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Conard County: The Next Generation #1
A Soldier's Homecoming
He was an embittered soldier with a name well-known in town. A long-lost son with Cheyenne roots, Ethan Parish sought to meet his father for the first time. The community buzzed over this newcomer, suspicious of his identity, but Ethan found the seeds of hope.
Falling in love with Connie Halloran was never part of his plan. Somehow, the beautiful deputy and her adorable daughter got under his skin and brought out his protective instincts. As a violent element from the past emerged, Ethan had to risk his heart and his life to save his new family.
Falling in love with Connie Halloran was never part of his plan. Somehow, the beautiful deputy and her adorable daughter got under his skin and brought out his protective instincts. As a violent element from the past emerged, Ethan had to risk his heart and his life to save his new family.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 24, 2008
23 people are currently reading
118 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Lee
368 books140 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Rachel Lee is a New York Times best-selling author and the winner of Six Romantic Times magazine Reviewers' Choice Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a five-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America's RITA® Award. She has penned a wide variety of novels in several genres including fantasy, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy. She resides in Tampa, Florida.
Rachel Lee is a New York Times best-selling author and the winner of Six Romantic Times magazine Reviewers' Choice Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and is a five-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America's RITA® Award. She has penned a wide variety of novels in several genres including fantasy, romantic suspense, and romantic comedy. She resides in Tampa, Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 3, 2022
She wanted him to stay here. For the first time in her life she had someone she could really lean on. Someone who seemed to have shoulders broad enough to bear the burdens of life with her. And she didn't want to let him go. 81%
Rather typical entry into the Harlequin Intrigue line.
Basic Plot:
Connie is a cop in a small town. She used to be a cop in Denver, but she left the city and her old life behind when her abusive ex-husband beat her when she was pregnant. She has a seven-year-old daughter named Sophie.
Ethan is back from Afghanistan, he's a Marine who has done a few tours and is out on medical discharge. He's in town to reunite with the father he never knew. Connie catches him hitchhiking (it's illegal).
Connie's daughter starts getting harassed and stalked by a strange man, so Ethan is hired to live in her house and protect her and her daughter.
PROS:
Scarred hero and heroine:
Connie is a cop, and she was an abused wife. She feels shame about that. She has been celibate since she left her husband, and Sophie has never met her father.
Ethan is scarred by the war - not only physically, but because of the things he's done and the people he's killed. He's bitter about being a 'killer.' He sees himself as soiled by the actions he took in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These two both have messy pasts and it makes their interactions interesting. They have things in common. I'm weak for finding redemption and comfort in the arms of someone who has also been through shit.
Disabled character:
Connie's mother is in a wheelchair. I liked this. I would like to see more characters (both main and peripheral) with disabilities featured in romance novels in the future.
War:
Actually, the discussion of war and its effects on Ethan were surprisingly nuanced and, I think, well done. 'Military Romance' is - or at least was - a huge thing, but authors often don't take the time or effort to research it properly. I felt Lee did a decent job for a little Harlequin novel. It didn't seem half-assed nor far-fetched.
"You didn't ask for this. You did everything you could to avoid it. Now it's here, and we're going to deal with it so you can have the life you deserve."
Something in his expression made her shiver. "You wouldn't..."
"Yeah, I'm a trained killer," he said bitterly. "But generally I don't kill unless I have to. I don't just get up on Saturday morning and decide it would be a good day for a murder." 56%
Resolution:
As anyone with half a brain could see, . Connie does NOT fall into the category of 'people with half a brain.' I expected him to get shot to death by the end of the novel. After all, he is . They have several conversations about it. I was wondering where the book was going with this, exactly. You never know about how bad guys are going to be treated in romance. That is one wild card. Lee goes for the concept of It could have honestly gone completely the other way, I had no idea. I kind of liked this more realistic ending, though. And the fact that Lee doesn't sugarcoat it, and Connie is constantly wracked with guilt for every parenting decision she's ever made (just like real life!) and agonizes over every choice. This isn't a romance where everything is sugary, despite its standard 'they fall in love and get married and live happily ever after' ending.
