Emma Sharpe is recovering from a shattering loss while her husband, Colin Donovan, is deep into his latest undercover mission. So they’re grateful to enjoy a peaceful autumn weekend together on the southern Maine coast to celebrate Colin’s brother Andy’s wedding. But the peace is short-lived when Kevin Donovan, a marine patrol officer, receives a call to check on suspected food poisoning at a party aboard a yacht. Colin decides to tag along. He is surprised to recognize one of the victims as an undercover British intelligence officer, and it quickly becomes evident they’re dealing with something very sinister. At the same time a valuable painting by Irish artist Aoife O’Byrne—a friend of Emma and Colin’s—is missing from the yacht, and the connections make the investigation international and extremely personal. Emma and Colin discover they are up against a deadly foe who plans to strike again. With the help of HIT, their small, elite Boston-based FBI team, they must foil an attack that will have devastating effects. It’s a case that will alter their lives beyond anything they’ve ever imagined.
This was the first time I got a chance to really read a book by this author and I’ve wanted to for a long time, always seeing her name on the shelves every time I’m at a bookstore (yes, they do still exist). This book didn’t disappoint. I do wish I had started at the beginning though as I was a little confused trying to figure out everyone in the beginning. It didn’t deter from the great writing as I delved into the story. I can’t wait to read more from this author. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

I should know better than to start reading book # 9 of a series. This book was a bit confusing for me to get into with so many characters thrown at you right at the beginning. I think that the writing is excellent but it really bothers me when I don't start a series from the beginning.

I expected more of a thriller/suspense - and to me, this book was not that, which was fine! Instead, we are drawn into the Donovan and Sharpe families along with their friends. The book takes place in Maine and Ireland - and I liked both settings a lot - they fit the mood of the book, which was ... contemplative? This isn't a book where a bloody body-count stacks up - instead, it focuses on friend and family relationships - and there is also a good mystery.

In the midst of a wedding, the Donovans are called to investigate a potential poisoning on a yacht. It just looks like a case of food poisoning, but Colin recognizes one of the stricken passengers as a fellow agent. There are lots of secrets, some dealing with loss, and I read much later than I'd planned to see the resolution.

This is the first book I read in the series - I could tell there is a lot of backstory I missed - that didn't detract from the story, but it did make me want to go back and read previous books. Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

When I read the first book in this series I thought it was nice. But as each books comes along I am loving the stories and the characters. I have gotten to know them. Colin has been on another assignment and Emma at home. He is thinking that undercover work has lost its appeal. After his brother's wedding, Colin and his other brother go to a yacht where some of the people on board are sick from food poisoning. Colin finds an old friend on board who is very sick. He is also MI5. Trying to unravel why anyone would give everyone mushrooms that just make them sick and not kill them. Is this a diversion? What is really going on?

Emma and Colin and their friends and family are as familiar to me now as my own friends and family as I picked up the newest entry in this series with its new fare of murder and intrigue.
At the heart of the story is food poisoning on a private yacht with stolen art work added to the mix. There is a CIA agent posing as an art expert who is one of the guests who is extremely ill from the food poisoning. The cook is in possession of an expensive piece of art which was purchased for her by her father who was killed under mysterious circumstances shortly after his purchase. One of the eminent art thieves who now works for MI6 and his handler has been in close proximity with the gentleman and is now visiting the village where the yacht is docked.
The plot continues to thicken as the various law enforcement and characters like Colin and Emma who are law enforcement but not assigned to this case explore and peel back the layers in the onion before finding the truth. This story did not hold my interest in the same way as some of the earlier ones have done especially since the chemistry between Colin and Emma is also lacking.

As with all of her books this is a solid mystery.
It has fast paced ploy and good characters.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book

Emma Sharpe is excited that her husband Colin is finally home from his latest undercover mission and they can relax and enjoy each other’s company. All is well until Colin volunteers to help his brother Kevin, a police officer on a call. They soon find that passengers were poisoned on a yacht which may be much more when Colin finds out his friend who is also an undercover agent was one of the passengers. Colin and Emma then find out of the arrival of Henrietta and Oliver in Heron’s Cove! This can’t be a coincidence. How does it all tie together?

