Returning to Widow’s Island, Bone Deep, the ninth of the series, finds Henry taken from his clinic at the point of a gun by two desperate men and threatened with his life if he doesn’t save their gunshot partner.

Cate Wilde thought her years of intense, heart-pounding FBI work would be over when she bought the bakery back home on Widow’s Island and became engaged to wonderful doctor, Henry Powers, who also sought escape from the trauma of a big city hospital emergency room. But, now she is faced with losing Henry on the eve of their wedding and she joins the desperate hunt to get him back before it is too late.

Bone Deep leaped into action from page one and didn’t stop until that sweet and tender ending full of swoons and sighs. I loved the surprise at the start and how the author kept up the pace and suspense through the end and I’ve long been in love with the characters and setting. More please, more!

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart


Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Widow's Island series is written alternately by Kendra Eliot and Melinda Leigh. Each book in the series are short, novella length. I would read them in order due to the personal relationships.

In previous books, Cate is an FBI agent who is injured and comes back to the island to stay with her grandma while she recuperates. While she is there, she gets involved with a new case on the island. She is on leave but decides to stay on the island to run the bakery / bookshop with her grandma and her new boyfriend, the island doctor.

Cate is settling into her new life, working with her grandma and planning for her wedding. Henry is at his medical practice and is abducted by criminals to help one of them who was shot. Cate and her friend, Tessa who is the local sheriff get right to work figuring out who took him. They learn enough to get Cate's old group at the FBI interested.

Bone Deep is harrowing because these guys have killed and are fine with killing again. Henry does his best to save the man in an unrealistic situation without the right equipment or supplies. He cares but knows it is only a matter of time.

It's exciting, fast-paced and there are plenty of little twists. I would say the blurb is a bit of a spoiler. I enjoyed it and am on to the next in the series.

One of my favorite series and characters with action that moves smoothly through the story to the very end. Dr. Henry Powers was kidnapped to aid a criminal with a gun shot wound. When he sees the patient, although he does everything that he can, he knows that the man will not make it. When the man dies, Henry is a dead man. He must plan an escape if he is to make it back to Cate alive. He is engaged to former FBI Agent Cate Wilde whose best friend is Deputy Tessa Black. He knows that Tessa and Cate will be doing everything to rescue him. He was taken from the island by boat, but Widows Island has many other smaller islands…how will they find him? From the FBI, they learn who the men are who took Henry adding to the extreme danger. Cate is allowed to aid in the investigation as her expertise, as a former agent, is invaluable. When they receive a break as to the boat’s location, will they find him and will they find him alive? I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

These books read far too quickly for me. Cate, former FBI current bakery owner, is engaged to Henry the town doctor. They are adorable and anxious to get married soon when masked men take him away to fix their brother’s gun shot wound. As the whole island, and FBI, spreads out to find Henry they come to realize who the men are and why they are hiding. Each chapter unfolds with answers and more questions. Readers could pick up any of the 9 available novellas and get an exciting mystery but by reading from the beginning you can learn about the history of Cate and Tess, and the busy island. NetGalley provided the early copy and my written was given honestly.

My Thoughts

9th book in a series that alternates its writing between 2 different authors and this one just happened to come to my attention at the last minute on release day so I grabbed it despite only having read book 1.

To my delight the book reads very quickly as it is only 17 chapters long.

Also since this is a series not familiar with the story is very easy to follow as well because to me it reads as a stand alone tale.

Though a former FBI agent Cate Wilde still has what it takes to do a good job helping local law officers and her former FBI colleagues work to bring bring Dr. Henry Powers home.

Quite a tale and for me nicely thought out, set up and executed from beginning to its almost anticlimactic ending.

[EArc from Netgalley]
On every book read as soon as it is done and written up for review it is posted on Goodreads and Netgalley, once released then posted on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles as well.

Bone Deep is the ninth novella in Widow Island series written by Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot. Melinda Leigh wrote books 2,3, 6,7, and 10, Kendra Elliot -1,4,5,8, and 9). What is most interesting to me is how seamless these books are written within the series. Kendra Elliot's novellas are told from Cate Wilde's perspective, a former FBI agent who left her job to come back to her tiny home in the Pacific Northwest to be a baker and bookstore owner. Her feelings towards her decision to leave FBI are unresolved, but she seems to have found happiness on Widow's Island.

This series is so good you will want to start at the beginning, but each can be read as a stand-alone. The main characters are so well written that you will want to continue reading from the previous book. In this book we get more information about the family history and long-standing feuds from the past.

