This RITA® Reader Challenge 2013 review was written by Diana. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Best Romantic Suspense category.

The summary:     

Mariah Conrad has come home. Badly wounded on active duty in Afghanistan and finally released stateside, she has no family to call on and nowhere to go—until Quinn Walker arrives at her bedside. Quinn, …her brother-in-arms, ex-lover and now maybe her future. Quinn brings Mariah to his log cabin in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky to rest and recuperate, both physically and emotionally.

While she's incredibly grateful, Mariah is also confused and frustrated. She's always stood on her own two feet, but now even that can literally be torture. She's having flashbacks and blackouts, hearing helicopter noises in the night. She wants to push Quinn away—and hold him closer than ever. But will she get the chance? Those helicopters are more than just post-traumatic stress; they're real—and dangerous.

Bad things are happening on the mountain. Suddenly there's a battle to be fought on the home front, and no guarantee of survival.

And here is Diana's review:

Where to start with this story.  There were parts I enjoyed but more that I didn’t.  Why?  This story was filled with an overabundance of drama.   Too much, I think for one book.  There was so much going on with the story—a maddened bear, drug runners, poachers, unrequited love, incest, PTSD—that it was difficult to keep up with the main characters and their journey to love.  I know this is romantic suspense and the mystery element is necessary, but this story barely had any romantic moments (besides the smexy bits) to recommend it as “romantic” suspense.

As a romance reader, the development of the relationship between two characters is the reason I read a story.   However, this story skipped over most of these parts, instead, relying heavily on their past relationship to create the bond and intimacy between them now.  It had been over a year since Quinn and Mariah were together–or had even spoken– yet we are supposed to believe that upon first sight they forgot this and were once again in love?  It was hard to believe.   I can see a couple’s past being the catalyst for reconnecting but not for establishing a permanent bond.  I think more couple time, some not involving dangerous scenarios, was needed to show how the new Quinn and Mariah fell in love.

As much as I didn’t enjoy the overall story, I can see why it was chosen for an award in the Romantic Suspense category.  There was a lot of tension in this book, practically a smorgasbord of drama.  It was the suspense that kept me reading when the characters made me want to pull out my hair.  Despite the hair pulling moment, I really think this author has a strong voice for romantic suspense.  Each of the side story lines that appeared at first glance to be random turned out to have a purpose connected to the main mystery.  For full disclosure, I listened to this book instead of reading it and I think it lost something in the “translation”.

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