking forward to reading more from the author in the future.

A nice solid read and a great start to a new series. I anticipate more great adventures. The characters are well developed and I liked the way Nikki's background was parsed. The reveals created little surprises throughout. Her psychologist and I are both waiting to see if she shows up "next week".

Unfortunately, I just could not get into this one. I liked the idea of the story and the main character; but i just struggled.

I honestly don't know what I liked best about Nikki Griffin- her investigative skills, her smarts, her work on behalf of abused women, her love for her brother, or her deep knowledge of and love for books. Nikki is hired by a tech guy to find out who one of his employees, Karen Li, is selling info to. Frankly, the answer (and its outcome) was less interesting to me than how Nikki worked out what was happening to Karen and then to herself. The novel is interspersed with Nikki's sessions with an unnamed therapist; the reasons for this mandatory treatment doesn't come out for a long time and not in the doctor's office. Nikki's a tough, determined woman who has no fear of physical violence, which she is very good at dishing out. Her love interest, Ethan, is nicely drawn (I admit I wasn't certain about him for a while). How can a reader not love a book where the protagonist recommends books to others? She picked out one for a customer that I want to read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. She's tough, she's seeking justice, and she's a darn cool new heroine- and I'm really looking foward to the next one.

2.5 stars.

This book was just okay for me. I think what annoyed me overall was that it was SO obvious that this was a male author trying to write from the perspective of a woman? Also character development overall needed some improvement.The mystery was okay, but I definitely saw a lot of the twists coming from a mile away. There were also a lot of events that were just too convenient. Unfortunately, I do not recommend this one if you're looking for a really good mystery/thriller.

DNF. From what I did read of this it was fast-paced and exciting, and I think a lot of readers will enjoy that. However...Nikki Griffin felt, to me, like a male fantasy of a badass woman. She didn't feel real--not only was she kickass at everything, she was also super hot AND orders the "Lumberjack breakfast" (shades of Amy Dunne's "cool girl" here...). It all felt a bit too superhero for me, but a lot of people are into superheroes so YMMV.

Series opener Save Me From Dangerous Men, by S.A. Lelchuk, is a wild run. I almost put it down a few times at the beginning because I found some aspects of protagonist Nikki Griffin highly implausible. But I kept going because, sometimes you need something that’s both thrilling and a little bit goofy.

Nikki Griffin has two very different jobs. Her Clark Kent-esque day job is owner of a surprisingly successful bookstore a few miles from Berkeley University. Her superhero job is private detective and avenger of battered women. The bookstore and the private investigations pay the bills while Nikki provides a sharp lesson in not mistreating women to men who abuse them. (One of the tertiary characters calls Nikki Lisbeth repeatedly, even though she asks him not to.) Within the first few chapters, we see Nikki in all her guises before she is offered the job that will fuel the book’s plot.

A very slick CEO of a company about to go big offers Nikki a very large amount of money to follow an employee who he believes is conducting corporate espionage. When that employee turns up dead after revealing that the company, Care4, is up to no good, Nikki puts her avenger hat back on and rains down violence on a whole bunch of men who hurt women and other innocents.

Throughout Save Me From Dangerous Men there are excerpts from Nikki’s sessions with her court mandated therapist. Nikki has anger issues; she has no problem admitting that. She does have a problem with how the therapist suggests she deals with her anger: giving up beating people up. Nikki worries (a bit) that she’s a monster, but not enough to stop (violently) helping people she feels need her protection. Nikki’s role as an avenging angel is what kept me going through this book, even though I think there are a few Mary Sue problems with the protagonist.

I would definitely recommend this book to readers who want to see men who hurt women righteously punished.

Nikki Griffin, runs a used book store basking in the comfort they bring to herself and others. She is also a private investigator who tracks dangerous men who hurt the women they claim to love. When a simple job tailing a tech company's disgruntled employee turns ugly, Nikki must use all her skills to stay alive. This book was addictive, thrilling and action-packed, I loved it! To be surrounded by books, have spirited discussions about different characters and genres and to mete out some deserving justice on some bad people would be intriguing and satisfying. Excellent debut novel, I eagerly look forward to the next adventure Nikki has.

I finished this book, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. The narration didn't feel authentic, secondary characters felt very flat, and the plot was thin. I think there was a lot of explore especially with regards to the secondary characters, but they essentially just served as mirrors for Nikki, rather than people with their own voices.