Nightfall

by Laura Griffin

Alone on an icy road at nightfall, Holly Henriksen puts her trust in a charming stranger and soon discovers he is keeping a dangerous secret.

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Romance, Suspense, Short Stories, Contemporary, Novella, Mystery Thriller

95 pages, ebook

First published February 21, 2012

About the author

Laura Griffin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books and novellas. She is a two-time RITA Award winner, as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award. Laura got her start in journalism before venturing into the world of suspense fiction. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages. Laura lives in Austin, Texas, where she is working on her next novel.
Series:
* Texas Murder Files
* Tracers
* Wolfe Security
* Alpha Crew
* Moreno and Hart Mysteries
* Glass Sisters
* The Borderline

Reviews

[SheLove2Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laura Griffin writes the best heroines. They are always smart and able - no wilting violets to be found here.

This is a short story set in the mountains during winter. Holly is in the wrong place at the wrong time - in the wrong color van, and it comes back to haunt her. Colin is the ATF agent who finds her and helps her after gunrunners mistakenly target her florist van for one making a delivery of high powered rifles. You see, she had also gotten a glimpse of their cartel leader - unknowingly - and now they are furiously trying to correct their screw-up.

At about 95 pages, I read this easily in one sitting and only wished for more. The romance takes a backseat, as most Griffin books do, but we do get a small taste of Holly and Colin together in the end.

4 stars only because I wanted more!

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nightfall by Laura Griffin is a 2013 Laura Griffin publication.
I really love Laura Griffin's romantic suspense novels and try to read all of her books. This one, however, is just too short to get a real momentum going.
Holly stops off for a warm piece of pie and a cup of coffee while on her way to set up a floral arrangement for a wedding. She sees something, (or someone thinks she did), she shouldn't have, making her a target.
Thankfully, Colin is there to rescue her and the two of them seem to make a good team. The bad guy is caught and there is a presumed HEA for Holly and Colin. There were a lot of questions left unanswered for me in this one. The details of the original crime Holly was supposed to have been a witness to is just left flapping in the wind. This one was just too rushed through for my taste. I didn't just hate it, but I didn't like it all that much either. 2 stars

[Pamela(AllHoney) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly is delivering flowers one night when she hits some ice and crashes and then someone shoots at her. Colin Denton, an undercover agent, finds her and takes her to his ranch. Okay, it's a really short story but it really was good. Non-stop action from start to finished. Obviously it had great potential to be even better if it wasn't so short but regardless it worked for me.

[Anne OK · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short & sweet fun to read romantic suspense by one of my favorite R&S authors that takes a florist on a wild ride in the mountains of Montana when she is mistakenly involved in a gunrunner's crime. Of course, there is the handsome ATF undercover agent who blazes onto the scene to save the day. Very light on the romance or even a hint of sizzle until the very end when there's "the kiss."

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nightfall is for readers who like...

...mysterious happenings along a lonely stretch of road.
...men who are both dangerous and honorable.
...kick-ass chicks who can shoot a gun LIKE A BOSS.
...determination and grit getting good people out of bad situations.

While this story is admittedly a little light on the sexy (one steamy kiss is all we get in the plus column), the suspense and go get 'em attitude of both Holly and Colin worked nicely. Very enjoyable.

-Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal

Nightfall was a free Kindle book I downloaded on 06/30/13 for the Why Buy the Cow? reading challenge.

[Rachel Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good romantic short. Suspenseful and the heroine held her own. Don't expect any smexytimes though.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first to read one of Laura Griffin's books and found it very enjoyable to read.
Rushing to get her deliveries sent, Holly the florist had got into a slight accident. Her white delivery truck had slid on some ice and crashed. Holly decided to get out and wondered towards the trees hoping for someone will come by and notice the accident and help her. Colin is with the ATF and is working undercover trying to catch some drug and firearms dealings when he stumbled upon her van thinking it was their guy. Closer look, Colin found bullet casings littered in the snow and that the tire had been shot at. Colin open the door to see if anyone in it and found it empty but with the back filled with bouquets of flowers - this one not their man. He did find that the van belonged to a "Holly" so he started calling out for her a few times with no response, started to walk away until Holly appeared. Holly was shivering and had a good size cut on her forward, Colin offered to take her back to the cabin where she can get warm and put something on that cut before infection set in. Next morning Colin was not in sight, so she had borrowed his truck that had been parked in the garage so she can get her deliveries taken care of. After what Colin had discovered, Holly was in danger and needed to track her down. After meeting up with Holly, Colin insisted Holly to scoot over to the passager seat so he could drive. They had arrived to the White Falls Inn to delivery the flowers and just a brief second Holly was kidnapped and it was up to Colin to find her before any danger could come to her.

The book was short but sweet with a little bit of suspense - I loved the characters that were introduced in the story. In all the book was really good and would recommend it.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed full. That's exactly what Ms. Griffin did with this novella--packed it full of adventure, intrigue, and excitement.

A case of mistaken identity lands Holly in the middle of Colin's op, although she's completely unaware of it at first. The chemistry between Colin and Holly is sweet to read about, and what Colin does after the op is wrapped up is even sweeter.

"Nightfall" packs that one-two punch not usually found in stories of similar lengths. This short story is worth every penny. You won't find another like it anywhere.

[Jen_C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very short book - only 5 chapters. Just getting good and that is the end.

[CD {Boulder Blvd} · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars: Nightfall introduced me to Laura Griffin's writing which led me to discover the tracer series which is one of my all time favorite series.

[♛✨Christine ♛✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short thriller of a read that kept me enthralled from the beginning until the end.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

okay short story

As far as short stories go, this wasn’t too bad. There was enough structure to the plot that made it a better than most short stories.
However I took a star off because he grabs her and kisses her and I hate that.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but good romantic suspense.

