Review: Saving Their Princess by T. L. Reeve

I wanted to love this book.  I really did.  It seemed to have everything that I enjoy in a story…an exciting plot with mystery, a little violence, a strong heroine, and two hot heroes (cops, no less!).  As it stands, I liked “Saving Their Princess”, but I was left a little bit wanting.  I can’t really figure out why I had a difficult time getting into it.  Sabine was kidnapped outside of work and held captive with several other women.  She led them on a daring escape, and winds up at a police station where two detectives catch the case.  They wind up moving her into their home to protect her, and they fall for her, and she for them.

Sounds pretty cut and dried, right?  The men really did love her.  They wanted to protect her.  They wanted to solve the case.  Sabine loved the men.  She wanted to make them happy.  She wanted to help them solve the case.  The romance was there.  The sex was over the top amazing, and I got a satisfying HEA, and yet I’m still confused about my reaction.  Was it the two weeks from when the guys start the investigation and Sabine moving in with them where there was no action?  The moved her in, but nothing was explained about what went on for those weeks?  I felt like there should have been some interaction between the three main characters that would make me root for them.  Perhaps it needed to be edited for length?  I would have LOVED to have read about Stuart and Kyle comforting Sabine as she cried in the dark, or had nightmares.  Having meals together as the tentatively move toward their inevitable relationship could have been great too.  Anything to make me really FEEL them.

Also, as well meaning as she was, why would Sabine, who is living with these cops so they could protect her, think it would be ok to just pop out by herself to go down the street to get dinner?  Sure it moved the plot along, but here was a woman who was smart enough to escape from a cage and save other kidnap victims, but who didn’t imagine that she wasn’t still being followed by the bad guys.  I wanted to reach through my Kindle to slap her.
“Let the guys do their job!!  Trust them to keep you safe!!  At least ask the two guards outside the door to walk to the restaurant with you!!”  Is any dirty rice really that tasty? Apparently, yes.

What really saved this book for me was the twist.  I don’t want to give it away, but the reason she was kidnapped was really interesting, and I didn’t see it coming until the moments before it was given.  The slimy bad guy was EXTREMELY slimy, and he brought out a hatred in me that I surprised myself. So, with the issues I had at the beginning, I was able to jump onboard with Stuart, Kyle, and Sabine (alAthough I still kind of wanted to slap her, I liked the guys a lot).  I can’t quite give “Saving Their Princess” four stars, but I can say that I was happy that the story wound up saving itself at the end.  This was the first novel by T.L. Reeve that I’ve read, and I won’t hesitate to read more.