This was indeed a very funny book, even more than I expected if I'm going to be honest, so thank you for the chance of reading this arc, definitly grumpy-sunshine and I did laugh at some parts while I was picturing their interaction.. I did had a lot of fun

Thank you for this ark!

I liked this book a lot! It was fun and easy read! I liked the MC and you don’t read very many counter hunter romances so this was new!

Thank you

Light and funny romcom disguised as a bounty hunter chase 🏕️

The character / personality aspect was my favorite part, even though Bennett's whole "silent imperturbable mask" wasn't really credible as he regularly reacted and appeared as an awkward softie almost immediately. Comparing him to George who had no emotion and didn't say a word when Bennett often spoke and smiled, it was a bit far fetched.

I was really disappointed by their relationship starting off a bit too early for my taste. By the 70% mark they're already happily in love..... The tension was broken too fast, there barely was any tension as both were into the other and barely resisting.

I really did enjoy the one-bed one-blanket moments 🛏️ as one does.

Overall a sweet vibe but it felt like the author was going through the motions of writing a romcom, like she did with the previous how many stories (since a million couples are introduced at the beginning and appear throughout the story) than actually giving life to a unique story and characters. The bounty hunting thing was original though it was really fun!

Review posted on Goodreads and a short one on Instagram

Before the plot even starts, before prologue, we're introduced to 6 couples (yes, 6!) and 2 women who apparently dont even have their own book yet? Who apparently will be important to the plot of the book.Im'm already exhausted. It's worth to mention, that the note from the author starts by saying that The Scenic Route is the first book in the new series... And according to NetGalley it's a standalone book.

If it's a standalone, why do I need to know all these characters from the previous books and series? Not only was Introduced to he backstory of each characters but also how they fell in love. It was completely unecessary. If the book was well-written - which I now doubt it - then we don't need all of this introduction because we can find out who they are from the context clues of the plot.

But I digress.

The story was interesting, and faced paced. Bit everything was fast paced. Both the investigation and the love story. I'm not a fan of I sta lust and the way the male main character was so in love with her and accepting of that fact was weird but it wa dthe sudden realization a Nd acceptance of female love interest that was jarring to me. So they shared a bed a couple of times, got married drugged in Vegas (more of that later) and had sex and they're suddenly in love? They knew each other for a week. If even that.

And while I usually love surprise Vegas weddings none of the description actually suggested anything like that. In fact it did the opposite of that. Because according to the blurb, they were supposed to be dating during the investigation - there was none of that. And, the female lead was supposed to make a decision, whether to be with him or not. Like it was literally in the description. That she would struggle with that choice, be conflicted etc.

There was none of that either.

Why include the "why date a mountain man" and "Felicity will have to decide what's most important to her: staying one step ahead of her "enemy" or giving herself a freedom to experiece adventure of a lifetime" of you're not gonna deliver? Felicity just went along with it with no hesitation, there was no decision to make???? She was just like "yup okay whatever" what was that???

Also, the Vegas wedding. It raised some suspicions that weren't confirmed??? But it took me out of this book and made me hate and distrust Bennet immediately. Because it was like that: Felicity and Bennet were on a stakeout in a bar, someone spiked their drinks and in the high state they decided to get married. Okay. Fine. The questions arose the next morning: because Bennet remembered everything while Felicity didn't. And Bennet's a big guy so if the dose was small... Did he knew what was happening? Was he just drugged and went along with this? Because she was. Or, more nefarious, if the dose was small enough, was he only a little tipsy, but still able to make good decisions and then decided to just marry her while she obviously couldn't give him her full consent given the state of her at the time? Those were literally the question Felicity ahs and she just... Brushes them off?? Excuse me?? If someone I trusted(or began to trust) did something like this to me while I was vulnerable and unable to say no, I would be horrified. Not horny. That would be it, the trust would be broken and no amount of grovelling would ever get it back (and there was none of grovelling. None at all). And the author just brushed the issue off! After Felicity's initial freakout, she just brushed it off and never mentions it again. Seriously?? No, don't do that! If he took advantage of her, that's not cute or romantic!! It's horrifying!

Another thing that annoyed me: the murder club. All of those women (especially Lou) were horrible and nosy and just the worst. And the female lead who was supposed to be a bounty hunter, so someone smart, just told them all the truth with no hesitation? She didn't even know them. But she immediately spilled the beans and then was surprised that the guy she was after knew about her being there? Please. Let's apply some logic here.