Dr Henry Powers is abducted by two men, taken to a remote uninhabited island to save a brother of the two men who was apparently shot during a bank robbery. The action starts from the very first page and holds us to the end.

Cate arrives at Henry's office with dinner only to find Julia gagged and tied to a chair. Julia tells Cate what happened to Henry. Cate then calls Tessa for help from the sheriff's department. Cate and Tess and work together trying to find Henry they will need to pull from the community and contacts in order to find Henry before it is too late.

This is a quick read and can be easily read in a couple of hours. It is full of action-packed drama, but it also contains personal history that makes it so endearing and worth reading.

Great read and in typical fashion - nonstop action and suspense! Fantastic novella. Definitely need to read the previous books in the series first to get the full effect. A page turner!

I’ve been enjoying Kendra Elliot’s various series recently (especially Mercy Kilpatrick) - but this is the first of her novella’s that I’ve picked up. The quick read bringing in suspense and the gripping thrills but also resolving everything within about 150 pages is the perfect length for an afternoon escape.

Bone Deep is highly suspenseful and definitely quick to get the adrenaline pumping when a major character is kidnapped and former FBI agent Cate Wilde calls in reinforcements to chase down the suspects on tiny Wodow’s Island, where they can’t have gone far. It’s very personal this time, and no time to spare to figure everything out or it could be too late - with something extra on the line for her this time.

Great, quick thrill ride and highly worth the couple of hours spent for the roller coaster ride on this one! I definitely recommend it whether you’ve read anything of this series before or not.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and Montlake, and this is my honest feedback.

Bone Deep🦴

This story is another first for me…I’ve only just recently started reading books by Kendra and I saw this book offered and snapped it up since I enjoyed her last one so much. I haven’t read any other books in this series, so the gist of the story was easy to follow, other than being a novella the story itself was good and has definitely intrigued me to the point I’d like to read a few more books in this series and discover Cate and Henry’s story from the beginning😍

I received an advanced copy via Netgalley and voluntarily leave my honest review❣️

I adore this author but this was not one of my favourite novellas. I had a hard time connecting with this one. I felt a bit disconnected from the characters here. .
However this was still extremely well written, with a great plot and pace. The atmosphere is well done. The story is told wonderfully. While this didn’t resonate with me, I will still recommend this one to others as I feel my thoughts on this one will not me the norm. This was a one off for me.

I love this Novella series and the latest addition continued to deliver.

In a nice quick read, you get an action-packed story, filled with danger, the life of a key character hanging in the balance, and of continuation of the much-loved cast stories that make up the series. Tension filled moments balanced with special ones that make you smile on from the inside out.

Having read all of Kendra Elliot and Melinda Leighs other books, I was delighted to discover their collaboration series available on Kindle unlimited and raced through the series. They may be short stories, but they have everything you want in a mystery and as a series, it is just waiting to see what else will happen on this little island and what is next for Cate, Henry, Tessa and Logan.

This novella was an excellent, fast paced story. It is the 9th novella in the Widow Island series, but was definitely able to be read as a stand-alone. The book starts off with an adrenaline rush, as two masked men force the island’s doctor, Henry Powers, to come with them and treat a third man who has a gunshot wound. Dr. powers is engaged to an ex-FBI agent, and she and her friends are quickly in the case.

The novella gave me enough to root for the characters in a short time. The medical details were interesting as Henry treated the patient with the gunshot wound, and the chase scenes were filled with suspense. I plan to look for the other novellas in this series next, the characters were interesting and I would love to read more about them!

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for the ARC of Bone Deep in exchange for my honest opinion.

Two desperate men kidnap Dr Henry Powers, demanding he save their other brothers life after he has been shot. Cate a former FBI agent who also happens to be the fiance of Henry. Wont rest until her fiance is found. The community of Widow's Island soon rallies around Cate .
Dr Henry Powers is just finishing up his local day , day dreaming about a quiet evening in with his
fiance. When his nurse Julie calls him to come out here. When he walks into his office and is held at gun point, he assumes its just druggies looking for narcotics. Instead he is told to bring supplies for a gunshot wound. Bundled out the clinic with a hood covering his face and his nurse left behind tied up
Henry is scared. These are desperate men, who knows what they will do. When Henry doesnt come home for dinner Cate isnt overly concerned at first. She just assumes he is running late. She grabs some food and heads to the clinc. When she arrives to find Henry gone and his nurse Julie tied up.
Cate quickly phones her friend Tessa who is a county deputy. What follows is a well paced story by Kendra Elliot. Highly recommend this series and this author. Perfect for romantic suspense.

