Marie Ferrarella

Very good book with plenty of tension, both personal and professional. Julianne is a detective in a neighboring town. When the death of a woman there matches those of a serial killer in Aurora, she is sent to work with the Aurora department's task force. She immediately clashes with Frank, who isn't thrilled to have an outside officer assigned to his group.

Frank is dealing with a lot of frustration over the lack of progress in finding the killer. He first takes Julianne's presence as an show more indictment of his work, though a conversation with the chief of detectives relieves him of that worry. Then he has to face the unwelcome attraction he feels for Julianne. Getting involved with a coworker would be a very bad idea.

Julianne isn't going to sit back and let Frank dismiss her or her abilities. She doesn't expect special treatment, but she won't be ignored either. What she hasn't told anyone is that she also has a personal reason for being there. Her younger cousin left home and Julianne has traced her to Aurora. She's determined to find Mary before something bad can happen to her. Julianne had grown up with parents who never showed affection to her or each other. Her best friend was her cousin Mary, who was living with a secret no one should have to deal with. She feels responsible for Mary's disappearance.

I loved the relationship that developed between Frank and Julianne. Frank has a reputation as a ladies man and Julianne wants no part of it. He's attracted to her, but determined to resist. He's also intrigued by her. He sees a woman who is strong and independent, but who also has a lot of pain in her eyes. She keeps to herself and resists his attempts to get to know her. Though they clash at first, working on the case together, they make an excellent team. I loved Frank's persistence as he finally got Julianne to tell him about Mary, and his support of her when Mary became one of the killer's victims. Julianne's walls start to crumble under his attentions, but the things she begins to feel frighten her. She's never before allowed herself to depend on someone else. Frank is also taken aback by the strength of his feelings for her. I loved seeing him admit his vulnerability, and also his determination to see where it might lead. He had his work cut out for him in the end as he tried to convince her of his love. Julianne had to decide if she was willing to trust that he would always be there for her.

The search for the serial killer was really well done. The team's frustration was obvious as they tried to find the link between the victims. There was a terrific scene with a visiting profiler that really showed Julianne's abilities to her new teammates. It was interesting to see the way that they would start over with each new victim, trying to find the connections. I really liked seeing how it was an unexpected bit of trivia that finally cracked the case. Julianne's undercover sting was intense, and what happened to her kept me on the edge of my seat until it was all over. I loved how it was all resolved.

I really enjoyed seeing Andrew Cavanugh bring another lost soul into the Cavanaugh circle. Julianne tried really hard to avoid getting involved with them, but no one can stand up to him for long. It was really sweet to see the way that she got sucked in at the anniversary party without really realizing it until it happened. I loved Frank's big moment at the end, and Andrew's satisfaction at witnessing it. show less

I loved the beginning of this book. Kane and Kelly have both been called to the Chief of Detectives' office. Kane is sitting there, quiet as a rock while Kelly chatters away. When the chief arrives, they discover that they are being assigned to work together. Kane isn't happy, he would much rather work alone. His attitude has managed to chase away six different partners, and now he's shooting for a seventh. Kelly is equally determined not to be driven away, and furthermore to get him to open show more up.

Kane doesn't get close with anyone. He grew up with an abusive father who ended up killing Kane's mother, attempting to kill Kane, and killing himself. After he recovered, Kane was raised by an uncle who was a good man but not emotional. He doesn't share anything personal with other people, including his partners. Kane has found success in the past by saying as little as possible. As a woman with several older brothers, she doesn't intimidate easily. She ignores his silences and keeps talking to him. While he doesn't tell her anything personal, she does eventually get him to react to her.

Their conversations were fun to see. Kelly just doesn't give up until she gets Kane to talk to her. Though his answers seem a bit harsh at the beginning, it mostly seems to be because he doesn't know how to deal with her. After awhile his responses show a rather dry sense of humor that meshes well with Kelly's more buoyant attitude. I really enjoyed seeing how determined she was to break him out of his shell. As usually happens in a Cavanaugh book, he is dragged to one of Andrew Cavanaugh's meals. It is an experience unlike anything Kane has had before:

Apparently Cavanaughs didn’t know the meaning of the word solitude or solitary. From what he could see, they were all about crowds of people mingling. If they saw a loner, he—or she—stirred a sudden need within a Cavanaugh to incorporate that loner into the whole. “Resistance is futile,” a phrase once popular in a science fiction show cult favorite, was very obviously a credo for getting on with the Cavanaughs as well, Kane couldn’t help thinking.

As their time together continues, Kane is also surprised by the attraction he feels for Kelly. He's not used to having a woman taking up so much of his thoughts. When that attraction flares up after a late night, his normally restrained and calculated actions go up in the flames of the heat between them. He discovers that she's brought out something in him that he likes and wants to keep it, and her, around. It was interesting to see the apparently confident Kelly actually was a bit insecure regarding her new relationship with Kane. He had a really unique way of telling her how he felt: "You're like the refrain of a song that's stuck in my head, making me crazy, but I can't seem to unstick you." The epilogue was a fun update on where they were.