Carla Neggers definitely has another hit with this ninth book in the series. The story twist and turns and I couldn’t put the book down trying to figure out who the culprit was. It was nice to catch up with the Sharpe and Donovan families once again as well as the returning supporting characters in the book. A huge thank you to Harlequin-Mira, Carla Neggers and NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book to review.

I’m almost amazed any murders get solved, when there are so many different little ways to kill or maim people based on obscure hobbies I’d never even think about. In the case of Rival’s Break, it’s wild edibles—mushrooms—that lend a whole new angle to having to uncover a crime.

As the story started out, I was grateful for introductions to the characters. Although this is the 10th book in this series (including one novella), I had not previously read any of them, so I had some catching up to do. The characters were mostly likable, if a bit far-fetched. I think reading some of the previous books would have made them more understandable. And what do I really know about the private lives of secret agents anyway?

I’m not one to usually try to guess the ending to a book, or the solution to a mystery or crime, but I hadn’t even considered the one who was revealed to be the "bad guy," this time. The plot was intriguing and unpredictable for me. While I wasn’t sure if I might be a little too confused, I wanted to keep reading and have the whole story finally revealed. I did not see this ending coming! I’d love to check out more books by this author and see if plots are always so well thought-out.

Overall, I’d give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. It was a fun summer read and escape from my everyday life. I also found the characters engaging and would like to hear more of their stories.

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I’ll start this review off by saying that if you’re a big fan of Carla Neggers’ Sharpe/Donovan series, you’re probably going to love this. All but a very few characters have previously appeared and played significant roles in earlier books, so it’ll be like catching up with a group of old friends and seeing what’s going on with their lives.

If, like me, you haven’t read any of the previous books, you’ll be wondering ‘who are all these people and why do I care about the mundane details of their lives being thrown in this supposedly suspenseful read?’

There are far, far too many point of view characters in this story and the points of view of several of them are completely and utterly irrelevant. I’m going to list them here and explain what I mean:
PoV 1: Emma Sharpe. FBI agent. We start off in her PoV and return to it periodically, but she’s never more than a passive observer to events, except on one occasion where she acts as a vehicle for the reader to learn about poisonous mushrooms when getting some information about them.
PoV 2: Colin Donovan, Emma’s husband, also an FBI agent who helps his brother out investigating the case of food poisoning which turns sinister. Colin at least gets to actually Do Stuff.
PoV 3: Parish priest Father Finian. Utterly irrelevant to the case. His house acted as a temporary base for some of the principal actors.
PoV 4: Former art thief turned MI5 asset Oliver. Irrelevant as he was never more than an observer.
PoV 5: Emma’s brother Lucas Sharpe, wandering around the Irish hills with their grandfather and doing… nothing related to the case.
PoV 6: Georgina, a chef whose father is poisoned and who MAY be responsible for the food poisoning which kicks off the mystery. She’s actually the only person here who I got to care about in the slightest, because she’s the only one who had something at stake - her father’s life and her career. And guess whose point of view we only visited maybe four times in the whole book? That’s right. We spent just as much time in Father Finian’s head, or Lucas’, and neither of them had anything to do with the case. Just when things were getting interesting for Georgina, we’d switch back to Lucas wandering around the hills in Ireland castigating himself for eating too much bread (yes, seriously).

The high stakes referred to in the book’s blurb turn out to be a damp squib. There’s one death in the book and it’s off-screen, a character we only ever see on the page filtered through the PoV of others as they talk about him. And for a mystery suspense, this is missing the crucial element of having clues to the identity of the villain planted early in the story. I’d narrowed it down to four possible characters by process of elimination - everyone else was a ‘known friendly’ - but the villain’s eventual dramatic self-reveal just fell utterly flat because there’d been no foreshadowing. Instead, we were told after the (fairly pathetic) climactic scene what the villain’s motivations were, and it was made clear that they had no hope of carrying out their plan anyway. A massive letdown followed by a tour of everyone’s point of view as they reacted by deciding to do utterly mundane and boring things.

