The McCarran Collection

by Liz Adair

The McCarran Collection was a finalist for: The 2015 Whitney Award, The 2016 RONE Award, The 2016 Utah Book Award

Bridget Olasfson, a beautiful archivist hiding secrets, comes to Utah's brilliant red rock country to catalog the McCarran Collection. Though she's sworn off men in her life, she’s attracted to Ben, the bad-boy, off-road racing McCarran cousin. But it’s Lew McCarran, the tall, quiet cousin, she turns to when she finds herself caught up in a dangerous intrigue involving a lost boy, a drug cartel, and death. What will she do when the only way to save the boy is to give up the man she loves?

Part romance, part cozy mystery, part thriller, The McCarran Collection is, last of all, a novel about family ties.

Liz Adair’s latest is an engaging, suspenseful mystery—as well as a love story written to the beauty of nature in a little known area of the southwest. Ms. Adair deftly weaves the threads of intrigue while successfully tying in a believable love story.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense, Westerns, Ebooks, Mystery Thriller

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 4, 2015

Reviews

[Ashley D · Rating 3 out of 5]

SPOILERS!!!! I don't know what I expected when I started this book, but I didn't really care for it. When I started this book, I was really into it and it was really good and then when Ben died, it just went downhill from there. Then, when I found out he was married, it made me even more angry but it made it a little better that he died as bad as that sounds. Yes, there was some heat between Bridget and Lew but I was never totally convinced that she really was in love with him. I felt that even with all that happened, she still would have rather been with Ben even after she found out he was married. It was kind of weird to me that they didn't invite Lark to do more things with them. It sounded like they were pretty close but then she never really did anything with them outside of the house. I felt it was a little far fetched that TJ was Sonny and they had been married. I was glad that she found happiness with the little boy and was able to kind of heal that way, but I also thought that there would be more to do with why she was there, to catalog all the paperwork. I thought there would be more mystery surrounding something that was found within all the paperwork than what there was. Most of the characters were likeable, the ones that weren't supposed to be weren't, it just wasn't something that I felt was convincing in the end. It was very clean, which I was grateful for.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Liz's writing and this one is no exception. If you love mysteries, you have to pick up her books!

This one starts out with a woman named Bridget getting her first archivist job. She's going to archive the mining documents at the historic McCarran house. After being greeted by a quirky woman and an off-road racer, things get ever more strange when Bridget gets caught up in a murder and protecting an innocent child from a drug cartel. There are so many unexpected twists and turns in this book, there really isn't a good place to stop! I couldn't put it down.

I loved the main character, Bridget, and how she's trying so hard to reconcile her past and have the future she's always dreamed of. I admit, when the book first started, I didn't think she'd end up with the guy she ended up with! Ben is the crazy good-looking guy who's attracted to Bridget, but Lew McCarran is unassuming and quiet, yet there's a lot going on behind those eyes. Which guy is best for her? I have to admit, there are some fantastic heart-tugging moments that will have you cheering for the couple who ends up together. I can't give away any spoilers, but I really loved the ending. Not to mention the gorgeous setting! This book has just the right mix of intrigue and romance. It's definitely going on my keeper shelf!

Originally reviewed on http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com

[Segullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bridget is thrilled to be hired, right out of grad school, to work as an archivist at a historic home in small-town Southern Utah. However, she soon finds herself falling in love (with a man and a young boy) and embroiled in some of the very conflicts from her past she was trying to escape. The McCarran Collection is a quick, engrossing read. Many of Adair’s books share the same Southern Utah setting, and she’s a master at making the reader feel a sense of place. I appreciated Bridget’s character, and her growing relationship with Diego, the young boy she takes care of. I felt that some of the more villainous characters were painted with broader strokes. All in all, a solid book.

[cindy ost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well surprise

The book started out kinda slow to begin but then it got interesting. Had to finish reading before I could go to sleep

[Jane Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

I have enjoyed Liz Adair’s Spider Latham series, so I thought I would give this book a try. I was not disappointed. It is definitely a romance novel, but so much more. There were a couple of mysteries to be solved with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. Add in a generous helping of suspense, and this book definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. I hated to see it end.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book more than I thought I would. It is a classic love story where there is a barrier between our hero and heroine that must be overcome. There is a murder mystery to solve along the way. This is a fun, light, read when you are in the mood.

[Mar'Shanta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good

Long book it was a descent read but I wouldn't read a second time. Kind of gets boring about half way through.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was good but she never carried out her mission, guess the love story outweighed that. Was a quick read.

[LaVenice Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rushed ending

I thought this was a pretty good story though the ending was really rushed. Would've loved it if we got to see more of the family after the move.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Satisfying Read

Sometimes the characters got confusing. But this was a different kind of story. Mystery, romance, good & evil all flashing by page by page.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice summer read. The storyline is easy to follow with simple but complete characters.

[Jeanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I really love this book. The most amazing book I have read in a while. The ending was the best part.

[Laura Keefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this an enjoyable story.

[Jill A. Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Story

I enjoy mystery and suspense . To me this was more of a love story. It was also too predictable. Romance readers will enjoy it.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A woman is hired to archive a collection of family and business papers. She has been divorced for 5 years and lost her young (3) son to complications of Hemophilia, she carries the gene. She meets Ben and falls for him. Then something tragic happens. She cares for a 10 yr old orphan from Mexico and Ben's cousin Lew. They fall in love but she is worried about not wanting children. He is sterile so that is perfect. The Mexican Mafia are after the orphan so that leads to lots of DRAMA.

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the intrigue and romance of the story. It was slow getting started. It just seemed scattered with too much background information given up front. But, about page 50, the book picked up and kept me reading. The writing style contained some elements that didn't really further the plot, not long chunks, but just interspersed with the story. But for the most part, the foreshadowing was there, even if sometimes a bit overdone. It was also very nice to have tension, plot, action, and suspense without gore, sex, or violence! Thank you, Liz Adair! This book was a Whitney Awards finalist for 2015 publications, and I can see why.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story! It sucked me in from the very beginning and kept me asking just what was going to happen next!

Bridget is a really well-written character and I loved her more and more as I came to understand her backstory and as I saw the love that she was able to have for a poor young Mexican boy that only grew and grew as the story went on. I was amazed at the way she was able to continue on, both with what had happened to her before and also with having seen Ben die and the way he died. Crazy.

I loved the way she was going about doing her job and going through all of the McCarren papers. The history of all of that stuff was really interesting to me as I'm sure it would have been to Bridget as she was working on it.

Quite honestly, there's no way I would have figured out just who the murderer was and the motive by the end of the book. There were enough people with motives galore that I was a bit stumped, and I loved that aspect of this book!

This is a great book, it's got romance, suspense, love, kissing, action, intrigue and adventure enough for almost anyone! Don't miss your chance to read it!

I was sent an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about "The McCarran Collection." It was clean and had a lot of action and some romance, but I am not sure what the story was really about.

Yes, there was chemistry between Bridget and Lew, but I wasn't convinced that she really was in love with him.
It was also a little strange that Lark wasn't invited to do more things with them. It sounded like she and Lew were pretty close, but then she never really did anything with them outside of the house.
I was glad Bridget found happiness with the little orphan boy and it seemed to help her heal.
There should have been more about in the story about why she was there: to catalog all the paperwork. The title and description make you think that the book is going to be about some important papers or a big discovery. I felt like the "collection" was just a made up reason for Bridget to be in Utah, because she didn’t seem to be work on them very often. It felt like there were a couple of different stories going on and the author put them all together to make a book. There were good parts, but overall there were certain events that made you wonder what they even had to do with the story!

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Aimee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It took me a fair bit to get into the book and invested in it's characters but it did eventually happen. Honestly, it was the little boy that brought that about. I loved him.

I love when books are based on a bit of history and this one was. It is set in Kanab, UT which I have driven through many, many times on our way from AZ to UT. Beautiful country, that. The house the characters live in is the part of history.

I felt like the author was trying to incorporate too many genres or separate story lines. There is the family "secrets" discovered by Bridget in her work as an archivist, drug cartel stuff which was supposed to provide some suspense, and then a murder mystery as well. I wish the author would have just stuck to one of those and developed the emotions of that genre more.

By the end I was more invested in the book. I liked the way things came together for a good ending. But again, it was the little boy who made the story for me. He brought each scene to life.

Content: some mild violence

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

3/5 stars

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

​Liz Adair has written a page turning western, contemporary, romance, suspense novel that will have readers on the edges of their seats. From page one, I could tell this story was going to be full of adventure and suspense. With surprising twists and turns, this novel will leave readers anticipating what will happen next. And of course there is a bit of western-romance involved too. This is an entertaining novel with great characters and a well-written somewhat fast paced suspense story. I would recommend this novel to readers that enjoy a mixture of these different genres.

Genre: romance, suspense, western, mystery, contemporary
Publisher: Century Press
Publication date: August 4, 2015
Number of pages: 354

Content Rating: PG, intense kissing scene (nothing graphic), suspense
Book Rating: 5 stars

A review copy of this book was provided by Free eBooks for an Honest Review.

