This review was written by Rachel. This story was nominated in the Best Contemporary Series Suspense/Adventure Romance category.

The summary:     

J.D. Cooper had left no stone unturned when investigating a cold case that hit much too close to home. Or so he'd thought. Thanks to small-town deputy Natalie Becker, new evidence had surfaced that might lead J.D. closer to the truth.

But Natalie had a stake in this situation, too, and claimed that joining forces was their best strategy – and their best hope. Problem was, after years of working alone to solve a seemingly unsolvable crime, J.D. found himself distracted by his beautiful partner and her passion for doing the right thing.

He'd never met anyone like her and that scared him as much as this unidentifiable madman … until Natalie was made his next target.

And here is Rachel's review:

While the grade may not quite seem like it, I did enjoy this book. I simply wanted more – hence why I tend to avoid reading category shorties. To me they're the book equivalent of a lover who finishes before you, rolls over and starts snoring. I can devour such a book in just a few hours that I'm then left wondering where the rest of the story is and what I'm supposed to do with myself.

J.D. and Natalie were great together – and their one somewhat steamy lip lock moment was tingly good. I believe I yelled at them when they stopped. Or I may have done so in my head if the husband was in the room at the time. I remember going, “Finally! … Wait, it took y'all that long and you're stopping? Gah!”

The villain had a few good creepy moments, and was woven in with everything nicely. Though, again, more could have been done with him. It all worked well enough though that it doesn't detract or anything.

My only real beef with this book are probably odd details to focus on.

The first is that while everyone else drives a generic car or truck of indeterminate make or value, we're somewhat beat over the head with the fact that Natalie drives a Lexus. We got it the first time we were told about her family history and the like. Unless there was a car deal in it where the make needed to be mentioned a certain number of times, I really didn't care what little Miss Richie Rich drove.

The second is – are there really families like the Coopers out there? Or are these overly large military/law enforcement entwined groups much like all the extra dukes and such prancing around the pages of the books we love? Of course, it could just be an alien concept for me when my own family is … well … the complete opposite.

Conclusion – would I read another Paula Graves? Hells yes. Do I wish they were longer? That's an even bigger Hells Yes!

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