So...this is the second time I'm writing this because apparently I forgot to save it or something. Grr, hate when that happens.

Anyway, This started out strong for me. I haven't read a romantic suspense from Nora Roberts in years, and I forgot how much I tend to enjoy them. Even when they don't end up being new favorites, like this one, there is a level of quality to the writing and storytelling that is very consistent in her books.

I liked the premise of this book that our heroine, Elizabeth/Abigail, is on the run and on her own because she can't trust law enforcement to keep her safe, then ends up falling for a law enforcement officer from the small town she's hiding away in. Her character was very much like Temperance Brennan from the television show Bones (I know they were books first, but my only experience of the character is the show. I can't speak to how she compares to the book character) in the way that she acts and interacts with the people around her, specifically Brooks, our hero.

I enjoyed the romantic elements to this, even though I thought he was a little too pushy. I enjoyed their back and forth and getting to know and trust each other. I liked that he respects the fact that she can take care of herself, even though his instinct as a police officer and a decent human is to protect her because he cares about her. I like that she starts out with this hard shell of distrust and refusal to rely on anyone else and over the course of the novel learns to let him in.

Now for the problems I had. First and foremost, this book is far too long. It's over 500 pages, and the type is pretty small. This book didn't need to be this long. The first part of the book where we learn what happened to Abigail when she was younger was over 100 pages long. It didn't need to be that long. We could've had the same information imparted to us in half that. This is especially true when you take into consideration the fact that

she tells Brooks the entire story later in the book, and instead of truncating that conversation, we are basically just retold the beginning of the book.

Then there are several subplots that are explored very thoroughly that didn't add much to the plot at the end of the day. They establish Brooks as a good cop who doesn't think every situation is right or wrong, black or white. And there was one situation I assumed was going to tie into the overall plot of Abigail being on the run that really didn't. It was flimsily connected but I never really felt that is was necessary for it to take up so much of the story. That being cut could've really tightened up the book as far as the length goes and also the pacing, which suffered in my opinion because of those extraneous subplots and the overly-long introduction.

Also, and this may seem counter intuitive to the previous paragraph about cutting it down, but I didn't feel satisfied at all by the ending of this book. I won't get into it because spoilers, but with a romantic suspense there is some expectation that at some point of the book there is going to be a showdown between our hero/heroine and the villain. That doesn't really happen here. Or, it does, but it's a very passive set of circumstances. It all wraps up without much fanfare, which makes the end feel anticlimactic. The tension and stakes presented throughout the book just sort of fizzle out at the end, and I felt like this story deserved more. I don't know that that part needed to be longer, but I would've liked to see it play out differently, perhaps with the same overall result.

Overall I thought this was solid, if not a new favorite.