[Melissa Nichols · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It was well written and clean but I don’t really get what the story is about. The title and description make you think that the book is going to be about some important papers or maybe some discovery in this collection. I feel like the collection only gave Bridgett the reason why she was in Kanab because she didn’t seem to be working very often. I felt like there were a couple different plots or stories going on and the author kind of threw them all together to make her book but they didn’t necessarily flow together well. It has some good parts in it but overall I felt like I kept wondering what different events had to do with the book!!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Evelien · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is more about the McCarran family then the McCarran collection, which was a bit of a let-down. The collection is mentioned a couple of times, and Bridget seems to be spending more time going out with the family instead of cataloguing the collection. She discovered some interesting things and I would have liked it if the author had elaborated on this (e.g., the fact that Lark is part of the family, it is a ‘big reveal’ but after it is mentioned nothing changes). It has a few interesting plot twist, and while some parts were a bit predictable (like really - it was so obvious that Gearloose did it) it was a fun book to read.

I was given a free e-book copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Nari · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book caught my attention from the beginning and had it until the last page. I loved that the book was based on a house the was actually real and other places in the book were real. It makes me want to go visit the area around Kanab. I grew up in Southern Utah but have only visited Kanab once. Bridget was a very like able character. She was kind and did not get lost in the past but was trying to move on with her life. I wasn't instantly in love with Lew but as the book went on he grew on me more and more until I was cheering for the two to be together. Diego was my favorite character. He was an example of the true resilience of kids and childlike faith. I enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend it to others.

[Karon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of “The McCarran Collection” by Liz Adair in exchange for an honest review.
Bridget Olasfson is an archivist with a tragic background. Her young son tragically died and her marriage couldn’t take the pressure. She divorced and is trying to move on with her life. She has been hired to archive the documents from the McCarran House. Her first day on the job, she watches one of the McCarran family members die in a tragic accident. She soon meets the other family members and gets involved in the mystery surrounding Ben’s death. To make matters worse, she is starting to feel a romantic interest in Ben’s cousin, Lew, even though she has sworn off men.
This is an easy to read, great romantic suspense novel for romance lovers of any age.

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gosh, this book was super entertaining. The story was compelling and suspenseful at times while there was tenderness to some of the relationships and interactions between certain characters that I absolutely loved. I thought that the mystery was solved well and that everything was able to be resolved in a satisfying way. I would like to have been able to connect more some of the characters, like Lew, or even Bridget to a certain extent. Nevertheless, I found the book to be enjoyable and lovely. I would be interested to see what more there might have been behind the scenes plot-wise involving TJ, but even without it the book was fun.

[LetishaH · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts with a woman who is going to be organizing and archiving papers. I though that the reasons they introduced for having the main character, Bridget, stay at the McCarran house to perform her job as an archivist were a tad too unprofessional. I did not like the love story so much. I prefer when the heroine is interested in only one other character. Those are the main issues that I had with the book in the negative.

The positives are that this book is clean. Bridget overcoming her personal hardships to help someone else in need was also touching.

The book just did not hit the romance spot in the way I would have found satisfying.

[Nicki · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW talk about twists! The book sure had some good ones. This book was interesting from the first chapter to the last. I never really thought about how old documents and family information are organized and protected for centuries to come. So the book does shed light on the process. But the story is really more about the family and individual members of the extended family. Racing and an innovative car plane is the background for much of the story. I sure am glad I am not part of or friends of this family. But truly, any book that creates such strong feels is a good book.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty great. I was hooked almost from the start. The setting was beautiful--an interesting old house, and the beautiful scenery of southern Utah. I've been there, so I could picture it in my mind pretty well.
The story was great--were twists and turns that I totally didn't expect. I was consistently surprised and excited to see how things would turn out. I don't want to say too much about who did what since I don't want to ruin the surprises for y'all--but I will say that I was fascinated with the storyline, baffled by the who-done-it till the reveal, I loved how things ended, and I thought it was plenty suspenseful and romantic as well.

[Becki · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Free book in exchange for honest review)
There were a few shocking and surprising happenings in this tale. More twists and turns than I was expecting, however, I was also expecting more significance with the actual McCarran papers. I was a little disappointed that the historical papers weren’t featured in the story more and that the plot was not based on the papers. The actual McCarran Collection was definitely a backdrop to the story.

Absolutely loved that slow developing romance. Started out thinking it would be between two certain people but then it twists and that’s not the story at all. Adair definitely keeps you guessing in this book.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure whether I would like this book or not, but I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed following the twists and turns the story took and the surprising connections that came about. One of the things I loved most about the stories were the characters. Bridget learned more about herself. Lew had hidden depths. Diego was a sweetheart. Lark was a bit dotty but also a sweetheart. I thought the setting was well-developed. It makes me want to visit Kanab and Fredonia, along with revisit the towns just north of them where my grandpa grew up. I really liked the ending of the story.

Source: Review copy
Content: some violence, mention of unwed pregnancy, passionate kissing