Ritual Obsession (Blood Obsession Book 1) by R.L. Dunn – Review by Angela Hayes

Ritual Obsession by R.L. Dunn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 Stars

Where do I start with this book? First of all, I love a great romantic suspense/thriller, and having read (and loved) most of Ms. Dunn’s previous works, I really was incredibly excited to read this book- especially after I got to lay eyes on the cover and read the blurb. I really thought that this would be Ms. Dunn’s best book yet. So, to say I had high expectations is a bit of an understatement.
Ritual Obsession is the first book in the Blood Obsession series by R.L Dunn. It is an action-packed romantic suspense- with mystery, murder, crime & investigation, police procedure, danger, intrigue, violence, murder, potential triggers (abuse, sexual assault, violence, emotional harassment, intimidation, manipulation) sinister plots, dramatic developments, chemistry, spice, ANGST….. and much more.
As I was reading this, I felt like I was reading an earlier piece writing project of Ms. Dunns as I didn’t think it ‘felt’ as well-woven or polished as the other books of hers that I have read. I really struggled in my reading of this story- and is the first time that I haven’t been completely absorbed by one of her stories. I started and stopped so many times, and was easily distracted while reading. I had to ‘work’ to stay focused and immersed in the storyline. I wanted to give up so many times, but kept going, hoping that it would finally ‘click’ for me. But it didn’t. And I was left disappointed, because there was real potential here for a stellar read.
The synopsis held the promise of everything I could hope to have in a book- but I hate to say that unfortunately this one had tooooooo much going on in it which only served to distract from the overall storyline. I will try and explain this.. I felt like there was a LOT of added information, almost like the story was being ‘padded out’. An ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ scenario. The plot went off on various tangents, quite often. There was a LOT of time/storyline spent describing dinner dates, adding/dumping information, manufacturing drama, and describing other characters ‘lives’- so much so- most of it wasn’t really pertinent to the story and didn’t help to propel the story forward in any way. I felt really frustrated by this and it really detracted from the story and my overall enjoyment of it.
There was so much ‘thrown’ at this story that the end result felt overly complicated by unnecessary ‘dramatics’ and all the info dumps. As an example, the story shows our ‘main character’ Bobbie and her family/social dynamics, her new placement as detective in a new precinct, her work partners prickly reception that backflips into friendship, her other work colleague/dynamics, station politics/procedures, Bobbie’s chemistry and subsequent romance with Max (a colleague), her obsessed/possessive ex, her friendship with her housemate and their dynamics, the murders, the investigation/trying to track down the killer, her colleague Rose’s relationship/s love triangle of sorts with Andrew and Marco, the voodoo aspect, the killers perspective, lots of backstory and flashbacks, and so much dialogue, details, and other descriptions. I’m not sure what relevance was to be had to the overall story by going into Rose’s relationship/love life in such detail- with her swearing that one was the love of her life- then doing a complete 180 with the whole situation? I didn’t think any of that was relevant to the story??? It just seemed to be ‘added/manufactured drama’? I think most of that thread could have been left out and it would have made the story better, as it really just took the focus off the obsession/serial killer/investigation, which was supposed to be the ‘main’ part of the story.
Then we get the story from multiple POVs, which I normally love as it gives a broader perspective to the storyline- but in this instance, we get so many that I think it detracted from, as well as bogged down, the main story. The dialogue also felt off at times, somewhat stilted or ‘manufactured’. And I felt that the intimate/sex scenes were also not up to Ms. Dunn’s usual level. I could go on, but I hope you get my point. I really wanted to love this book so much, and I feel bad that I can’t give it a higher rating.
I am intrigued by what might happen in the next instalment, so I will be diving into that when it lands, and will keep you posted on my thoughts there. Hopefully my issues here will be sorted out or make more sense in the next book.
Happy Reading!

Thank You, R.L Dunn!

Reviewed by @angelahayes

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