[HatGirl8]

7/3/2013

[Rinou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much beside action, just an int of a possible romance, but its works well in the format.

[Heather McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good writing, good read, way too short.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast paced thriller romance

Nightfall was a great entertaining, fast and easy read. A short novelette fir those who enjoy quick reads. I'll be sure to read more from this author.

[Deanna Perkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read anything by Ms. Griffin, but I can tell you that I will be checking out her work from here on! This was a great short story, one that you can read in one quick sitting!

I can’t talk too much about this short story without giving away details that were fun to unravel myself. I will say that I really enjoyed Holly! She is a strong, capable woman and didn’t do a lot of unnecessary whining throughout the story. She is smart and knows how to take care of herself and keep herself safe, even in the craziest situations. She is also very determined, and those are all qualities that I enjoy reading in a female lead during a suspense story.

Colin was also fun to read. Of course, we didn’t get to know the characters as well as we would have in a full length novel, but things still came through that you can really appreciate. Colin is very dedicated to his job, he is also someone who actually thinks about others and puts them before himself. That might be a slight weakness in dangerous situations, but I’d rather have someone watching my back who is worried about my safety first!

If you have found yourself in a reading lull and you need a quick pick-me-up, I’d highly suggest checking this short story out! If you enjoy a good romantic suspense and you haven’t read anything by Laura Griffin, I’d also give this story a go…it’s FREE, it’s a VERY quick read, and it gives you some insight into how she writes to see if it’s something you’d be interested in checking out.

[Ragne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Holy crap, this sucked. It was too short to tell the story, I would like for the characters to actually work to find out who the bad guy was, but this was just suddenly said by one og them, without the reader even having heard of him before. When Holly went with her rescuer, I just waited for the "he's actually kind og cute in a rugged kind of way", when it came, I couldn't keep from rolling my eyes. (I won't even call this a spoiler, it's just too bloody obvious.) And suddenly, the story has ended. Not that I complain that it ended, it was completely rubbish, but the end came so suddenly, it seemed very rushed.
The whole book seemed like a teen age girl's clumsy first try at a grown up story, only worse as it's not even charmingly clumsy. Do NOT waste your time reading this, even though it takes just an hour.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a short novella. A good plot and storyline.

Holly Henriksen was driving a van of flowers to a wedding when the van skidded off the road. When she got out of the van and tried to get to the road, she was shot at and ran into the woods. Colin Denton, ATF agent, found her and took her to his cabin. Next day, he helped Holly deliver the flowers but she was abducted by Ice Man (in reality Sheriff Slater) who dealt in drugs and illegal weapons with the Mexican cartel. He had been the subject of the investigation that Colin had been working on. As the sheriff tried to get away, Holly shot out the tire on the van and caused it to crash. The case was over but Colin came back for Holly.

[Conny · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book as a free download and I liked it. I do agree with some of the other reviews that the book was just too short, I liked the story line and the characters and I wanted more. Just when you got to know them the story was over. Everything was wrapped up so quickly, and it really was not enough time for the 2 main characters to establish any kind of connection. If the author ever chose to make this a full length novel I am sure it would receive 5 stars from me. I will be on the lookout for more books by Laura Griffin, I do like her writing style.

[Luli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gratis en Amazón.
La única pega de este libro es lo cortito que es!
Pero la historia es interesante, está bien escrita, los personajes, a pesar de que por la longitud del libro no están descritos con detalle, son también interesantes, y el suspense es entretenido.
Me gustó, hay atracción pero....no lujuria a primera vista :) la prota no hace tonterías (como bajar al sótano en una historia de terror)hace lo que puede con la información que tiene y el prota no la estampa contra la pared el primer segundo que la ve...
funcionó para mí. :)

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

This left a lot to be desired in my opinion. I felt like the story was cut too short, it was only 5 chapters.
There was no chemistry between the two main characters so the happy-ever-after ending for the couple made no sense to me. Where was the build up to it?
I think this would have been better if it had been developed into a full novel. As it stands now, it seems like it was just hastily slapped together for the sake of just getting it out.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is marketed as a novella, but it actually felt more like a short story, if a long one. I really enjoyed it, and I think it would make a good introduction to Ms. Griffin's writing. I especially liked how she created and maintained the tension throughout the course of the story. The romance is a HFN, which feels appropriate, given the length.

[Melissa Levine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an alright short story. In the end, the main characters end up together and that's all that matters right? Well, considering it seemed as though they parted ways and it wasn't until months later that the guy (forgot his name) shows up in town. That's what? When they realize they're in love? Or just want to have sex? IDK.

[TamW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Story on its own. Yes, I’d love to read more about Colin and Holly, but honestly, it was a completely satisfying short story of its own with fabulous characters, big on personality that shone in just a few pages and exciting story from start to finish....perhaps if I’m to offer a little criticism it would be to flesh out the ending a little more.

[Amanda Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave it a 3 star because of the ending. I've read books with cliff hangers. not sure if this was one and there is more to come? I hope so!!

From beginning to end this book had me. it was a really good read. Though the ending when the heroines get together just fell. Left me wanting to read more. But, nothing more to read.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novella kept my interest. I picked it up and did not put it down until I finished it. The characters were typical, but exciting. The author did a nice job of developing chemistry. I love how the author hooked me with a car crash at the beginning of the book. There was action, some suspense, and a romantic angle that kept me reading.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella was a cleansing breath between novels, but it never managed any emotional depth as it skimmed the surface, almost more as a prelude to the lives and potential relationship of its protagonists. The characters were likable, but the plot predictable, with the exception of the penultimate scene. I like Griffin, but this wasn't worth the price unless more comes later.