Camy Tang, $0.99, ISBN 978-1-942225-01-0
Romantic Suspense, 2014

Nurse Maylin Kinley first met pediatrician Dr Geoffrey Whelan when he was the quintessential hot doctor that only gave the hot nurses his attention.

They meet again when he volunteers at the Sonoma Free Children’s Clinic, only this time she realizes that he has become more… angst-filled. This was because he had experienced a personal tragedy while he was doing his missionary thing (the Jesus kind, not the rumpy-pumpy) in Japan, but she doesn’t know that yet until later.

Still, we all know what hot guys with angst can do to a lady.

Unfortunately, the two of them are soon the target of Cantonese-speaking hitmen for some reason.

Oh no, have they stumbled upon their personal Big Trouble in Little China? Sadly, no, this one is strictly down to earth, no woo woo stuff.

Camy Tang’s Unshakeable Pursuit is an interesting example of something that appears reasonably normal and readable, but reading it, I can’t help feeling that something is off. It is only when I have finished it and given it another look that I realize why I feel that way.

This thing is way too talky. The characters here don’t seem to be able to stop talking even when things are dire,

More bewilderingly, sometimes these people can talk about more mundane things, mostly as exposition for readers, which defuses any sort of suspense or tension that is supposed to be present in such a scene.

Also, characters in this story can sometimes break into Whedon mode, dropping sarcastic one-liners, which acts more as character- and immersion-breaking distractions than anything else. This is because this is not a humorous romantic suspense on the whole. These characters are for most part sober and serious, so it is bizarre to have them acting like they are in a MCU show now and then like they are having an out of body experience.

The story resembles more of a romantic suspense in its final third or so, when there are actually paragraphs that go by without conversations. These chapters are better balanced between action and natter, so finally, I get some semblance of tension that I should be experiencing from the get go. Then, the story is over.

Anyway, this is an okay read in the sense that it’s easily digested and the characters are on the whole pretty likable and smart—although Maylin turning out to be some kind of MacGyver-ian whiz at using stuff in the clinic to slow down their enemies has me wondering whether I should be admiring her smarts or worry about her patients, heh.

It’s just that the approach feels off for way too long, and the suspense never really comes together until the last third or so. Thus, I feel that this one can be a decent read, provided one doesn’t expect it to be what it is marketed to be. This one is quite a conundrum, really.