Kat Martin

A good book that drew me in from the beginning and kept me hooked to the end. Dylan and Lane met in LA when he visited his cousin, and the sparks between them flew quickly. Dylan would like to get to know her better, but she is wary. Dylan thinks the best way to advance his cause is to hire Lane to do the interiors of the fishing lodge he is renovating. It takes some persuasion, but she finally agrees.

Though she's a Southern California city girl, the Alaskan wilderness has its appeal. I show more loved her enthusiasm as Dylan flew over the beautiful landscape on the way to the remote lodge. She's a little disturbed on arrival when she finds that Dylan has a young daughter he never mentioned who hasn't spoken since her mother deserted them three years earlier. Adding to her discomfort are the rumors that the lodge is haunted. Dylan downplays the rumors, determined to keep Lane around; he doesn't believe in ghosts anyway.

But someone is determined to stop Dylan from finishing the lodge. In researching the lodge's history, he and Lane uncover some disturbing information about the lodge's early years and first owner. When a ghost suddenly materializes in the upstairs hall, right in front of Lane, Dylan has had enough. I loved watching him and his friends, Caleb and Paddy, search the lodge from top to bottom. I wasn't surprised by what they found, and the story behind it was intriguing. I especially enjoyed what Lane did with the information. It feels like things should be smooth sailing from here, but that wasn't the case.

I liked watching the relationship develop between Dylan and Lane. Neither is interested in anything permanent (where have I heard that before?). Lane has her interior design business back in LA. She may be ready to indulge in a bit of hanky-panky, but that's all. Dylan wants Lane in his bed, but he won't go any further than that. He's been burned once by a city woman who couldn't take life in Alaska, and he won't put himself or Emily through that again. But the more time he and Lane spend together, the more they find they have in common. When they finally take the plunge into intimacy, their connection is far stronger than either expected. Lane quickly accepted her feelings for Dylan but kept them to herself, not wanting to risk rejection. Dylan fought hard against his feelings, almost leaving it too late, but came to his senses in time.

Vanquishing the "ghosts" of the lodge wasn't the end of the trouble for Dylan and Lane. They discovered that someone was prowling around the lodge and watching it. When a young woman was murdered and Caleb was accused of the crime, Dylan and Lane were determined to clear him. The deeper they got into their investigation, the more they suspected that the two things were connected. I figured out pretty quickly what was going on, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment. The person they were up against wasn't going to make it easy, and I was glued to the pages until it was over.

I liked getting to know Dylan's brothers, Nick and Rafe, a little bit. Nick played a significant role in solving the second mystery despite his issues. I'm looking forward to reading their stories too.

#netgalley show less

Kade Logan's wife Heather disappeared eight years ago. Her body was found in a shallow grave two years later and her car was just found in a nearby lake. He hires Ellie Bowman to give one more try to find out who murdered his wife.

It doesn't take Ellie long to discover that Heather and Kade's marriage wasn't in great shape. His determination to work the ranch he inherited from his parents didn't give him enough time with the emotionally needy Heather. She started looking elsewhere and, when show more Kade became aware of her second affair, he asked for a divorce. She disappeared shortly after leaving Kade feeling guilty and not very trusting of women.

Ellie also has trust issues and a fierce sense of independence. It doesn't matter how much she's attracted to Kade or to life on his ranch, she needs to protect herself from possible hurt. Their attraction is powerful, and they begin an affair but neither expects it to last. But as the bodies mount up Kade and Ellie need to trust each other and find a killer with a major grudge.

I liked the characters and the setting of this story. The suspense was well done, and the plot moved right along with a constant building of the dangers. Fans of romantic suspense will enjoy this story. show less

Good book. Jake has been hired by Sage's grandfather to be her bodyguard while she is participating in negotiations with a Saudi prince. Sage isn't at all happy about it and makes her feelings clear to Jake. He isn't too thrilled with her either, but an assignment is an assignment.

Jake and Sage get off to a rough start. Sage doesn't think she needs protection or help from Jake. He didn't make the best first impression when he mistook her for the receptionist and she isn't going to forget it. show more Sage has worked her way up in the family company and could be in line to become CEO if she pulls off this deal with the Saudi prince. She's strong and determined and knows exactly what she wants. She sees Jake as the caveman type, there to intimidate, but not much use otherwise. He's nothing like the sophisticated men like her fiance. She quickly learns that there's much more to Jake than meets the eye. Jake isn't too thrilled to be protecting a businesswoman who probably got her job because of who she is. He sees her as a spoiled society girl playing at real work. That doesn't last long as he sees just how good she really is at her job.

