I have a real issue with books that use abuse, rape and sex trafficking as a means to further a plot especially a romance. This book crossed that line for me. All the female characters have suffered at the hands of a man in one way or another and in the case of the main characters Quinn the only purpose it seemed to serve was to give a man another thing to save her from. I'm out on this one.

Top-notch romantic suspense…

My heart is always pummeled a little when I read a new title by this author and this read seemed to have more than the average amount of pangs to the heart. I’m a sucker for a second chance story and this ended up being that, in more ways than I could have imagined…

Quinn’s act of bravery brought her more danger than she could have dreamed of but it also brought her back to Nick Saldano. They had bonded when they were in foster care together but their paths went in very different ways – one with family and one without… My heart broke for her, for all she endured and overcame, yet she was so strong and capable, it was easy not to see how vulnerable she really was.

“I don’t know home. Have I ever been there?”
“You’re already there,” he said softly. “You just don’t know it yet.”

Nick was everything that Quinn deserved and his strength, compassion and determination to not fail her, brought stars to her eyes and mine. There was danger and action from one scene to the next as they found themselves one step ahead of a deadly threat. They reconnected with danger all around them but that made things just more intense…

Their story parallels and intersects with another in this romantic suspense that was overflowing with drama, evil and also good… One of my new favourite reads by a much beloved author.

I love Sharon Sala's books and this one was no exception. Quinn grew up in the system and had a friend back then, Nick. He was always the protective sort. Now all grown up, Quinn comes upon a scene and jumps into a situation she knows nothing about except that she has to protect the baby she found.

Nick has grown up and is an officer. He is still protective and has taken it upon himself to keep his 'old friend' safe. Nick and Quinn slide toward more than a rekindled friendship but she is in major danger. The human trafficking aspect of story is heartbreaking. There is plenty of action and I enjoyed the romance.

5/5, absolutely.



Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book (via netgalley). I received this book in exchange for an honest review and the opinions stated above are 100% mine.

I enjoyed this romantic suspense about Nick and Quinn, who had known each other as foster children in the same home, and now meet for the first time as adults. Now Quinn is in danger and homicide detective Nick is determined to keep her safe.

I liked both the romance and the suspense aspects of this book, and thought they were well balanced. Nick and Quinn were great characters and I enjoyed their relationship. The storyline was suspenseful and fast paced. Another good one by this author!

2.5 stars!

I am sooooo disappointed with this.

It started off so strong with such a brilliant storyline. I found myself not wanting to put it down and then around the 45% mark it just stopped being brilliant and I found myself contemplating about giving up with it.

There is no shortage of characters in this, the main being Star who starts off as a young girl who is kidnapped and sold off within the human trafficking system. Then it fast tracks a few years and we see Star as an adult, still in her horrendous situation but wanting to get out. Some FBI agents help her escape in return for her testimony. It goes badly wrong, she gets taken back to her owner but someone comes upon the wreck and gets caught up in all it, this is Quinn and she ends up at the police station with a bullet wound and rushed to hospital. The cop protecting her turns out to be an old childhood friend who protects her throughout the whole book and they fall in love etc.

The characters all started off so interesting and by half way I was bored and they were in turn boring. Star being the most interesting of characters who then ended up so unbelievable it was hard to follow. I don't pretend to know a lot about human trafficking etc but shouldn't she have been even a little bit traumatised? she still seemed completely naive and gullible despite all she had gone through. I feel like after years of what she had experienced she would be a bit more savvy. She was more savvy in the beginning but then the second half she just wasn't.
Quinn and Nick were seriously one of the least interesting characters I have encountered in a book for quite a while. I honestly didn't feel their connection or chemistry and they moved so fast it was unrealistic for a character like Quinn who didn't trust anyone.
They were so sappy together pretty much for the beginning and it was off putting tbh. One line from around 60% into the book was "Finding you again feels like an apology from the Universe for separating us the first time" . It felt like there was dialogue like this in nearly all of their scenes. I don't mind sappy but it was too much and over the top.

There were also inconsistencies in the beginning Nick's adoptive family had 4 kids including him as well as grandchildren....second half of the book there were 3 adult children and no grandchildren. Like an entire family was completely forgotten about and disappeared..? I feel like this was a very amateur mistake Sharon Sala made and she isn't a new author and this should have been picked up.

I normally really enjoy this authors work but I am not sure what happened with this one.
I will read more from her in the future but if you are a fan I would recommend giving this one a miss.

This is the story of two women, Quinn O’Meara and Starla Davis. Starla Davis was kidnapped by human traffickers when she was a teenager. Seven years later, she escapes from her captor with her young son and some federal agents. Unfortunately, the captor’s men overpower them and the car blows up in flames. The agents die, but Starla and her daughter are thrown out of the car and live.

Without the federal agents, Starla fears she will be recaptured. However, since she knows the Feds are onto her, she leaves her young son in the bushes to be discovered, and she goes it alone.