While it was a fun book, everything unravels when you think about it. I took offence about the consent (or lack thereof) and how it was brushed off. Just no. It took me out of the story and I couldn't enjoy it after that.

Like seriously, did he know hat was happening? Because if he had the same dose of drug as she was, there was no way he was that high. His body built and mass would protect him somewhat. If he was tipsy, he could still make decisions and then decided to take advantage of her. I hate that. That ruined the book for me (even more than over the top third act drama - and it wasn't even wrapped properly. What about their mom? And I was seriously thinking that Charlie book would be next since she was on the case AND was mentioned the most -and in epilogue we got Nora, very randomly?? Makes no sense. There was no build up to it at all. Ughhh. (Also a note from me but if authors do epilogues, make them about the main couple. Don't bring out the entire new pov that aha nothing to do with the main couple, it's not wanted nor needed. If you want to set up the next book, leave context clues and easter eggs throughout the plot instead. It's much more satisfying that way.

I enjoyed this one more than I expected, I read & reviewed Fish out of Water by Katie a few months back & was pleasantly surprised how much I liked her writing. The Scenic Route follows Bennett & Felicity. Bennett, a normally grumpy & quiet private investigator & Felicity, a bounty hunter. Now can you imagine a one bed scenario???

Felicity & Bennett could not be more opposite characters, but I loved them. We love a silent brooding guy, truly a head turner (for me for sure). I loved seeing them team up so early on in the book to catch a guy who skipped his bail, it & they were hilarious!! While they were so opposite, felicity had a knack for reading Bennett & understanding him on another level, I loved her inner monologue when describing him & things she noticed & observed.

Really my main thin with this book was the insta-love, not my favorite trope although I feel like related to Bennett’s character & his grumpy man of few words vibes, they usually tend to fall the hardest for the right one. I love the slight aspect of what’s going to happen next & this book kept me guessing & I loved that. It didn’t feel typical.

Thank you for the ARC! Can’t wait to continue to read more of her books!!

I enjoyed this book. It was funny and cute. There were so many fantastic characters and I really want to read some of the other books in which these characters feature.

However, I did struggle with it at times for the very reason above; it felt like an extension of another set of stories rather than a story in it's own right. I also really struggled with how naive the main character was, despite constantly being told that she was a strong, independent woman.

Pleased to have found this author and this series.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

When I first started started reading this book I thought, wait a second, I know these characters! The Pax sisters have been featured in other novels and I wondered when they’d show back up again. A bounty hunting gang of sisters was too good a premise to pass up and it looks like the Beneath the Wild Sky series will feature the rest of them. Yay! We also return to the small town in the rockies where the Search and Rescue Series takes place and we get to revisit that fun group of ladies and their guys who have all been involved in solving crimes and are eager to involve themselves in Felicity’s investigation. It was fun to be back in the rockies with all of these characters again!

I’m a huge fan of Katie Ruggle’s and am so glad she’s writing back in this romantic suspense/rom-com category. I split between the two because there’s a lot of humor in her writing as well as dangerous elements and plenty of romance. Felicity and Bennett were absolutely adorable. She’s the work out self defense expert among her sisters and despite her young age (22) seems pretty adept at navigating this investigation. Bennett is the grumpy hero with a heart of gold and I loved him for Felicity right from the start of this novel, despite is stalker-esque start. He fell instantly in serious like with this woman and was determined to help her and keep her safe. Their special brand of communication with glances and humorous mini dialog’s kept me reading, and the action-adventure style investigation made me hunger for more. I can’t wait for the next novel in this series to come out!

Thank you to Casablanca books for the ARC of this one. Overall, this was a fun one and I did enjoy reading it. That being said, I found a lot of aspects of it to be incredibly unbelievable. I liked both main characters, but some more background details about their lives would have served the book really well. I feel like I have only a slight hint about what makes them who they are. This book leans heavily on the "insta love" trope. I can sometimes enjoy that, but here it felt like there was no real reason for their love. Almost like fingers were snapped and "poof" that loved each other. I enjoyed the premise behind the book in that Felicity is a bounty hunter, Overall, it was a fun read but I don't know if I'd recommend it to my audience. Thanks for the chance to review it.

4 stars!

I was so happy to have this book to be reviewed! Katie Ruggle's previous book was absolutely brilliant, so I couldn't wait to read this book as well.

