Wasted by Jerusha Agen Review

 

Wasted, the second book in the Windy City Westons series by Jerusha Agen is an awesome romantic suspense story. I was thrilled to get to see the Weston siblings again. This time the story focuses on Victoria, the oldest sibling, and the one who has been like a mother to the rest of her siblings, ever since the death of their mother when she was just a teenager. All these years she has been living with guilt, but also living under the thumb of her authoritative father who she refuses to disappoint. She does her best to try to live the way she thinks her mother would want her to live in order to keep her family together.

We also get to see the story through the point of view of Cillian, her ex from when they were teenagers. He recently moved back into the area and is now working at the same place of employment. She tries to resist his charms while trying to figure out what he's doing back in town. And as much as she'd like to avoid him, he becomes her protector after the death of one of her patients has her falsely accused of murder, and in the crosshairs of who they assume is the real murderer.

While there are multiple people who may have had a motive to kill her patient, it isn't the villains who got under my skin. It was the detective who wouldn't listen and insisted on Victoria's guilt in the murder. How were they going to prove her innocence when those who were supposed to be the good guys weren't listening? It is this plot point that had me riveted to the story. Yes, I wanted to know who the actual killer was. But I wanted Victoria and Cillian and the Weston siblings to make things right. 

At the same time Cillian is dealing with trying to get back with Victoria in a way that made him not my favorite person for quite a bit of the book. Yes, he wanted to protect her, but the way he went about things was just not right. Additionally Victoria tried to deal with arguments and controversy in the way she though was right, but I started to want to shake some sense into her as well. Let's just say they both had things they needed to work through, and faith played an important role. 

The only concern I had was that there were a couple of things that didn't quite get wrapped up as neatly I as I hoped for. 

Awesome suspense. Awesome second chance romance. Awesome faith. A wonderful group of siblings. And an adorable dog. All working together to make another un-put-downable book by this author. 

I received an e-copy of this book as a member of the launch team and was not required to write a favorable review. These are my own honest thoughts.