Thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were flawed but well written. I enjoyed that none of them had a perfect life or had all the answers. It makes it easier to like them when they are more relateable.Carine has a nice life that's quiet and peaceful. She and her siblings were raised by an uncle after her parents tragic deaths. Her uncle is overprotective, as is her brother and sister, but they all mean well. Carine stumbles into something that has people shooting at her, she doesn't even know anything. But three men come to her rescue, one of them is a life long friend, Tyler, that was the typical boy growing up. They had no use for each other than to torment. Things change when he finds her zigzaggin from bullets in the mountains.A year later, he walks away from their engagement one week shy of the wedding. Carine is devasted. Surrounded by memories of Ty, she moves to Boston to 'take a break'. While there, she finds a dead body and everything goes south. Ty comes back into play when a mutual friend calls him to protect Carine.The chase takes them back to the mountains they both love...but it doesn't stay peaceful and safe.Ty is sexy and endearing. Carine is spunky and likeable. There is, of course, the happy ending I love!I recommend this book to those that like action, romance and a happy ending.
This book left me both wanting more and wanting less. I wanted more character development. I didn't feel connected to them at all and their motivations were often unclear. Carine, the female lead, was described as this independent, strong willed woman, yet her behavior and actions often said the opposite. The plot was interesting but slow and none of the action - suspense or romance - had enough substance to really hold my interest.What I wanted less of was the unnecessary description. We're given pages of information on the scenery. We're given lots of detail on the process of becoming a pararescuer and the required skills. None of this was particularly fascinating to me and it often repeated throughout the book. The characters inner thoughts are often repeated as well, as they continually contemplate each other and the issues around them. Overall, this is a good read, though easily forgettable.
What do You think about Cold Ridge (2005)?
Not bad! I've seen a lot of her books on store shelves, but I'd never picked her up before. Her new book, The Widow, sounded really good, so I thought I'd pick up a few of hers to see what her style was like.I really liked the action. It was perfectly spaced, with an awesome climax at the end. I think the final chapter could have used a bit more work. I found that the characters, although they had awesome jobs, just were not 'profound' enough. Everything seemed like the surface to me, too much polish, not enough substance. The characters just didn't 'wow' me enough to say that this was an awesome book, but it was good. The descriptions of places were pretty neat, though. You could actually get a clear picture of the surroundings, which was good.
—Gina
