The disappearance of her brother's widow
Kicks off a rescue mission
When Lauren Baker's sister-in-law and niece go missing,
she immediately has a suspect in mind and heads to Eagle Mountain to find them.
Turning to Deputy Shane Ellis for help, she quickly learns there's not much
they can do without evidence of a crime. Then another woman seen with her
family is found dead and Lauren is terrified her greatest fears will be
realized. As their pursuit becomes even more urgent, passion flares between the
two searchers desperate for answers…
Terrific start to the new series. Lauren's widowed sister-in-law
and niece disappeared. Lauren had promised her brother she would look after
Courtney, a sweet young woman but rather naïve. She believes that Courtney was
conned by a man claiming to be her late husband's best friend from the army.
Courtney inherited a lot of money, and this man Trey claims that he and Mike
were going to start a ranch for at-risk youth. Since Mike never mentioned such
a plan to Lauren or Courtney, Lauren is very suspicious. She thinks Trey wants
to get at Courtney's money. The only thing she's heard from Courtney is that
they are looking for property in Eagle Mountain, so that is where she goes.
I felt terrible for Lauren because it was evident that she
is worried sick about Courtney and her niece, Ashlyn. When she arrives at Eagle
Mountain, she goes right to the sheriff's office, where Deputy Shane Ellis
takes her information. I could feel her frustration when he couldn't do
anything for her because no crime had been committed. Courtney has briefly been
in touch, and there's no indication of foul play. Shane does promise to check
into Courtney's whereabouts and ask her to get in touch with Lauren.
Shane is a great guy. He's new to the department, having
taken a job as a deputy after an injury ended his pro baseball career. He's
still finding his feet as a deputy, which is made a little more difficult by people
still seeing him as a baseball player. I liked that he took Lauren's fears
seriously and offered to help during his downtime.
Neither Shane nor Lauren expected the sparks of attraction
that flared between them. Lauren tries to resist, both because she wants to
concentrate on finding Courtney and because she won't be staying in Eagle
Mountain. She has her job as a nurse practitioner back in Denver and only took
a couple of weeks to look for Courtney. Shane doesn't fight it nearly as hard.
Everything about Lauren appeals to him, and he'd love to talk her into staying
in Eagle Mountain. I loved how they worked together to find Courtney and
discover the truth behind the ranch scheme. Shane is protective of Lauren and
sometimes gets frustrated by her tendency to go off on her own searches. The
more time they spent together, the closer they became, and there were some
terrific scenes of their growing friendship and more. I loved watching Lauren
fall more in love with the town as well as with Shane. I liked the ending. Though
things weren't entirely resolved with Courtney, Lauren makes some decisions
that allow her to pursue her feelings for Shane while staying close to her
family.
The story's suspense was excellent and kept me turning
the pages late into the night. Lauren's suspicions about Trey seemed logical,
and her inability to reach Courtney emphasized her fears. Everything she and
Shane discovered deepened her fear for her family's safety. The addition of the
man named Tom to the group upped the intensity as everyone appeared to agree
that he was an unsavory character. I had a bad feeling when Tom became involved
with a local young woman with a reputation of liking bad boys. When Talia
turned up dead, Tom was nowhere to be found. Because Tom and Talia were seen
with Trey and Courtney, the sheriff's office became much more interested in
finding Courtney. Information came from an unexpected source, but I was a
little leery of believing everything said. The intensity ramped up when Lauren
became a hostage. The final confrontation was a nail-biter, and I was glued to
the pages until it was over.
While Talia's murder was resolved, there are still
questions about Trey's intentions. Courtney's conversation with Lauren at the
end helped relieve a tiny sliver of Lauren's fears. I can't wait to see what
lies in store for Eagle Mountain, the proposed ranch, and Courtney.
Kicks off a rescue mission
No comments:
Post a Comment