COFFEE
Coffee is lifeblood and every single character in this book drinks it day and night. It's constant and treated as the elixir. As it should be. My coffee-loving heart was eating this up.
CONS:
Native American Romance:
I thought we had left this trope back in the '90s along with the frankly incomprehensible obsession with 'sheikhs.' But apparently not, because this was published in 2008. Ethan is (half? three-quarters?) Cherokee and every time Lee described him as 'exotic,' I cringed. To be fair, this is a far cry from those books where a 'noble savage' was 'tamed' by the love of a white woman. This is an extremely mild remnant of that time. It is a remnant, though. Lee even gives Ethan 'shamanistic powers,' which honestly had me laughing and rolling my eyes so hard. It was truly ridiculous.
"Are you psychic?" she asked finally.
"Not really. If I were, many of my friends would still be walking this earth. But I AM a mystic. I will admit that."
"And you sense things."
He looked at her, his eyes glimmering. "I sense things." 31%
When this happened, I thought, "Oh, no, this book has lost it." o.O It also reaffirmed my (incorrect) ideas about this being a '90s romance. Crazy shit like this was always happening in '90s romance.
Luckily this isn't played up too much, but the woo-woo aspects were annoying, as was the recurring notion that Ethan was sent from the other side and that his aura was rainbows and other weird stuff. Read this book with a sense of humor, is what I'm saying.
Dumb Heroine:
I liked Connie, but Lee wanted me to think she is a cop. She was incredibly dumb for a cop. When I, a non-cop, can figure things out faster and think of more angles than a cop, we are in trouble. I expect cop characters in novels (if they are MCs in romance, especially) to be competent and at least reasonably savvy.
She buys her daughter a cell phone. Then her daughter is constantly on her cell phone (she's seven!) and it never even occurs to Connie to figure out who she is talking to. She always assumes it's one of Sophie's friends on the phone when Sophie is having conversations in the other room. This is crazy to me. Any parent, cop or not, should know better.
It doesn't even occur to her until 56% that the bad guy Just incredible. Not believable that a police officer nor a battered woman could be this dumb.
I know Intrigue is just about the lowest tier of 'mystery' you can get, because it is combined with romance and often both genres suffer - but authors should at least TRY.
HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN?
About as vague and poetic as you would expect in this line. I almost expected Lee to describe stuff, she was doing okay with some of the above-navel foreplay, but then it all goes to shit as soon as we get to the bits below-waist. It turns into stuff like:
He lifted her to the mountain peaks, and she soared willingly with him. 63%
Garbage like this. I want descriptive sex, goshdarnit.
And to top it all off, this book follows the tired Harlequin formula of 'Have sex one time. One single time. Then, he proposes marriage. She agrees. The end.' Which is RIDICULOUS. They even have a chance at a second night together. And she doesn't take him to bed. She goes to bed alone. So foolish. Why would you NOT fuck him a second time? It doesn't make any sense and it's not human. There's absolutely no reason for it, not even a cockamamie one. The book ends with the marriage proposal, which is RIDICULOUS because they have had sex one single time and also have known each other for all of... maybe a week. Come on. >.<
TL;DR Rather standard for Harlequin Intrigue. You either like it or you don't. The saving grace here is probably that Lee isn't as bland as some Harlequin authors. The interaction between two deeply scarred and ashamed people was interesting. They had some good conversations, I'll give Lee that.
Other than this aspect, it's pretty generic.
NAMES IN THIS BOOK:
ROMANCE CATEGORIES:
Contemporary Romance
Military Romance - He's a Marine, Major
Multicultural/Interracial Romance - He's mostly Cherokee and she's white.
Romantic Suspense
Non-Virgin Heroine
Rape/Abuse Survivor
Police Romance
He's a Marine, now a Deputy. She's a Deputy.
Takes Place in: Wyoming, U.S. of A.
Rather typical entry into the Harlequin Intrigue line.
Basic Plot:
Connie is a cop in a small town. She used to be a cop in Denver, but she left the city and her old life behind when her abusive ex-husband beat her when she was pregnant. She has a seven-year-old daughter named Sophie.
