In this Linda Howard book we follow Morgan, a secret paramilitary ninja guy, who after a brush with death spends some time recuperating with our heroine, Tricksy.

Spoiler

First we meet Morgan, who is just looking to relax on his boat, but instead ends up taking a bullet following a misunderstanding. Under the impression that those involved will want to finish the job, his boss sends him to stay with his stepsister in a small town. His described as the standard alpha male, strong and dependable and apparently very good at his job.
Next we meet Bo, a small-town chief of police who lives with her dog Tricksy. She’s been busy paying off a large debt and walking said dog until her stepbrother calls and offers her lots of money to babysit one of his men.

The book did start strong, building a great world around these two characters and it felt realistic how much neither of them wanted to be in the situation, but their chemistry wasn’t all that great. The stories premise was interesting but turned flat very quickly. The towns folk were annoying and both of the characters were boring, turning a book with so much potential into a disappointment.

At the end everything comes together and they live happily ever after, but not much happens in between. If you want a book about a dog with some romance smattered in, this is the book for you.

Kalau gak ada Tricks keknya aku gak bakal nyelesain buku ini

4.2. Honestly this was much better than I was expecting, although, I’m not entirely sure what my expectations were. I loved how direct Morgan was about his feelings for Beau. I also loved how clear headed Beau was as well, it just emphasizes how great they were together. This also just makes me want a dog even more than I already do, Tricks was amazing. All in all this was a really fun read.

I made the mistake of reading a few negative (and inaccurate) reviews of this book before finally getting around to reading it. Do yourself a favor and don’t do that. I’m sorry I put it off now.

I know from social media that Linda Howard has golden retrievers, and her love for them comes through in this book. Is Tricks the dog a main character in this book? Most definitely. Is she the only thing happening in the book? Definitely not. There’s a lot of other things happening here, and as usual Howard writes some fun and interesting characters. I enjoyed it a lot, and I won’t trust negative reviews of a Howard book again until I’ve read it for myself.

highly satisfying for a simple pleasure read.

Again, an OK story with a bad reader. Although she wasn't necessarily bad, I just didn't like her voice.

3.5

It’s ok, but the next book is so much better.

I don't know if I've just grown past romantic suspense or if Linda Howard's books have gone downhill or what, but I just haven't enjoyed the last few when I used to love her in high school. (Yeah, that could be the explanation right there.) I'm not really bit into military-type heroes, but I do like when stuff takes place in Virginia/West Virginia, so I went into this with mixed expectations. Normally I can fly though this type of book, but everything is REALLY slow to get started, both romance and suspense. I don't think I've ever read a book of this genre that was quite so slow to get going. That took away from it a lot. Once it got going it was pretty good, but after all the build-up of the mysterious assassination attempt on Morgan, the reveal was a bit of a let down. There was almost more suspense in the small-town drama! I did like the characters a lot, especially Tricks the golden retriever. Really, this book would have been much more enjoyable mind candy if she just moved it a long a bit faster!

The fine print: received ARC from Edelweiss.

Although the book was amazing, the dog Tricks was even better. Like I desperately want that perfect dog, oh my goodness.
Another thing I really enjoyed was that this book had great relationship buildup. There was NO insta-love. None. The relationship was beautifully paced. Reading this book was very relaxing for some reason. Way less action than I had anticipated, but somehow wonderful nonetheless. There were a couple of parts that sort of dragged and I got bored with, but they passed pretty quickly. All in all, I definitely recommend this book. We need more romance books like this one, honestly.