What do you look for in a good romantic suspense tale?

The usual answer would be interesting characters in some sort of peril with a bit of romance promising to spice things up, right? Then this is a book to deliver on those promises.

Emma Larkin's life changed forever when her husband was murdered. Try as she may to get life back on track for herself and her young daughter, someone is preventing that from occurring. Repeatedly her home was being invaded and searched, and Emma left town to attempt a start at a new life. Moving has not changed things, however. The search for the mysterious something follows Emma and Sally wherever they go. Then Gary Bedford enters their world and the undercover cop finds himself desperate to be included in Emma and Sally's life. He senses Emma needs help but fears if he tells her what he does for a living she would push him away so he holds it back. There is more to Emma's husband's death than Emma could ever guess, and the more digging Gary does the worse things look for Emma's safety. So much so that she may not be safe even in his loving embrace.

My only problem with this story had to do with Gary repeatedly withholding information from Emma throughout the tale. It came across as if he thought her incapable of handling things, almost as if she were a child. Though I admit at times she did in fact seem incapable and near collapse, mostly she stood strong and did what had to be done. Apart from that one minor thing I enjoyed everything else about this tale. It was nice to see a man fall in love with a woman and her child, not just take the child because she was part of the package. The love scenes in this tale are tender, passionate, and meaningful. Young Sally is a delight, stealing each scene she is in. My favorite part of the story would be not the main characters themselves but Gary's huge family. Colorful and funny, loyal and protective of their own, this is the family anyone would love to call their own. This is the way romantic suspense should be done!

Reviewed By Johnna
© January 2005