I liked Jake a lot. He's a little rough around the edges, but he is highly intelligent and honorable. He's attracted to Sage, but since she's engaged he's determined to keep his hands to himself. I really had fun seeing their power struggles at the beginning. It didn't take as long as it could have before they developed a good working relationship. I liked seeing the way that his view of life changed over the book. He went from a lone wolf type to one who was willing to form relationships. I really liked his Big Brother relationship with Felix. It was another layer of his personality that showed what kind of man he was.

I had a harder time liking Sage. She's earned her place in this business, that's no problem. But I didn't like the way that she had basically selected her fiance because of his pedigree and what she saw as suitable qualities. She's attracted to Jake, but sees too many inequalities between them, which made her seem rather snobby. I liked the way that exposure to Jake had her rethinking her engagement. There were a couple encounters between Jake and Phillip that made me laugh. Once Phillip is out of the picture things get pretty hot between Jake and Sage. They spend a lot of time telling themselves why a relationship won't work long term, but they can have fun short term. I loved seeing Jake start to plan a future and wanted to slap Sage silly for what she said to Jake near the end. I'm glad she came to her senses and saw that they belonged together. I felt like Jake could have made her work a little harder to make up, but it was good.

The suspense was quite good. I enjoyed learning the bits of protocol that Jake taught to Sage. The theme of the story was realistic and easy to believe in. The leaking of the story that led to the protests obviously had a purpose, and that became more clear as the book went on. Sage was a bit naive about the danger of the protests which led her to make a stupid move, but she learned her lesson quickly and Jake got high points for the way he handled it. Things got a bit more intense with the conversation Jake overheard between the sheikh's son and his friend. Add in an explosion, drug trafficking and some possible terrorist activity and the last quarter of the book had me staying awake until I finished it.

I loved seeing the backup and support Jake got from his friends and coworkers. It wasn't just on the business side either. I loved seeing them come together for the takedown at the end. There were some great sparks between his coworker Alex and Sage's friend Rina, which means their story is bound to be good. show less

The Last Goodnight by Kat Martin
Blood Ties #1

Wanting to finally find out what happened to his murdered wife, Kade Logan hires a PI working for Nighthawk Security to come to his ranch and start an investigation. It is not the first investigation that has been made but eight years after she went missing her car has been found and it triggers a desire to put it all to rest once and for all. The investigator suggested is Eleanor Bowman who is great at undercover assignments and has a nose for show more unearthing information. Stepping in as the ranch cook…she is set to sleuth…and perhaps fall in love.

What I liked:
*Eleanor: bright, talented, knows her strengths, doesn’t like cheaters, grew up on a ranch, good at what she does, interesting back story, has chemistry with her new employer.
* Kade: wealthy, bright, determined, has trust issues, has the trust of his employees and sees many as his friends, jealous, uses his fists from time to time, loyal, workaholic, protector, has chemistry with Eleanor
* Kade’s employees on the ranch – good men with potential for romance in the future
* At first thought this would be a series about Nighthawk Security and its employees but then realized it is probably about Kade and his brothers. That said, I can see that there could be overlap and the potential for a great number of books using the characters from the security firm and the ranch as well as the community Kade lives in.
* The red herrings, twists, and turns
* That Kade was not perfect…and neither was Eleanor
* That the H/h both were able to express what they did/did not want
* The side romance between Maria and Alejandro
* Billy: would like to hear more about this youth
* Zoe: Ellie’s friend and computer expert recently employed by Nighthawk Security
* Gage and Edge: Kade’s brothers – great potential for them to have interesting books in the series
* That the bad guy was found and dealt with
* That there are more books to look forward in the series

What I didn’t like:
* The people and events I was meant not to like – easy to dislike this murderer
* Not a dislike but, would have preferred that Kade was a nicer person, less stuck in gender stereotypes, and a bit less edgy BUT it worked in the story so perhaps he is just not my ideal book boyfriend.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4 Stars show less