I haven’t read a Carla Neggers book in some time, but I remember them as being a lot better than this. An absolute bore-fest which needed a solid content edit to clean out all the mundane nonsense, cut all the extraneous points of view and add in some actual suspense, mystery and stakes. Oh, and add some diversity, because this is yet another read in which everyone is white, straight and abled. And I don’t know if you’d noticed, but the world really isn’t like that. Making Georgina a queer woman of color, for example, would have added a WHOLE ‘nother layer of nuance and tension as she negotiated the situation in a very white Maine coastal town and the Irish Catholic law enforcement officers on the case.

Two stars, for a mystery suspense which failed to be either mysterious or suspenseful.

The Sharpe & Donovan series is one of the best written group of mysteries that I’ve read. Emma Sharpe & Colin Donovan team up to solve baffles my crimes through grit, intelligence & determination. The characters are intertwined throughout life, love & family. The supporting characters give insights & dimension to the plot. Some new clue or issue is behind corners & once revealed, sends your thoughts in another direction. Even though this is one of a series, each story is a stand alone. They are each one case or mystery in the lives of a pair of detectives.

Rival's Break is the ninth book in the Sharp Donovan series (I think), but it's the first one I've read. I was confused. There are numerous characters immediately thrown at you, and many important twists and turns are happening. I didn't know which way was up! The story premise is good, and it's a well written sharp and intelligent story. It's engrossing once(if) you get past the initial what is going on stage. Although still confused, I did gradually get a better sense of who was who and what they were doing and why. The story is thrilling and moves quickly through numerous twists and turns all the way to the end. I enjoyed this one overall, but reading the series in order would be best. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

So I have read the first book in this series but I have not read any of the other ones until this one. I find that they are a little hard to read as we keep going back and forth between so many different people. This book was good but smoothly written. I felt like I was all over the place reading this book and couldn't really get a feel on anyone. I think it would be different if I had read the other books in this series. I would have liked more of Sharpe and donovan actually working together and not so much apart. Overall the story was good.


*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.*

I'm pretty sure I've never read a book that opens with a rash of seasickness, but this one does. Well, really it opens with Colin's brother, Andy, getting married to Julianne (Declan's Cross) but Colin and his marine patrol brother, Kevin, end up leaving the reception to investigate the illness. Colin is surprised to recognize one of the victims as an undercover agent.
Rival's Break (Sharpe & Donovan #9)From there, they get caught up in the world of nerve agents and mushrooms while Aoife Byrne's work becomes part of the story once again. Were the people on the boat targeted for some reason? Or is someone after the chef whose scientist father is even now in the throes of death?
The mystery was... very confusing. The story was fine but I had really no idea what this did to move anything in the Sharpe & Donovan universe forward.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out August 27th
Follows Impostor's Lure
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin-MIRA and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

This is another great book by Carla Neggers. It revolves around the fantastic Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan world. This one is again another mystery and involves Colin's friend who works for MI 5. This husband and wife duo are on the case. At the same time, a friend of Emma's also goes missing and they find that the two cases are very personally connected The whole cast and crew of characters which are Wendell, Aoife, Kevin, Henrietta, Father Finian, Oliver, Sean, Lucas and Kevin. I really enjoy these characters and was happy to see them all back in this instalment. This was truly an enjoyable book that I was able to completely immerse myself into. I highly recommend this book!

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Warning- your appetite for mushrooms will be reduced while reading this book! When FBI agents Colin and Emma get time together after his undercover assignment, the bliss doesn’t last long. Attending the wedding of Colin’s brother, the event is disrupted when a food poisoning episode happens on a yacht anchored in Heron’s Cove . Things get complicated when one of the victims is Jeremy, awell-known secret agent posing as an art expert named William. Then, former art thief Oliver and his lover Henrietta show up from England and it’s revealed that they both work for Jeremy/William. The final twist is that the unfortunate chef Georgina, who served the bad mushrooms is the daughter of a famous scientist who is known for creating neurotoxins. Add to that, the scientist is in a coma in England after eating poison mushrooms. The story takes place both in the USA and across the pond.
I love this series because every book is so full of twists and turns that right up until the end I think I know who done it and my deduction changes all the way through the book. I also enjoy the recurring characters and how Ms. Neggers works them into the plot while making the book totally readable for a reader new to the series. This book doesn’t have as much romance as some of the author’s previous books in the series but she does tease us about Father Finian and what his future might hold.
Couldn’t put this one down!

