Series:
Coltons of Colorado (Book 9)
She's put him onto a hot story…
But their partnership is generating its own heat.
Famed true-crime podcaster Gavin Colton has returned home
to dig up family skeletons. And when he rescues stranded Jacqui Reyes, Gavin
stumbles onto a new story. The wildlife biologist is investigating wild horse
rustling from government lands. Joining forces can help both their careers. But
their mission may endanger their lives…and their hearts.
I enjoyed the suspense of this book and the opening moves
of the romance between Gavin and Jacqui. Jacqui is a wildlife biologist who
gets an anonymous phone call saying that the wild mustang herd in Blue Larkspur
is in trouble. Though she should pass that information on to the coworker who
covers that area, she is reluctant to do so before checking it out herself.
Especially since that coworker, who is also her ex-boyfriend, just screwed her
over with their boss. When she finds the herd, she sees indications that her
tipster is correct. Unfortunately, someone runs her off the road on her way
back to town.
Gavin is a true crime podcaster who plans to do a series
on his father's crimes and has returned home to Blue Larkspur to prepare for it.
His eleven siblings are unhappy with his plans, not just because of the
memories it will stir up. They have one family enemy they are trying to get
back in prison after he was mistakenly released, and Gavin's plans could make
that more difficult. If he can't do the series he wants to do, he needs to find
something to take its place.
Gavin spots Jacqui on the side of the road and rescues
her. She has quite the fan-girl moment when she recognizes Gavin, which makes
him feel good. She tells him about what she found, and after thinking about it
overnight, he realizes it could be his next story. The two agree to work
together to find out the truth about the threat to the mustangs. I enjoyed
seeing them get to know each other. I liked how easily they could talk to each
other and share things they don't usually discuss. Gavin has family issues from
an incident when he was a child and often feels out of place with his siblings.
I liked how Jacqui listened to him and subtly encouraged him to look at things differently,
resulting in some mending of fences and the likelihood of more.
At the same time, Jacqui is drawn to men who appear to
need fixing in some way. Previous relationships have left her feeling used,
unappreciated, and reluctant to risk her heart again. She's wondering if Gavin
falls into that category. I liked how she supported him at the family gathering.
I loved how the Colton clan pulled her into their circle and her enjoyment of
being part of it. I liked how Gavin and Jacqui grew closer by the end of the
book wanting to see more of each other. Since the entire book takes place over
one weekend, I was glad to see no premature declarations of love, just an
interest in seeing where their relationship might go. There was a revelation that
caught me by surprise, as I wouldn't have guessed it, and it didn't appear to
be an issue with them.
The suspense of the story was good and kept my interest.
I wanted to see how it would turn out. That's not to say I didn't have a few raised
eyebrow moments. First of all, the first bad guy, Henry Rollins, was stupid.
Instead of leaving an anonymous tip directly with the police about the upcoming
theft of the horses, he called Jacqui, expecting her to call the cops. Instead,
she checked it out herself first. It made some sense that Jacqui would want to
be sure it was true before doing anything about it.
I enjoyed seeing Jacqui and
Gavin use logic to identify the tipster, though their surveillance plans could
have been better thought out. The fire scene was intense, and they were lucky it
wasn't worse. The tension ramped up when Jacqui's hotel room was broken into,
and the police chief's disapproval hit home. The final confrontation was a
nail-biter when Gavin and Jacqui were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I
liked the reality that they didn't escape unscathed, though it did have a
satisfactory resolution.
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