Ethan is back from Afghanistan, he's a Marine who has done a few tours and is out on medical discharge. He's in town to reunite with the father he never knew. Connie catches him hitchhiking (it's illegal).
Connie's daughter starts getting harassed and stalked by a strange man, so Ethan is hired to live in her house and protect her and her daughter.
PROS:
Scarred hero and heroine:
Connie is a cop, and she was an abused wife. She feels shame about that. She has been celibate since she left her husband, and Sophie has never met her father.
Ethan is scarred by the war - not only physically, but because of the things he's done and the people he's killed. He's bitter about being a 'killer.' He sees himself as soiled by the actions he took in Iraq and Afghanistan.
These two both have messy pasts and it makes their interactions interesting. They have things in common. I'm weak for finding redemption and comfort in the arms of someone who has also been through shit.
Disabled character:
Connie's mother is in a wheelchair. I liked this. I would like to see more characters (both main and peripheral) with disabilities featured in romance novels in the future.
War:
Actually, the discussion of war and its effects on Ethan were surprisingly nuanced and, I think, well done. 'Military Romance' is - or at least was - a huge thing, but authors often don't take the time or effort to research it properly. I felt Lee did a decent job for a little Harlequin novel. It didn't seem half-assed nor far-fetched.
"You didn't ask for this. You did everything you could to avoid it. Now it's here, and we're going to deal with it so you can have the life you deserve."
Something in his expression made her shiver. "You wouldn't..."
"Yeah, I'm a trained killer," he said bitterly. "But generally I don't kill unless I have to. I don't just get up on Saturday morning and decide it would be a good day for a murder." 56%
Resolution:
As anyone with half a brain could see, . Connie does NOT fall into the category of 'people with half a brain.' I expected him to get shot to death by the end of the novel. After all, he is . They have several conversations about it. I was wondering where the book was going with this, exactly. You never know about how bad guys are going to be treated in romance. That is one wild card. Lee goes for the concept of It could have honestly gone completely the other way, I had no idea. I kind of liked this more realistic ending, though. And the fact that Lee doesn't sugarcoat it, and Connie is constantly wracked with guilt for every parenting decision she's ever made (just like real life!) and agonizes over every choice. This isn't a romance where everything is sugary, despite its standard 'they fall in love and get married and live happily ever after' ending.
COFFEE
Coffee is lifeblood and every single character in this book drinks it day and night. It's constant and treated as the elixir. As it should be. My coffee-loving heart was eating this up.
CONS:
Native American Romance:
I thought we had left this trope back in the '90s along with the frankly incomprehensible obsession with 'sheikhs.' But apparently not, because this was published in 2008. Ethan is (half? three-quarters?) Cherokee and every time Lee described him as 'exotic,' I cringed. To be fair, this is a far cry from those books where a 'noble savage' was 'tamed' by the love of a white woman. This is an extremely mild remnant of that time. It is a remnant, though. Lee even gives Ethan 'shamanistic powers,' which honestly had me laughing and rolling my eyes so hard. It was truly ridiculous.
"Are you psychic?" she asked finally.
"Not really. If I were, many of my friends would still be walking this earth. But I AM a mystic. I will admit that."
"And you sense things."
He looked at her, his eyes glimmering. "I sense things." 31%
When this happened, I thought, "Oh, no, this book has lost it." o.O It also reaffirmed my (incorrect) ideas about this being a '90s romance. Crazy shit like this was always happening in '90s romance.
Luckily this isn't played up too much, but the woo-woo aspects were annoying, as was the recurring notion that Ethan was sent from the other side and that his aura was rainbows and other weird stuff. Read this book with a sense of humor, is what I'm saying.
Dumb Heroine:
I liked Connie, but Lee wanted me to think she is a cop. She was incredibly dumb for a cop. When I, a non-cop, can figure things out faster and think of more angles than a cop, we are in trouble. I expect cop characters in novels (if they are MCs in romance, especially) to be competent and at least reasonably savvy.
She buys her daughter a cell phone. Then her daughter is constantly on her cell phone (she's seven!) and it never even occurs to Connie to figure out who she is talking to. She always assumes it's one of Sophie's friends on the phone when Sophie is having conversations in the other room. This is crazy to me. Any parent, cop or not, should know better.
