What is it about running?  It can relieve a days stress, it can clear your head…. shoot it can ease a lifetime of sorrows, and for Cassidy Christensen, it can help her escape.

Cassidy is haunted with memories of the senseless murder of her parents, and now running has taken her to a new level of “escape” that she did not realize she needed, or wanted until she started to run.

RUN.

When Cassidy starts training for a Marathon (which she didn’t want) and captures the attention of two very interesting and good-looking men (which she did want), things become interesting.  Add in a couple of dangerous guys on the side that are not exactly looking out for Cassidy’s best interest, instead they are tied into her parents murder and still look at Cassidy as a pawn they can use….  Things, as Cassidy is about to find out, are not as she had been lead to believe…

RUN.

 

Dead Running starts out at a warm up pace.  As I dipped into those first pages I met Cassidy, her sister-in-law, her brother, a Nana, a great friend, a petite weird red-headed girl  here forward known as “Hot Redhead”  and a couple good-looking guys.  While my mind wrapped around who was who and what was what….

I started to warm up to a slow jog…

Entering Cassidy’s world was fun.  As a protagonist, I liked her.  I liked her a lot.  She was smart, but not fake, and funny…. a moment when she screams out “Pelican Poop!” when confronted with a mystery man at the front door caused me to laugh out loud, and I would soon find out that would not be the only time laughter would escape me during this read.  Her training for that marathon was inspirational, I wish I had her determination!  When she later gags while trying to swallow a Vanilla Flavored Gu, I laughed again.. this was a girl after my own heart… I have had the same reaction.

…and then I am running…

page by page I found myself flying through this book.  The characters are real, interesting and engaging.  Yes I too want to meet Damon and Jesse… I am just saying… 😀  Tie in a big mystery and a lot of danger and I was sold.  Cassidy’s sister-in-law Rachael “El” would be the sister-in-law I had always dreamed of, a friend and confident… and her BFF Tasha cracks me up.

Bottom line is – this book gave me all the good vibes of an early Stephanie Plum (Evanovich) novel without the ditsy main character, but with the hot guys, a meatier read, and just a lot cleaner all the way around.  I really loved it. 

Not many books will keep me in the house on my day off in my pajamas past noon just because I can not put it down long enough to take a shower and get ready for the day.  This one did exactly that.  Do yourself a favor and give Cami Checketts a try,  I adored her touching book Sister Pact, and really think she has grown even more as an author in Dead Running.

**  A few days ago I posted a wonderful fitness giveaway Cami Checketts is having in honor of this books release!  Please check it out… signing up is as easy as a comment.  😀

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

 

A portion of the proceeds from Cami’s books will be donated to The Child & Family Support Center. For more information on this worthy cause, please go to www.cachecfsc.org

Thank you Cami for the advanced opportunity to read and review this book!