Series:
Saving Kelby Creek (Book 5)
A tragedy kept them apart
…until a dangerous reunion brought them back together.
Returning to Kelby Creek only intensifies Detective Lily
Howard's soul-crushing guilt and anger. As a teenager she chose to rescue her
friend and childhood crush, Anthony Perez, rather than pursue the man abducting
his sister. Years later, investigating the cold case with Ant stirs up even
more troubling emotions in the usually guarded detective. Soon another teen
girl's disappearance offers a tantalizing new lead. To justice? Or inescapable
danger?
Intense story that kept me hooked from start to finish.
The book opens with a scene from Lily and Anthony's past - the abduction of
Anthony's sister, Ida. Both teens witnessed the abduction but could not stop
it, and each carries the guilt from it to this day.
Fourteen years later, Lily has returned to Kelby Creek as
a detective, hired to work on the town's cold cases. Ida's kidnapping is one of
those cases, and when she discovers a new lead, the first person she calls is
Ant. Though they haven't seen each other during that time, they have stayed in
touch. As soon as he hears the news, Ant quits his job in North Carolina and
heads back to Kelby Creek, determined to find the truth. Lily was not happy to
have Ant show up on her doorstep. She had expected him to wait until she
followed up on the new information, while Ant made it clear that wasn't
happening. There were some harsh words exchanged before she sent him off.
Meanwhile, Lily gets a call about a puzzling scene she
and the sheriff had seen earlier that day. Ant follows her as she rushes off to
follow up on the call. A terrifying time follows as she and Ant hear a woman's
voice screaming from beneath the ground. As they attempt to dig her out, Lily
is attacked by a shovel-wielding man who seems determined to stop them. It's a
tense few minutes until Ant subdues the man, and they can get back to the
digging. The situation turns odd when the woman turns out to be a recording.
This begins a convoluted and interconnected investigation
that links two missing-person cold cases with one current case. Attempting to
locate a person of interest gets Ant and Lily almost blown up. Every time a new
piece of information is uncovered, it creates a new twist in the investigation.
A carnival clown, a missing roommate, and a married lover led to a
confrontation at the local fair. I was on the edge of my seat as Lily found
herself in the crosshairs of a desperate man while racing to rescue a woman
buried alive. The final confrontation was intense, with a full-circle moment
for Lily and Ant. I loved the unpacking of the timeline when it was all over,
with the last pieces of the puzzle coming from a surprising source.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between
Lily and Ant. They hadn't seen each other since they were teens, so their first
face-to-face meeting was a bit of a shock. The boy Lily had crushed on had
grown into a big, sexy man, and the girl who was his friend was now a beautiful
woman. Their first meeting was somewhat contentious, partly because of Lily's
reaction to him. Under the antagonism that flared between them was an
attraction they each tried to deny. But Ant can't deny the protectiveness he
feels when Lily is hurt and is determined to keep her safe. Lily's independence
makes it difficult to accept his help, but she can't help admitting she feels
safer with him around.
Ant and Lily still feel immense guilt over their
inability to stop Ida's kidnapping. I liked that they finally had an honest
conversation about those feelings and realized that neither was at fault. With
that out of the way, their attraction and bond continue to grow. But it took
nearly losing each other for them to realize the depth of their feelings. The
epilogue was great, and I loved seeing couples from the other books and
catching up on their lives. Ant was sweet with the surprise he had for Lily.
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