This is the ninth novella in the Widow Island series written alternatively by Kendra Elliot (books 1, 4, 5, 8, and 9) and Melinda Leigh (books 2, 3, 6, 7, and 10). In this thrilling installment Henry Powers, the island’s doctor and former FBI agent Cate Wilde’s fiancé, is kidnapped by bank robbers and it’s a race to find him before they kill him.
This is an action packed story that is riddled with suspense, drama and danger. I love the character development and how we get to see intimate moments of reflection by Cate and how she is processing the changes that have occurred in her life. This story definitely keeps your attention, moves along at a good pace, has a captivating plot and wonderful characters.
It can be read as a stand alone but you would get much more from the story if you have read the previous novellas. I will be sad to say goodbye to these characters when the series ends.

Kendra Elliot is am AMAZING AUTHOR!!!!!
I am obsessed with her books, to the point where I purchased them all, even though they are part of my Unlimited collection. I have also purchased the Audible versions that accompany the books as the narrators of the series are simply amazing!!! What can I say, I love her style :)

Kendra Elliot creates amazing strong female main characters AND, she couples them with unbelievably amazing partners. Both Ava McLane and Mercy Kilpatrick's series are simply outstanding in my opinion and I wait to "forget" about the plots until I can start reading them all over again. This mainly because the characters she develops through her series are some of the best I have ever read about!
Her Columbia River series is also a winner....

Bone Deep is more of a novella and you would think there is not enough pages/words to develop properly a mystery and interesting characters... In my opinion she still pulls this off and if that novella grabs you, consider this being merely the tip of a gigantic iceberg that is Kendra Elliot's talents.

I honestly have no words to describe how much I love this author...

I read several books in the Widow's Island Series, but I lost track and now I need to see if I can pick it back up. I've always felt that the sign of a great author, when there is a long running series, is if a newbie reader can pick up in the middle of the series and not be lost. I'm happy to report that that is most defiantly the case with Kendra Elliot and the Widow's Island Series. I slipped right back into Widow's Island and picked right up with the characters. While I wouldn't go so far as to say "Bone Deep" is a standalone, it is sure close. It is an action-packed suspense from the beginning to the end and I loved it.

It's been a long day for Dr. Henry Powers, and he is looking forward to nothing more than dinner with his beautiful fiancée, former FBI Agent Cate Wilde, and some down time. Then two gunmen burst into his clinic on Widow's Island and take him. Henry has no idea where they are going, but he does know that his life is in danger.

Cate believes that Henry is stuck at the clinic, so she takes him dinner only to discover his nurse tied up and Henry gone. Cate goes into action and with the help of her best friend, the sheriff, and her former FBI colleagues out of Seattle, she soon discovers who the kidnapers are and that they have nothing to lose, which is bad for Henry, very bad.

Cate must trust that Henry can survive and that she can find him where there are literally hundreds of islands with places to hide.

My thanks to the Publisher and author for providing a complimentary digital Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way

An action packed suspenseful read that's a novella. not a novel. While that's good in some ways, it also means that there isn't a lot of backstory for the characters. Cate, a former FBI agent, is shocked her her fiancé, Henry, is kidnapped in an off the wall plot bad guys. She teams up with FBI and other law enforcement to get him back. Not much nuance but it's entertaining. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Probably. most appreciated by those who have been reading the series.

This is my first Kendra Elliot's book. I knew nothing about this series. I didn't even know it was a novella. So please keep it in mind. Nevertheless, it's one disappointment you will get during reading this book.
The pace, the situation, the characters, emotions. Everything was great. It was good reading. Haven't read short detective stories before. And now I appreciate the short form. I sympathized Cate and Henry. But even the bad guys in this story shouldn't end like this.
I clearly see the Widow's Island. And I want to read other books.

Talk about a high octane adventure! This was pure excitement from beginning to end. This was by far the best of the series. I could not look away from the page as Henry is in a dangerous situation and Cate is left to solve the problem before it’s too late. This went beyond drama and danger. This was definitely one of the most emotional stories of them all and will be one I won’t soon forget.

This latest book in the Widow’s Island series was much more anxiety inducing than the others—because the person in trouble was Kates fiancé Henry. I really love this series, and if you’ve read the previous ones, you’ll love this. But give yourself time to finish once you’ve started it. Must read for fans of a good, nail biting mystery.