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  • Cross Her Heart

  • Bree Taggert, Book 1
  • Written by: Melinda Leigh
  • Narrated by: Christina Traister
  • Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,307 ratings)

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Cross Her Heart cover art

Cross Her Heart

Written by: Melinda Leigh
Narrated by: Christina Traister
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Publisher's Summary

A homicide detective’s violent family history repeats itself in #1 Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh’s novel of murder, secrets, and retribution.

For more than twenty-five years, Philadelphia homicide detective Bree Taggert has tucked away the nightmarish childhood memories of her parents’ murder-suicide.... Until her younger sister, Erin, is killed in a crime that echoes that tragic night: innocent witnesses and a stormy marriage that ended in gunfire. There’s just one chilling difference. Erin’s husband, Justin, has vanished.

Bree knows how explosive the line between love and hate can be, yet the evidence against her troubled brother-in-law isn’t adding up. Teaming up with Justin’s old friend, former sheriff’s investigator and K-9 handler Matt Flynn, Bree vows to uncover the secrets of her sister’s life and death, as she promised Erin’s children. But as her investigation unfolds, the danger hits close to home. Once again, Bree’s family is caught in a death grip. And this time, it could be fatal for her.

©2020 by Melinda Leigh. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

What listeners say about Cross Her Heart

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    686
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
    33
  • 1 Stars
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Performance
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  • 4 Stars
    340
  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
    37
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
    391
  • 3 Stars
    151
  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
    14

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent novel!

This is a new author for me. I listened to the entire book in one day - too cold to go outside so walked over 9 kilometres indoors while I listened.
The narration was smooth and the mix of accents kept the words flowing.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Very great story full of mystic.

Loved it, kept me interested until the end. Will definitely look for other books by author.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Won't be returning to this author

The narrators performance in this book is quite good but the story is weak. Very stereotypical characters with stereotypical back stories. The ending comes from completely out of left field and left me thinking, "wait... what?" Thankfully the last chapter of the book is the two main characters explaining how the ending made sense. This would be more appropriately categorized as young adult fiction.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good Story. Worth Enjoying

I had to get used to the American style again. The story is very good, suspenseful, interspersed with great insights and great characters. Dogs, there are dogs involved, good dogs. Bonus!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed book

Enjoy story. Felt narrator was too robotic. Narrator did a pretty good job with other voices.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Male protagonist sounded like a depressed robot - painful to listen to!

I really enjoyed the story, but it was so painful listening to Matt, the male protagonist. For some reason all the other male characters had normal voices but he was in a low expressionless monotone the entire book and it almost made me stop listening, it was so grating. If the book could be re-recorded with a normal voice for poor Matt it would make this a wonderful recording. Justice for Matt!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not my kind of book

Lets say I’m not the targeted group for this book.
Narrator couldn’t get me into the story.
Stayed to the end to find out who did it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • ML
  • 2023-03-12

Cross Her Heart

I enjoyed the book from start to finish. There were a number of different story lines running so you had no idea how it would end.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A well-paced police procedural

This was a quick and entertaining listen that made hours on the treadmill much more enjoyable. It is the first book in the Bree Taggert suspense series and immediately I was reminded of Robert Dugoni's popular Tracy Crosswhite series - in the very best way.

Bree Taggert is a Homicide Detective from Philadelphia who drives to upstate New York after getting a call about her estranged sister - only to arrive and find her murdered. This brings up a lot of emotional baggage for Bree who had suffered great loss as a child. Readers get some background on Bree and her family, and we're also introduced to locals like Matt Flynn, who used to work for the sheriff's department in the small town as an investigator and K-9 handler (yes, there is a canine character!)

This is a blend of police procedural and family drama that uses multiple POVs to tell the story (Bree, Matt, and the killer) which has themes of complicated family dynamics, murder, grief and some hinting at future romance to soften things up. I also enjoyed the addition Bree's former police partner Dana and hope she is included in future books. Christina Traister did a great job narrating the story, but my only beef is that the reveal of the killer felt too hasty and would have benefited with a bit more build-up

Bree's character is one I look forward to getting to know better. She's got a good heart but is flawed and has a lot of emotional baggage to deal with. There's a lot of potential for growth and I'm eager to see where Leigh takes this character.

This is a well-paced police procedural thriller that has a strong but flawed female lead and a story that has good twists, red herrings and edge-of-your-seat action that are balanced with themes of family, grief and dealing with quite a tortured past.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • CAP
  • 2023-03-27

kept me interested but narration needs work

I definitely enjoyed the whole storyline and I agree with some reviewers, at times it was predictable. I also liked how it ended knowing it would lead to other stories. But I don't think I will listen to another story if it's the same narrator. is she sounded very robotic.

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