This is where Quinn becomes involved. Quinn is an orphan who has been in foster care her whole life. Now she is on her own and travels from place to place without getting involved. She sees the car on fire and rides closer to help. Quinn spots the movement of Starla’s young boy, and decides to take the boy to the police. Unfortunately, the “bad guys” see her and begin to shoot at her. Quinn, in spite of a couple of gunshot wounds, manages to get Starla’s boy to the police station and deliver him to freedom.

Meanwhile, while in the hospital, she meets Nick Saldano who realizes that he knew her from a foster home when they were both very young. They became close friends and the only bright spot in the home. However, he left the home, and hurt Quinn, when family members found him and took him into their home.

Nick, now a homicide detective, recognizes Quinn, and refuses to lose her again. Together, they work on keeping Quinn safe so she can identify the criminals when they are found. And the two of them fall in love.

Meanwhile, Starla calls her family and they happily bring her back into their family. Her story is also a happy one because Starla discovers that her parents and brother take her and her son in unconditionally without being judgmental about where she has been.

This author is a well-loved author.There are very few authors that write with the experience, skill and creativity of Sharon Sala. Her books are always well-written with well-developed, very interesting and realistic characters. Her plots also are well-developed with lots of twists and turns. This story is full of intrigue and adventure that keeps the reader, thoroughly, engrossed in this story and the characters.

This book is a stand-alone with no cliffhanger. Since most of the books I have read lately do not fall under this category, I was very excited to find one that was different. Even Starla’s story is not a cliffhanger. We know that she is safe at home with her family. However, I do hope that Ms. Sala has a written a story around this loveable character!!

I highly recommend this book!!

The first two chapters of this romantic suspense novel will have your heart pounding. Whatever you do, don't start reading this before bed!

A beautiful seventeen year old, Starla Davis, lied to her parents saying she was spending the night at a friends, when actually she was going to meet a boy she met on line. He was perfect or so she thought. She disappeared.

Quinn O'Meara is not a fan of commitment to a home or person. She was raised in the foster care system and learned it the hard way. Heading to Vegas on her Harley she sees a fire burning off the road, it's a car and stumbles on a toddler, gunshots and a racing engine. Rescuing the baby, she heads to the police station for help. Followed by a speeding car and men with guns. Quinn surrenders the baby, and is hospitalized for a gunshot wound. But it doesn't end there. After more threats to her life, she ends up with a bodyguard who is a Las Vegas police Detective. His name is Nick Saldana. Quinn awakens from surgery and finds the one good memory from her past. Her guardian angel.

Nick was living in a foster care facility, and was a big brother to a little girl he nicknamed Queenie. A relative found him and adopted him so he disappeared from the system and Queenie was heartbroken. Now here he was standing in her hospital room, promising to protect her. But soon, he's feeling a lot more than protective.

The action never stops, we are taken to the terrible world of human trafficking at it's worst, and the danger to anyone who gets involved. Starla's story seamlessly unfolds with Quinn and Nick's. Along with this danger and suspense a beautiful love story emerges of childhood friends broken apart by circumstance, and amazingly brought together by evil. I couldn't put it down.

I received this EBook from the publisher and Netgalley for review.
Pat Fordyce

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will not be able to review this book. I have deleted it from my system and will buy the book if I decide to read it on my own.

Thank you
Ruby

No one could read Sharon Sala's Race Against Time and not channel the voice of seminal, forever-popular author Linda Howard. Specifically, Race Against Time will resonate with lovers of Howard’s unforgettable, controversial books Death Angel and Open Season. Sex trafficking, near-death experiences, horrific childhood abuse, Race Against Time ticks all those boxes and yet is both liberating and hopeful.

There are three characters whose lives intertwine unexpectedly: a Las Vegas homicide detective, Nick Saldano; a nomadic biker, Quinn O’Meara, who bravely rescues a baby at a burning accident scene; a gangster’s desperate moll. Unbeknownst to Quinn, the baby she rescues is the child of Starla (Star) Davis, a victim of human trafficking and for the last seven years, the unwilling companion of Anton Baba, a Las Vegas crime boss. The accident occurs while Star is trying to escape.

“What about the biker who found the kid? The one who was shot?” Nick asked. “Are they going to protect her, too?”

“They say they will interview her when she is able to be interviewed. If she has nothing new to add to their case, they’re cutting her loose.”

Nick frowned. “Baba won’t be that generous,” Nick said. “Her life is in danger, sir.”

Summers sighed. “You’re probably right.”

“Are we going to put a guard on her? If they want her dead, they’ll come to the hospital and try to finish the job,” Nick said.

The tension is unrelenting because the stakes are so high for Quinn and Starla. Baba’s goons are trying to kill Quinn and recapture Star and her baby, Mr. Baba’s prized little boy. A number of times, I’d put down the story, only to grab it back to look ahead. The tension never lets up, particularly in the beginning. To complicate matters, there’s something about the redhead in the hospital bed that seems familiar to Nick.

