Covert Cover-Up by Elizabeth Goddard

Covert Cover-Up by Elizabeth Goddard ISBN-13: 9781335403032 Paperback: 224 pages Publisher: Love Inspired Suspense Released: September 8th 2020

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
Private investigator Katelyn Bradley rushes to help when she suspects a burglary at her neighbor Beck Goodwin’s house—and arrives just in time to save him. The widowed dad is convinced the attack is linked to his wife’s mysterious death, and now Katelyn is a target, too. Trapped in someone’s crosshairs, can Beck and Katelyn uncover his late wife’s lethal secrets…and keep each other alive?


My Review:
Covert Cover-Up is a romantic suspense. Unfortunately, I didn't care for it because Beck kept tearing Katelyn down until she started doing the same to him. Seriously, statements like 'And just how do you think you're going to do that?' or 'you're not able to do that' (when they could, especially with the other person's help) are not romantic. I'm also tired of "Christian" books that make physical attraction the driving reason for the two to get married. Beck and Katelyn felt an electrical current every time they touched and couldn't resist their attraction. If they built each other up, attraction is great, but it shouldn't be the reason to marry when it's a verbally abusive relationship.

Beck always had to be in control and was very domineering. Katelyn gave decent advice about what they should do to investigate, but he refused to listen her and kept doing whatever he wanted. This usually put him and Katelyn in danger and made the investigation take much longer than it had to. Only once did Beck actually follow her advice...initially. But then he wanted to barge into their attacker's house and confront him rather than call the police like she suggested. Yep, he's not very clever. Especially since Beck assumed that the people after them were trained assassins (apparently, all CIA agents are trained assassins) even though they didn't seem particularly skilled (as another character pointed out). Even though Beck is not ex-law-enforcement or ex-military, he still believed that he's more able to take them on than Katelyn.

Worse, he kept forcing Katelyn into the role of damsel in distress. When they're in a fire, he wraps her up so that she cannot move and then "heroically" carries her out of the house. It would've made more sense for them to both crawl out of the house, but he didn't give her that option or even ask her permission. But she's grateful for being rescued and doesn't seem to mind being a damsel in distress (which is odd for an ex-cop). Some parts just didn't make any sense. Like, why did the man who's trying to kill them both leave Katelyn after knocking her out when he had a perfect chance to kill her? Or why did Katelyn silently and dramatically slip beneath the waves when she got too tired swimming and she could've easily asked Beck for help? Anyway, there was no bad language or sex.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.