By Popular Demand

Dear Boy Scout:

This one's for you. Now go harass someone else while you're bored on vacation.

Love Always,
Kate

Oh... Shiloh Walker.

You loyal readers (all two of you) will know that I have been trying my darndest to get into Shiloh Walker as an author. I'm not sure why I have this goal (I don't think she's been recommended to be specifically), but there is something about her writing which leads me to think that I should be reading all of her stuff. Only when I do read her stuff I find myself really frustrated. Like, really frustrated. Especially in the second half of the story.

Now this is not a scientific analysis-- I've only read three of her books. But nonetheless, I was pretty much "done" with all of them by the time the 3/4 mark came into view.

My most recent experience was with Fragile, the prequel to the sequel that I had read last week (really? was that just last week? ok, then...). This one covered Luke, the other twin (you can never just have a one-off story about one twin, can you? Nope, gotta cover both), also ex-military, but significantly less effed-up than his brother, Broken's Quinn.

Luke, now retired from Special Forces, is a doctor in Kentucky who falls for Devon, a social worker who is in and out of the hospital for various reasons as a result of her job (bringing in abused kids, their junkie parents, etc. etc. etc.) Devon is of The Dark Past, having been molested, raped, and turned to drugs all by the time she was thirteen. She's all recovered (as much as one can recover from that, I imagine), but standoffish about men. That is, until she meets Luke and his sexxorating finishes the healing process.

This is all fine by me. I liked the evolution of their relationship, I like the way they worked together, I liked the two of them as individuals.

My problem came when there was, you know... a conflict in the story.

Standard Heroine Is In Danger, Hero Must Protect Her plotline, with Devon being stalked throughout the book. Given her job, this is not an unrealistic conflict. A pissed off parent wanting revenge because his kid was taken away? Sure! Absolutely. However, in addition to that, another Mysterious Person From The Past watching her? Really? How many stalkers can this girl have? And is one not enough to create conflict that helps solidify her relationship with Luke?

I just didn't buy it. Nor did I buy the sudden and downright bizarre identity of the Man From The Past, who, by the way, is the one who killed the first stalker. Because he was interfering with the second stalker's agenda. Oops, spoiler alert. And no, I'm not kidding.

The longer the story went on, the less I liked the characters, and the less I understood why they were together. I suppose their relationship is depicted realistically for the circumstances, but honestly. His Alpha-Male chest thumping and her Independent Woman stupidity reached such a pitch that when they finally "took some time," I genuinely didn't see a reason for them to get back together. Which they do. After he saves her.

And without actually giving away the ending, I just have to say that I don't understand how that could possibly strengthen their bond as a couple. If I were her, I would run long and far. Not necessarily because of him, but because if what happened to her had happened to me, I would need some serious time. Possibly in a mental ward.

Maybe this all goes back to my major life-premise. The character's the thing. Shiloh Walker's characters are interesting, and they could be compelling if they were a little more developed. And things would be even better if they could be put in a reasonable situation. I'm going to keep trying her, but they're not going on my Keeper Shelf. Yet.