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.