Julia White is working a case that might drive her mad. Needing a few moments of solace, she takes comfort in a stranger’s arms. Walking away takes everything she has, but all bets are off when he waltzes back into her life.
Jack Madigan leaves Legacy in search of answers. A quick trip then back to Legacy to unravel some truths in his family tree. Until he meets a leggy blonde in a bar. Until he tastes her, touches her, loses himself inside her. Now, he’s not leaving until he finds her and makes her his. Permanently.
Lacey Thorn spends her days in small town Indiana the proud mother of three. When she is not busy with one of them she can be found typing away on her computer keyboard or burying her nose in a good book. Like every woman she knows just how chaotic life can be and how appealing that great escape can look. So toss aside the stress and tension of the never ending to do list.
Hmmm...not my favorite of this series. This book seemed to be a little scattered, like it wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be. Was it a romantic suspense? Was it an erotic romance? Just like it seemed to be heading in one direction, it veered into the other. I thought I was going to get a strong combination of the two, but the suspense element left me a little disappointed when it was rather quickly resolved and wasn't fully developed. Pffftttt....
The book starts with our heroine, 35-year-old, leggy blonde Hidden Falls police detective Julia White picking up a sexy stranger for some quickie sex in a bar storage closet. Yeah, not exactly a smart move for a detective, but it was a hot scene and set the tone for the erotic parts of the book. The stranger Julia picks up is 46 year-old security expert Jack Madigan (His Bare Obsession, Bare Devotion). Jack is in town looking to find his long lost brother and father of who he thinks is his niece Ally (Bare Devotion)--Hidden Falls is the last place he's been spotted. So, after Julia and Jack have some explosive sex in the supply closet, Julia leaves Jack with just a "Thanks for the ride."
Their paths eventually cross later. Julia is working on a missing persons case--3 young woman from the area have vanished without a trace. Julia's boss is friends with Jack and Jack reveals why he's in town and needs a place to stay. Of course there's room for Jack at Julia's place...
We get some really hot scenes of Jack and Julia 'connecting' with each other--Jack is quite the hot stud for a 46-year-old--and some decent back story and some nice scenes outside the bedroom between Jack and Julia. I thought this part of the book was well done, with Jack especially coming off as a fully developed character. Maybe that was because he's been in most of the books in this series already and I felt I already knew him to some extent? I dunno, but I really fell for him in this story.
What disappointed me was the suspense part of the book. It started out okay--we get one of the victim's POV and we have to read between the lines about what kind of torture or 'games' are going on (we know they involve knives, and something degrading) but the author doesn't tell us--it's left to our imagination. Which is okay. What I didn't like was the questions I had. Who is this guy who captured these women? Why did he take them? We never get a peek inside his mind. We never get to see Julia and her partner actually follow any clues to find these women. In fact, Julia doesn't seem too concerned about finding the women--her mind seems to constantly be on Jack and what kind of future they could have. And as I mentioned, the 'solving' of the crime was kind of a let down, suspense-wise. As was the storyline of Jack's missing brother (although I don't think we've heard/seen the last of him yet).
So yes, this wasn't the best book of the series. It seems a lot of things were left hanging. Maybe the loose ends will be tied up in a future book?
The saving grace of this book was the character of Jack Madigan. I loved him, and loved how he treated Julia. Their scenes together were...oh wow...and worth the time it took to read the book. If Lacey Thorn would've spent a little more time giving the reader a more compelling suspense story, I would've bumped it up a star. For Jack and the love scenes alone, I'm giving it 3 1/2 stars.
I really like this but but the mystery angle could have been stronger. I really loved the first meting in the bar!! Super hot scene in the bar closet!!
She is working on a case, missing women. He is looking for his brother who just disappeared. One hot quickie in a bar closet, a night they both won't forget easily, he will try to find her. They can't stop thinking about each other. Who would of thought that they would find each other at her job, the police station, he is a friend of the chief, and the chief sets the ball rolling for these two to find each other. She's waited a lifetime for Him, and he never thought he would get a 2nd chance at a perfect love again. The two mesh and the sex is off the charts for both of them. She offers him the world and he accepts and will give her the same. The best HEA ever for all.