Five Star Friday - When the Bough Breaks

This week's Five Star read was read by Jay!

Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads: The sixth book in the Rose Gardner Investigations series.

For months, Rose has suspected her ex-brother-in-law, has a foot in the criminal world, and she’s equally sure her deceased sister had the evidence to prove it—evidence stolen days just days after Violet’s death.

Those suspicions turn concrete when a body shows up at the construction site Mike works at, and the concrete cracks open wide when her niece and nephew go missing.

Rose might be weeks away from delivering her own baby, but that doesn’t stop her and her best friend, Neely Kate, from looking for the kids. She needs answers and fast, but her search leads her to the man who betrayed her months ago… the father of her baby.

James “Skeeter” Malcolm has been playing games with her for months—refusing to relinquish her paternity but refusing to tell her why. James knows what Mike is up to—Rose is sure of it—but can she convince him to tell help before it’s too late?

Genre? Mystery. With some Romance thrown in.

Backlist? No. Published April 21, 2020. I read an ARC copy.

New to me Author? Not in the slightest.

Why I rated it 5 stars? 
From an actual text I sent Meg: "HOW?! HOW does Denise Grover Swank continue to make each Rose book better than the last?"

Seriously though, I've loved Rose Gardner since the beginning and every time I've ever thought, "Wow! It can't get any better than this," it does. In this sixth installment, Rose is at the end of her pregnancy. But even though she's thrilled for her baby, things are not all rainbows and butterflies in the town of Henryetta. Ashley and Mikey are missing and Rose is determined to figure out where they are. She's still trying to figure out what is going on with James and why he refused to sign paperwork for the baby. Should she make things official with Joe? So many decisions for one pregnant lady to make!

I absolutely devoured this book! Denise Grover Swank does such a fantastic job of writing in a way that allows me to visualize exactly what is going on every step of the way. I felt as if I was truly there for every conversation with Joe, every kick of the baby, everything. Rose Gardner is such a strong character and I felt her strength radiating through Denise's words. I'll be so sad to see this series end. Luckily, it's not ending here because there is still SO MUCH I want to know.