Felicity is a bounty hunter. Bennett is a private detective investigating a theft (Felicity's mother is the guilty one!). Bennett stalks Felicity and ends up following her in the small and slightly weird city of Simpson. Those who like Katie Ruggle's previous books love this because in Simpson we meet several familiar characters as side characters!

Felicity is a great heroine: strong and bright, and Bennett is a swoon worthy hero, like heroes created by Katie Ruggle are in general.

The story is told in the third person, mainly from the perspective of Felicity - I might have wanted a little more about Bennett's perspective as well. The book works well as a standalone, but you get more out of it if you have read the previous books.

Katie Ruggle knows how to weave a story with romance, comedy and suspense. This book was a pleasure to read, and I will certainly read this again.

WHAT TO EXPECT:
* Accidental marriage
* Alpha Hero
* Enemies to friends to lovers
* Family drama
* Forced proximity
* Grumpy - sunshine
* Hea
* ”My wife”
* One bed
* Open doors
* Opposites attract
* Physically very different
* Point of view: 3rd person
* Small town
* Third act: no break up

This book didn’t work for me due to the characters falling in love within one week of knowing each other. It also featured a lot of characters from previous books but is billed as a standalone. I would definitely recommend reading the other books first as these characters are clearly supposed to mean something to the reader.

Readers who don’t mind over the top plots and unbelievable instant romances will enjoy this.

Felicity is a bounty hunter working in the family business. Her mother allegedly stole an expensive piece of jewelry from a famous artist and then skipped out on bail. Bennett is the private investigator hired by the insurance company to find the necklace Felicity's mother took. Likable main characters and a large supporting cast of characters. A few blips of humor here and there, with a nice mystery to follow. Open-door romance, with insta-love and just-one-bed tropes. Primarily 3rd-person POV from Felicity's perspective, I would have liked more from Bennett as his personality felt blank and he barely said anything for the first half of the book. First in a series but part of a larger book universe, there is a handy reference section in the front of the book that explains who everyone is. If you're a fan of the author's other books then you'll enjoy seeing characters from previous books popping up in this story. As a newbie to the author I could follow the story, but the book heavily relies on familiarity from her other book series so it was hard for me to fully engage. The story was engaging enough but you're thrust right into a story whose initiating events have already happened, so there's missing build-up and a lot of assumed knowledge right from the start. And based on the description I really thought this book was going to be about solving the mom's crime but it's not, there's a plot with a mountain militia group and meth instead. It felt disjointed, like there's an over-arching plot across books and this particular book is just a side quest, which I wish I'd known going in. I liked it overall and it's a quick read but it didn't grab me fully. This would be a fun book for someone who's read all the other books and knows a lot going in, but it wasn't quite the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an Ebook ARC of this story.

The Scenic Route was fast-paced and absolutely ridiculous (in a fun way). There are two main story lines - Felicity, a bounty hunter, trying to capture Dino, a militia member, and Felicity and Bennett falling in love. There was also a third, minor story line around Felicity’s mom accused of stealing a valuable necklace and jumping bail.

If you are good with suspending disbelief and want an over-the-top, easy read, this could be a great option. Unfortunately though, this just wasn’t for me.

This book is an instance where I think the story moves too fast. While I love that the plot progressed quickly, it came across jarring when something dramatic was happening on basically every other page.

Additionally, because of how much happened in the plot, the characters didn’t feel well developed. I never found myself caring greatly for Felicity (neither her love life nor her professional achievements since she didn’t seem to take the work seriously herself). Meanwhile Bennett felt more like a stereotype (attractive, silent yet protective type) verse a character flushed out with motivations and personality.

I was given a free copy of this book; I’m leaving an honest and voluntary review.

Katie Ruggle's romantic suspense are my favorite kind of romantic suspense - equally funny and edge-of-your-seat tense, swoony and steamy, and without the unthougtful cop/military praise we often see in the genre. I love Felicity, a strong, take-no-shit bounty hunter and quiet PI Bennett, although I wish we'd gotten a little more suspense here and a little fewer hijinks (as fun as the hijinks were!).

3.5 stars

This book was very… odd. It was like a romantic comedy suspense so I couldnt really figure
Out what the vibes were. It also starts with felicity and her sisters trying to catch their mom and then all of a sudden Felicity’s tracking down someone else. (This is the first book in a series so I imagine finding their mom is a recurring theme throughout the rest of the books??) it just felt like a weird left turn that didn’t really connect. Also because of all the bounty hunting I felt like there wasn’t really a lot of development between the two mc’s. Their relationship felt super rushed and surface level

Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the ARC!