Take a neuroscientist and his chef daughter, four intelligence officers (with one undercover), an artist, a former art thief, and a priest then add in a deadly poisoning, missing artwork, and a yacht party that ends with suspected food poisoning and you have the making of a great crime fiction novel. This is what you can expect in Rival’s Break, the ninth book in the Sharpe and Donovan series, by Carla Neggers which will draw you in from the beginning and leave you doing a little detective work to solve the case before anyone else does.

While Emma Sharpe is still dealing with the loss of her father and Colin Donovan, her husband, who is finally back in town after a recent undercover job, the two are looking forward to enjoying a rare weekend together celebrating a wedding in the small town of Rock Pointe. When a call of possible food poisoning comes in from the local police department it leaves them all wondering how it happened and if maybe it's more complicated than it seems. All signs “unofficially” point to the yacht chef, Georgina, but she, along with many others, aren’t entirely convinced she is the one responsible. Adding to her confusion, when a painting of hers weirdly goes missing and she then finds out that her father was poisoned she’s more convinced than ever that something sinister may be going on. Georgina isn’t the only one with suspicions, and when Emma and Colin realize two “friends” have unexpectedly shown up in town and they recognize an undercover agent who was a victim of food poisoning on the yacht, they realized this won’t be quite the quiet weekend they had originally hoped for.

While I haven’t ready any of the other Sharpe and Donovan books by Carla Neggers, I really didn’t feel entirely lost with this one and think it could be read as a stand alone book. I was a bit confused at the beginning with so many characters and hints to their backstories so maybe if I had read previous books, it may have helped but I don’t think it’s a must before diving into this book. As the story moved forward, it quickly came together and I was able to jump right in and become a little bit of a detective myself. I quickly realized I’m not very good at detective work as I didn’t actually figure out what was going on until the very end when it all came full circle. However, I enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen next and think Neggers did a great job of completing the story but also leaving some open ends for more books to follow. I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who loves a good crime fiction story and I know l’d love to read more of the Sharpe and Donovan series.

This is the ninth book in the Sharpe & Donovan series and I have only read one other. Having said that, for the most part, this story is fine being read as a standalone, but I want to go back and read them from the beginning. I was sometimes a bit confused about relationships and some of the backstory.

This story has a lot happening. There is a stolen painting, a yacht full of sick people, a poisoning by mushrooms, and some espionage. The FBI and British Intelligence are both involved as well as parts of the story being in the US and part in the British Isles. I was a bit confused at the beginning of this story, but about 1/3 of the way in, the story took off and held my interest. The characters are charming, family oriented, smart and loyal. There is some romance but that is not the major storyline at all. The story was well-written and plotted besides the slow beginning. If you like an enjoyable, suspenseful story this might just be for you. I will go back and start at the beginning.

The ninth in this series by Carla Neggars. 

FBI agents and newlyweds, Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, have just gotten back together after Colin was undercover for a bit. But before they can even enjoy some romance, there's a yacht full of people sick from food poisoning, a stolen painting, and a lot of agents from across the pond in their backyard acting very sketchy!

Neggars is a genius at what she does. I've read all of the other books in this series. This one was not my favorite. I kept waiting for some suspense and I just did not feel it. Maybe there were just too many characters and too much background. And when the reveal came, it was pretty anti-climactic.

By this time I'm invested in these wonderful characters and I can't wait to see what is in store for all of them next.

NetGalley/August 27th, 2019 by MIRA

An entertaining and gripping book.
It's the first I read in this series and will surely read the previous instalment.
I like the fast paced plot, full of twists and turns, the well written cast of characters, and the setting.
I look forward to reading the next instalment.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

This was a great book. I haven't read any in this series, so I was glad that there was a lot of backstory in the beginning of this one. I love FBI cases, and stolen art is always a good one. I definitely want to go back and start the series from the beginning!