It doesn't even occur to her until 56% that the bad guy Just incredible. Not believable that a police officer nor a battered woman could be this dumb.
I know Intrigue is just about the lowest tier of 'mystery' you can get, because it is combined with romance and often both genres suffer - but authors should at least TRY.
HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN?
About as vague and poetic as you would expect in this line. I almost expected Lee to describe stuff, she was doing okay with some of the above-navel foreplay, but then it all goes to shit as soon as we get to the bits below-waist. It turns into stuff like:
He lifted her to the mountain peaks, and she soared willingly with him. 63%
Garbage like this. I want descriptive sex, goshdarnit.
And to top it all off, this book follows the tired Harlequin formula of 'Have sex one time. One single time. Then, he proposes marriage. She agrees. The end.' Which is RIDICULOUS. They even have a chance at a second night together. And she doesn't take him to bed. She goes to bed alone. So foolish. Why would you NOT fuck him a second time? It doesn't make any sense and it's not human. There's absolutely no reason for it, not even a cockamamie one. The book ends with the marriage proposal, which is RIDICULOUS because they have had sex one single time and also have known each other for all of... maybe a week. Come on. >.<
TL;DR Rather standard for Harlequin Intrigue. You either like it or you don't. The saving grace here is probably that Lee isn't as bland as some Harlequin authors. The interaction between two deeply scarred and ashamed people was interesting. They had some good conversations, I'll give Lee that.
Other than this aspect, it's pretty generic.
NAMES IN THIS BOOK:
ROMANCE CATEGORIES:
Contemporary Romance
Military Romance - He's a Marine, Major
Multicultural/Interracial Romance - He's mostly Cherokee and she's white.
Romantic Suspense
Non-Virgin Heroine
Rape/Abuse Survivor
Police Romance
He's a Marine, now a Deputy. She's a Deputy.
Takes Place in: Wyoming, U.S. of A.
November 27, 2020
I was a huge fan of Rachel Lee's original Conard County books (in fact, I still have most of them 20+ years later), so I was excited to learn that she continued the series (long after I stopped reading most series romance books). We get to revisit Deputy Micah Parish, newly elected Sheriff Gage Dalton and the rest of the Conard County sheriff's department, and get to know Deputy Connie Halloran (whose uncle was Sheriff in the earlier books) and her family. There are warm, familiar connections everywhere in this book, and the two main characters have a lot of chemistry. The plot is predictable, but it's kind of like the literary version of comfort food, where the predictability is part of its charm.
February 27, 2012
A really good book. Ethan's appearance in town was a surprise to everyone, not least of whom was his father. I really liked Ethan and his sense of calm. In spite of his past, he seemed to be very even tempered. When the local sheriff asked him to assist by providing protection for Connie and her daughter, he was glad to do so. Connie was the victim of abuse, and had scars of her own to deal with. They found that they understood each other, and that made for a rapid development of feeling between them. I really liked the way that Ethan was able to help both Connie and Sophie deal with the threat and their feelings. I also enjoyed Ethan's comfort with his Native spirituality, and the way he was able to explain it to and relate it to Connie.
April 15, 2018
Apparently everything can be fixed with coffee
An ex-soldier and ex-domestic violence victim discuss life and worry about her daughter.
Too much spirituality and psycho-babble for my tastes
An ex-soldier and ex-domestic violence victim discuss life and worry about her daughter.
Too much spirituality and psycho-babble for my tastes
June 11, 2024
I like connection with Micah. Saying she’s Nate’s niece doesn’t seem possible. He had only one sibling and that guy’s wife was not named Julia. Unless she’s Marge’s niece. Her side of the family wasn’t mentioned much. At any rate we have another two damaged protagonists. The pattern is pretty much inescapable it seems.
January 19, 2016
It was nice to go back to Conard County, just wish it would have been a little longer. We were just getting to the good part and it was over.
October 26, 2015
worry for her daughter because of a stranger and then having a different stranger stay at your house to protect you even tho she is a cop and falling in love with that man through the danger
October 12, 2017
Great story of acceptance and love
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews