Series:
Coltons of New York (Book 1)
She was being framed for murder and desperate for his
protection.
Detective Sean Colton was working another case when he
and Orla Roberts discovered her murdered father. With her twin sister's DNA all
over the crime scene, Orla has become a suspect and possibly the next victim --
no way was Sean letting her out of his sight. Because even if the law and the
public were crying out for justice, she was now his to keep safe…
A good introduction to this series of Colton stories. We
first meet Sean Colton, a detective with the NYPD and the oldest of the four
Coltons (Sean, Cormac, Liam, and Eva), as he is working on a murder case. We
immediately discover that he is a workaholic who, once he gets going on a case,
will ignore everything else until he solves it. It has cost him two serious
relationships, leading him to swear off them for good. He gets a call from the
wife of the man who raised him and his siblings after their parents died, telling
him that Humphrey appears to be missing. Sean calls in his siblings to help
find out what has happened to him. One thing that comes to light is that if
something happens to him, they are supposed to see real estate mogul Rockwell
Roberts.
Next, we meet Orla Roberts, one of Rockwell's twin
daughters. She is a bodyguard and a black belt self-defense trainer who is very
independent and always has been. We see her reminiscing about her twin sister
Aimee, who is just the opposite - a narcissist who believes that the world and
their father owe her anything she wants. Aimee and her boyfriend were sentenced
to prison for the crimes they committed but have recently escaped. Orla knows Aimee
will come after her and their father and immediately heads for his apartment to
protect him. Unfortunately, she is too late.
Orla and Sean encounter each other in the lobby of the
apartment building and go up to the apartment together. There they discover the
murdered man's body. Though initially suspicious of her, Sean quickly realizes
that Orla could not have killed her father and listens to what she has to say
about Aimee. He also stands up for her to his captain, who wants to arrest
Orla. When Orla is nearly run down by a speeding car, Sean makes himself her
protector. They also work together to track down Aimee and Joe, with Orla suggesting
being bait to draw her out.
Neither Sean nor Orla expected the attraction that flared
between them, and neither expected anything other than living in the moment.
Both are surprised at the feelings that grow between them. But Orla is afraid
of the pain that could come from risking her heart, so she pushes Sean away. It
takes her a while to realize the mistake she made. On the other hand, Sean has
finally found someone he's willing to commit to. I ached for him when Orla
walked away from what they could have together and understood his cautiousness when
she showed up to tell him she'd changed. I liked seeing them come together at
the end and look forward to seeing more of them in later books.
The story's suspense was well done and focused mainly on the
search for Aimee. I was invested in the story as Sean and Orla went back and
forth on the best way to bring her to justice. As the story progressed, I felt
like I was just waiting for Aimee to pop around some corner and start shooting.
While the confrontation between Orla and Aimee was intense, it didn't go as I
expected it to. In the end, the resolution felt anti-climactic after all of the
buildup.
The search for Humphrey is mainly in the background
during this book. With Sean involved in helping Orla, he has passed most of the
investigative work to his siblings. I suspect this search will play out over
several books, if not the entire series. I am curious about what is happening,
and I will continue to read the series.
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