The suspense of the story was the home invasion cases that they were working on. The first one showed exactly why the chief had partnered them, as Kelly had different insights into what they learned. As more robberies happened, Kane gained an appreciation for Kelly's intelligence and determination. I really enjoyed following their investigation and seeing the connection that Kelly discovered. When all was revealed, I found myself agreeing with Kelly and feeling somewhat sympathetic for the robber. I loved Kane's comment about the possible trial. show less

Such a mishmash of filler and undercooked story threads that I’m not even sure what the central plot was, or if there even was one.

This starts out with a hurricane, you think, okay, the heroine lacks intelligence for being out there knowing the forecasted conditions, still, it could be pretty thrilling and intense to see this woman do the scrappy survivor thing, but almost none of the hurricane happens on the page.

There’s plenty of story potential in the aftermath of a natural disaster, show more again though, almost none of it plays out on the page. Mostly you’re told over and over again that Maggie and Jonah are logging long hours helping with survivors and clean up, but you never see enough of it to actually feel engaged in or emotional over a situation that should be both engaging and emotional, instead every single time you’re told how they’re spending their days, it felt like filler, like a stall tactic as you wait for some semblance of actual story to kick in.

Eventually they start looking into a serial killer case, but that didn’t really go anywhere either. Which fine, sometimes series have overarching plots that aren’t yet resolved, I can accept that, but barely even managing the slightest progress on the case? Why even include it then? Beyond a couple prison visits there’s very little investigating that even goes on here. It just seemed pointless.

The one thing that did consistantly happen on the page was Maggie falling into random moments of peril and Jonah rescues her. That’s pretty much the gist of their rushed courtship, no conflict, no tension, just rescue after rescue, true to the title, sure, but repetitive.

Repitition was the name of the game with this book. Paragraphs convey what the previous paragraph already told you. Same with the dialogue. I can’t tell you how many conversations were characters parroting what the other person just said. Just so much filler here. Far more filler than story. It read like an unpolished, incomplete first draft. show less

Good start to the new series. Divorced from her former husband, Maggie was surprised to receive a strange map from her former father-in-law after his death. Though there was a hurricane bearing down on the area, Maggie gives in to her curiosity and goes looking for clues. When she turns up missing, search-and-rescue cowboy Jonah goes looking for her.

I liked the rescue scene when Jonah found Maggie. Though the situation was intense because of the storm, Maggie and Jonah had a sense of humor show more in spite of it. It was fun to see the teasing between them. They knew each other somewhat because they grew up in the same small town. Jonah had had a bit of a crush on her when they were in school but felt that the beautiful girl was out of his league, so he never pursued it. He's surprised to find that some of those feelings are still there. The grown-up Jonah made quite an impression on Maggie also, and she couldn't keep her eyes off him. A stop at Jonah's cabin to escape the worst of the rain gave Maggie a chance to show Jonah the map and note. Maggie is determined to find out what it means. After showing it to the local police chief and being told to leave it be, Maggie is more intent than ever to discover the truth.

I liked the mix of romance and suspense. Set against the town's recovery from the hurricane, both Maggie and Jonah show what they are made of. Jonah is a good man with a big heart. I loved the depth of caring he shows to the victims of the hurricane and his humbleness over his part in the rescue efforts. I liked the way that Maggie got involved in the rescue efforts also. I ached for her because people often believed that just because she was beautiful, that's all there was to her. She threw herself into helping Jonah, which also gave them a chance to get to know each other better. The more time they spent together, the hotter the sparks between them were until they burst into flame. They are both a little wary of putting a name to what they feel until unexpected danger makes them realize what's important. I loved the scene at Maggie's sister's wedding, with Jonah's awkwardness and Maggie's bewilderment.

The suspense of the story was good. As the first book in the series, some time was spent setting up the background. A local man is in prison, convicted of being a serial killer. When Maggie and Jonah discover another body, there is some question about whether that man is responsible. Maggie is determined to discover the truth and Jonah is equally determined to protect her, especially after she receives some threatening texts. It was intriguing to follow their investigation and see what they uncover. Their visit with the imprisoned killer was creepy, and I could feel the waves of evil rolling off him. Things got more complicated when they received unexpected news during their next visit, and Maggie got caught up in a prison riot. Another threatening text shows that someone is serious about not wanting Maggie involved in whatever is going on. The ending of this book came with a confrontation that I never saw coming and had me on the edge of seat until it was over. While one mystery was solved, the door is left open on the question of who killed the woman that Jonah and Maggie found. The epilogue does a good job of setting up the next book with a disturbing discovery. show less