My third book by Walsh, second mystery (romantic intrigue). I wasn't sure I actually wanted to read this one. Both because of the switch in main characters, and because the initial relatively low ratings the book had received. Yeah, I shouldn't pay attention to ratings when it's based on, like, three people's thoughts. Still . . ..

Okay, some negatives. 1) The point of view changes were oddly handled. I literally had to reread paragraphs because I would suddenly realize that the point of view had switched on me. Unlike what I am used to, this book kept changing point of views without any break. There'd be a paragraph, then another, then another, and I'd be on the fifth before I realized that the last two were actually from Kira's point of view (or Abby's). That was annoying. There wasn't even double spaces between the paragraphs to mark that something might be happening. 2) Cal and Rachel were in and out of this story, popping up every once in a while. I had no problem with that - considering that the whole underlying theme involved Abby Hargrove being out there as part of the Mounted Police unit she commanded from a desk. No, the problem I had was when, suddenly, there was this one sliver of a chapter from their point of view. I forget if it was from both or just one. But, suddenly, the reader is back in their heads. Back, I mean, considering the first book in the series was in their heads. And it seemed mostly in their heads so that they could fuck each other. I don't know, I guess the only way this could have happened otherwise is if Hargrove or Kira stared into their open window and watched them. And so . . . we are in their head so it would not be super creepy as to why we knew they fucked. We the readers. Sure sure, information got passed along to the reader. But that could have come through some other way. That or their point of view, to not seem exploitative, should have happened more than that once. 3) There was in fact an actual mystery. People did investigate. Deaths, fear, kidnappings, drugged horses, etc. occurred. But . . . there seemed less mystery in this book than in the first book in this series. Well, no. Hmms. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean exactly. I suppose could say 'both books in this series are described as "romantic intrigues", this book seemed to be much more in that category than the previous book' and just leave it at that.

The positives: 1) I was reluctant to read a book starring Lieutenant Abby Hargrove since she seemed to have the personality of a harsh judgmental warthog in the first book. Wait, no, she was described as being gorgeous in that first book. Hmms. Well, replace warthog with something gorgeous then. That sounds like a negative. Though I put it in the positive paragraph because I actually liked her almost immediately, in this second impression. 2) I had certain issues with Kira's personality/character (specifically how she kept whining, mostly internally, about how dangerous Abby's job is, and how Abby seemed to invite danger, when the whole point of Abby and Kira being in danger was because of Kira's need to strongly and stubbornly fight for what she believes is right - preserving the wetlands; and how Kira barely seemed aware of this particular factoid). Otherwise I liked Kira. 3) Depending on what is considered a graphic sex scene, and what is considered something else, there appeared, to my eyes, to be three such scenes. One was a brief little, 'oh they just had sex and I didn't even realize it' scene involving side characters, the second was similarly brief but quite interesting, while the third was at a point wherein I was quite bored with the whole idea of sex and just wanted the book to be over already. So. Wait, why do I have this in the positives section? Hmm, well, I guess because of that scene on the roller coaster. Though I had some realistic issues with it that I side-stepped when I read it. Well, consequences issue. Okay, the one who was played with would have looked like she had peed her pants afterwards. That's not exactly thrilling to realize, but meh. As I said, I just went with that thought flickering in my brain. And ignored that aspect. As much as I could.

Hmms. I don't normally do positive and negative paragraphs. And looking at those wall of texts I probably won't again. Mostly, though, I'm left with not being sure what else to write. And so . . ..

Speculation. I'm left with that. If a third book would appear, where would it go from here? I mean, there's a history, a two book history, of changing the main characters, but having at least one being a minor one in a previous book. So . . . considering this is a lesbian series leaves me to speculate that the next book, if there is one, would follow Billie, the other female mounted police officer (I mean, the series is called "Tacoma Mounted Police), or it could follow the woman very briefly meet - that Scandinavian police officer who was partner to that guy who kept harassing Abby (though only appeared once, though the male one kept popping up). There was talk of how the horse Abby rode was for a possible new addition to the mounted police, that Scandinavian woman's partner is a massive jackass, soooo maybe she wanted to flee him and move to a new assignment, perhaps? And that's basically it in terms of possible leads for a theoretical third book in this series. Then again, that woman was so insignificant in this book, that she might not have had any lines. I can't recall now. While Billie has been there since the first book. With lines. Well, there's also Julie, but she's 12. I suppose a third book could be set 12 years later? bah. ( )

So many times I've read a book and at the end I think 'It'd be so cool to have a book about Jane Secondary-Character'. When I saw this book and its plot I was so excited. It's the second book in the series about the Tacoma Mounted Police Unit. The first book 'Mounting Danger' was centered on Cal and Rachel and the very bumpy starting of the unit. This one takes place after the first and is focused on the Lieutenant in Charge of the unit, Abby. It delves deeply into her life, how she feels guilty about her family members' misdeeds, and what she's trying to do about it.

One of the people her family hurt was Kira. Abby has tried to anonymously help out Kira's family as well, but it isn't until Abby and Kira cross paths at the local fair where Abby's working with her Mounted Unit that everything gets thrown out of whack (sometimes in a good ways, sometimes in a bad one) in both womens' lives.

There was also the mystery in the book. Who saved Kira and killed the 'bad guy' in the novel. I was happily surprised by who did it. It wasn't out of left field, but just enough of a twist that I had the 'Duh, I should have guessed it was that character' moment when we did learn who did it.

It was another awesome Karis Walsh novel, and I have eternal hope that at some point there will be another book in this series. I liked the characters, the plot, the mystery and the romance so much.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. ( )