A fantastic concept that fails to deliver.

The first 25% of this book is spent introducing back to back minor characters to the point you never get to know either main character. There are so many minor characters that the author took time at the beginning of the book to explain who they are before the story even begins. While I can understand the author's desire to revisit old characters, it's to the absolute determent of the main characters in this one.

The story is further hurt by an instalove plot that comes out of absolutely nowhere when the only thing we know as readers is that they find each other hot. The action is fun at times, but without any connection to the characters it's hard to be invested.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Me encantó.

Cuando vi la portada pensé que sería algo un poco más tranquilo, eso no significa que sea un romance oscuro, nada más lejos de la verdad, pero pensé que tendría que ver con caminatas. Lo sé, me hice una propia historia que no tenía que ver con la verdadera trama.


Bennet trabaja como investigador privado y su última misión tiene que ver con la madre de Felicity. Tendrá que seguirla para poder encontrar a la madre y recuperar un collar muy valioso, pero cuando ve a Felicity empieza a sentir cosas que nunca había experimentado.


Felicity es un cazarrecompensas y trabaja junto a sus hermanas. Para no perder su casa tendrá que hacer equipo con Bennet para encontrar a su madre y en el camino se enamorará de él.

Gracias NetGalley, al publicita y a la autora por proporcionarme el ARC a cambio de una honesta reseña.

I received a free copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca; all opinions expressed are exclusively my own.

I really enjoyed Katie Ruggle's Fish Out of Water, so I wanted to see how another of her books would stack up. I once again managed to snag a book in the middle of a series, as is my usual.

Pros: Any plot points from previous books are pretty quickly and efficiently recapped without slowing the story too much. The Pax sisters, while not interacting with each for large chunks of this book, come across as caring and professional, and the mystery with their mother seems like a thread of plot to keep the readers engaged beyond the romantic interactions.

Cons: The main setting for this book is the setting of a completely different series, and THAT'S where I had problems. Perhaps if I had read the other series and known those characters better, I would have liked them more; as it was, I found the interactions awkward and forced for the most part. This really affected my enjoyment of the book, especially when the similarities between the male lead and another character kept getting pointed out.

All told, it's mostly a fine book, but a few things caused enough displeasure to warrant a star knocked down. I think reading the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Series first might make a difference, but I can't say for sure.

For sensitive readers, this book contains depictions of violence, sexuality, loss of agency, and neglect.

I just finished reading "The Scenic Route" by Katie Ruggle, and I can't express how much I loved it! This book is such a fantastic mix of romance, comedy, and adventure that had me hooked from the very first page. Ruggle's writing flows so naturally, and she has a real knack for blending humor with suspense. I was really surprised by the amount of funny moments, I mean, the “weed mobile” scene? Loved it.

Felicity and Bennett are such relatable characters. Felicity, as the strong and disciplined bounty hunter, initially seems a bit standoffish, but I loved how quickly she opened up to Bennett. He’s socially awkward but in the most endearing way, and his instant crush on her is just so sweet. The romance between them felt genuine and beautifully paced, with just the right amount of tension to keep me invested. I found myself feeling those butterflies again, which is such a rare treat!

The quirky small-town setting and the “Murder Club” added so much charm to the story. I adored the supporting characters, especially the dynamic between the chatty Lou and the serious Ronny. They brought so much humor and heart to the narrative.

Overall, "The Scenic Route" is a hilarious, romantic, and suspenseful read that left me smiling long after I turned the last page. I’m so grateful to NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC, and I can’t wait to dive into more of Ruggle's work!

I’m a Katie Ruggle fan and love that the bounty hunting sisters are back! An easy, fun, quick summer read!

So, I enjoyed Fish Out of Water by this author, but I struggled to get into The Scenic Route, and ultimately it fell flat for me. The premise of a bounty hunter falling for the PI who is stalking her (for a job, but still) had the potential to be written really funny or really creepy, and for me it felt like the latter. The illusion of chemistry between the main characters had a very weird vibe and I just struggled to connect with them. I think this book could be a good fit for someone who enjoys mysteries with a side of romance, but I wouldn't go into it expecting a swoon-worthy love story.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for gifting me with an ARC to review. All opinions are my own.