The Bodine Ranch and Resort is a family business where vacationers can live like a cowboy for a few days while visiting in Western Montana. Bodine Longbow runs the resort side of the business while her older brother, Chase, takes care of the ranch. Chase's best friend, Callen Skinner, has returned after a long absence and is hired to help out at the ranch. As Bodine and Cal renew their friendship, they stumble across the battered body of one of the resort workers. While many people wander why anyone would kill this young woman, a few speculate that the murder didn't happen until Cal came back to the area.
This book opens with a flashback to 1991. Twenty-year-old Alice Bodine (Bodine Longbow's aunt) is returning home after chasing her dream of stardom in Hollywood for the past three years. Since her vehicle broke down a few miles back, she's happy when a truck pulls up to offer her a ride. Alice is kidnapped and locked in a cellar. Her story of the beatings and rapes she endures are peppered throughout the first half of the book until her story catches up to the present day. I thought Alice's portions of the book were the highlight of the story. The awful circumstances she overcame showed the kind of person she was before the kidnapping.
This was billed as romantic suspense, but I didn't find it very romantic or suspenseful. I liked both Bodine and Callen, along with Chase and Jessica, but thought the book was light on romance. The Montana ranch backdrop was nice, but there were way too many mundane details about the running of the resort and ranch. The mystery of the murders that were currently taking place was obvious. The author really didn't try to disguise who was behind the murders.
My favorite part of the book was Alice's story. I also enjoyed the interesting secondary characters like "the grannies" and Callen's horse, Sundance, who could have a book of his own. My rating: 4 Stars.
This book opens with a flashback to 1991. Twenty-year-old Alice Bodine (Bodine Longbow's aunt) is returning home after chasing her dream of stardom in Hollywood for the past three years. Since her vehicle broke down a few miles back, she's happy when a truck pulls up to offer her a ride. Alice is kidnapped and locked in a cellar. Her story of the beatings and rapes she endures are peppered throughout the first half of the book until her story catches up to the present day. I thought Alice's portions of the book were the highlight of the story. The awful circumstances she overcame showed the kind of person she was before the kidnapping.
This was billed as romantic suspense, but I didn't find it very romantic or suspenseful. I liked both Bodine and Callen, along with Chase and Jessica, but thought the book was light on romance. The Montana ranch backdrop was nice, but there were way too many mundane details about the running of the resort and ranch. The mystery of the murders that were currently taking place was obvious. The author really didn't try to disguise who was behind the murders.
My favorite part of the book was Alice's story. I also enjoyed the interesting secondary characters like "the grannies" and Callen's horse, Sundance, who could have a book of his own. My rating: 4 Stars.
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