Another winner from Terry Odell. Set in the British Isles, caregiver Heather has been gifted a vacation from one of her clients, but said client’s son is not happy that she has been acknowledged by his wealthy father. Enter PI Chase, sent to bring Heather back to Junior, except Chase discovers along the way that something doesn’t add up.

Set against a backdrop of castles and gardens and waterfalls, this book delivers a sigh worthy collaboration of hearts.

Didn’t know how this was going to turn out, right up until the end. Just when you think all bridges are burned, there is another passage to consider.

Spoiler

The one thing I didn’t like was that the bad guy gets off essentially Scot free (pardon the expression)

There are very few books that you can say "the movie is better."

This is one of them.

A great addition to the Blackthorne series. The book engaged me from the beginning and kept me reading up through to the end!

Travis "T-Bone" Bostwick is trying to keep busy to forget "that one failed mission." When the boss calls him in and assigns him to an off-the-books op to rescue one of their co-workers sisters, he isn't sure if it's punishment for working around the rules. He goes after the missing sister and almost immediately gets taken advantage of by the bad guy.

Chelsea isn't sure what the heck is going on after her new boss drugs and abducts her, but when a strange man shows up as a captive in the trailer where they're training women to be subservient, she takes the chance that he can help her escape.

Filled with action, explosions, dangling in mid-air, a kick-ass heroine and an understated hero, this book brings it all to the table.

This story had it's moments, and I hate to disparage someone's hard work, but from the beginning, the dialog was very stilted, not at all realistic. The first quarter of this book is the best part, that's where the conflict resides. From there, there is no conflict, the characters become caricatures. Everything is handed to Olivia, from her job, to her lawyer, to her next step in life. That doesn't scream independence. Her lawyer tells her to move out to demonstrate her independence, and she doesn't. Her "age-appropriate" clothing isn't. The relationships aren't realistic. Plot points are repeated (in case you missed them the first two times she told you what they were a paragraph ago) and the author spends too much time "telling" you what she wants you to think rather than "showing" you things to let you figure it out on your own.

There is so much in this book that could have been cut out ... Olivia isn't going to be independent, she's going to let people drive her around because she doesn't know how to drive in winter weather, she's going to let them tell her what lawyer to call and she's going to drive their cars. And the author is going to wrap that all up and tell me this equates to independence because Olivia's out of a bad marriage. I didn't think Olivia was cool, I thought she was pampered and air-headed and juvenile, waiting for someone to tell her what to do next. Not my idea of a strong woman. She allows someone else to buy her kids' Christmas presents instead of buying them herself and for someone working part time, she shows no fiscal responsibility.

I'm sorry, Jennifer. I wanted to like this book. Really, I did. I just can't get there.

4.5 stars
One thing I love about Jill Shalvis books is the detail that connects you to characters, the on the job, in the trenches detail that is so expertly woven in. From kindergarten teachers to kidney disease, she walks you through a day in the life and makes it interesting.

This book revolves around half sisters, one of which doesn’t know the family secret. Two sides of the same coin, both of them struggling with life failures and responding in their own unique, yet similar, way. The story is heart warming, although some of the conflict becomes repetitive (hence the half star). I’ve been a huge fan of Jills romances, and wish she could stick with those that she does so well and leave the women’s fiction as the subplot rather than the main story, but I’m still a fan.