Common Grounds by Michelle Levigne
Book Title : Common Grounds
Author : Michelle Levigne
Publisher : Desert Breeze Publishing
Genre : Inspirational Romance
Publication Date : September 1, 2009
ISBN : 978-1-936000-34-0
Pages : 147
Series : Tabor Heights, Ohio
Category : Sweet
Type : E-book
Reviewer : Jessica Williams
4 Wings
Hannah Blake had finally decided to put her unrequited love for her boss, Xander Finley, on the back burner to get on with her life when she finds a dead body at the office. As Hannah and Xander work with the police to investigate the “White Rose” serial killer, Hannah finds herself at the center of the investigation when the killer decides Hannah is his new “true love.”
When Hannah’s life is threatened, Xander is forced to fully look at his life and realize what losing Hannah would do to him. As the killer gets closer, Xander and Hannah get closer but Xander finds it difficult to convince Hannah that his feelings are real and not just a product of the situation.
For the most part I really enjoyed this book. The character development was great, the plot moved along well and I really liked that the main male character was not drop dead gorgeous. (I mean really, how many times do we meet a Brad Pitt?!) I really liked how the characters had a long relationship with each other and that love had grown with that relationship. The White Rose killer story line was believable and had me mentally pointing the finger at several different characters as the novel progressed.
This is not the first book in the series and there were several moments where I felt that I needed to have read the first books to really understand what was going on. I also really struggled with all the minor characters. There are a lot of minor characters and we are given some background history on almost all of them. I really struggled to keep all of them straight in my head and found myself having to stop to reread portions of the book to try and figure who was who.
The book was left wide open for another in the series and there were minor story lines that flowed throughout the main thread that could easily be picked up in other novels. I will definitely read the next book in the series. I love it when the characters I have fallen in love with are in other books. I would recommend reading Common Grounds by Michelle Levigne and I give it 4 Wings.
November 22nd, 2009 at 7:33 pm
This one sounds like a book I would like to read. It is going on the tbr list..
Good review..
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Hi, Jessica –
Thanks so much for the great review!
Just a note: The Tabor Heights, Ohio books aren’t exactly a series … the stories overlap, sometimes in the timeline, but most often just “geographically.” Eventually, I’ll get a map of the town on my web site.
The people you meet in each book “exist” before and after the events. Xander and Hannah will show up in other books, for instance, when people need legal help. The mystery of the White Rose will be resolved in another book. There will be repercussions from the events of the story that will show up in other books.
Lots of other books … it’s a town, with lots of people and lots of stories.