He couldn’t imagine forgetting someone who looked like that. Bloody as hell, her beauty had still been obvious—and all that red hair. Maybe she just reminded him of someone else.

But then the unknown woman in the bed murmurs a few words that stop Nick cold.

“Where is he? Where’s my Nicks?” she mumbled, then turned her head and slipped into a deeper sleep. His heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t heard that name in nearly twenty years. He backed up and sat down in the recliner again, and sent a text to one of the other detectives in Homicide.

He knows her. They were in foster care together. He called her Queenie. He protected her, cared for her. When Nick’s relatives rescued him from a dismal foster home, Quinn was the one thing he never forgot about those days.

“You were my baby girl when we were little, remember?” His voice was hypnotic, drawing her gaze back to his face.

“You always were the Prince Charming, weren’t you?” Quinn said with a smile. “I remember wanting to be a princess, and you made me a cardboard crown covered in foil and told me I was a queen.”

“Yes, I did.” Nick perched on the side of her bed and took her hand. It was still hard to believe that this woman—this strong, brave…beautiful woman—was the little girl he’d grown up with so long ago. “Between us, we have a lot of life to catch up on. There’s a lot about you I’d like to know.”

Can there be a happy ending for a woman who has been dealt nothing but bad cards in the game of life? Is it possible, let alone probable? The story proceeds on two tracks: Star’s quest to find her son and escape from Baba, the second, Quinn trying to stay alive long enough to begin a relationship with a person who means a lot to her.

The plot is indeed a race against time. The villain is despicable: unwilling to accept defeat and with the resources to have his minions fan out, on a search and destroy mission to stop everyone who is thwarting their boss. There are a few cops on Baba’s payroll which adds a level of suspenseful nastiness that is spine-chilling.

In Sala’s hands, this love on the run story is not improbable or inappropriate. Nick and Quinn are two brave people, who find each other again after a childhood friendship that was never forgotten. To love in the face of fear is exhilarating. Recuperating at Nick’s house gives Quinn the opportunity to slowly, safely, sexily, explore a possible relationship with a man who has only improved with age. They’re both strong-minded and independent so there are some rocky moments. Just moments though.

Quinn lets her guard down in Nick’s secluded swimming pool: it’s a private paradise, with only the stars above keeping watch. Nick opens his heart to Quinn.

“Sweet, fiery, unpredictable redhead that you are… I don’t fully understand what I did to piss you off, but I will clarify one thing for you right now. I have all kinds of emotions regarding you and your presence in my home and not a damn one of them involves pity. It feels like my whole life has been about waiting for this moment…waiting for you.”

Then he leaned in and brushed a kiss across her lips.

“And so, Your Majesty…there you have it. I laid my heart on the line. You know what I want from you. So what do you want from me?”

Quinn was blindsided, scared and ready to risk every kind of heartbreak. She didn’t hesitate.

“I want you. No matter what tomorrow brings, I want you now.”

Love is worth waiting for, even if it involves risks and uncertainties and danger. Quinn and Nick are meant to be together and they are a couple to root for.

There aren’t enough words in the dictionary that I could use to describe how much I enjoyed Sharon Sala’s Race Against Time. It was a great love story. It was filled with action and suspense. It was funny and sad. It was sexy and emotional. Above everything else, it was hard to put down.

Race Against Time is the story of Starla Davis who ended up getting caught up in a human trafficking ring after she snuck out to see a boy she met online when she was seventeen-years-old. After seven years, Starla along with her toddler son attempts to escape her captor Anton Baba with the help of an undercover FBI agent. Things go horribly wrong and there is a fiery car accident that separates Starla from her son, Sammy. In comes drifter/orphan Quinn O’Meara. She rescues Sammy and finds herself on Baba’s radar. Quinn is an emotionally damaged but beautiful redhead who drives a Harley. She makes it to the police station in Las Vegas but not without injury. She ends up garnering protection from a LVPD officer named Nick Saldano. Quinn and Nick soon realize that they have a history that goes back to when they were both in foster care as children. That connection pulls them together like magnets and Nick does everything he can to protect Quinn and bring down the man who is now after her.

Race Against Time was a testament to strong women everywhere who decide that they will no longer be victims. Both Starla and Quinn demonstrate courage as they fight to survive the wrath of Baba. There is a lot of pain and suffering that they both endured through their lives, yet they manage to survive it all despite the shortcomings of the FBI who fail miserably in their attempts to assist. However, LVPD and the Nevada State Troopers do an awesome job with their roles in aiding these two exemplary women. Be advised that this is most definitely a tearjerker because the author really shows how horrible humanity can be. On the other hand, witnessing all of the emotion only helped to solidify my admiration. I look forward to reading other books by Sharon. She really knows how to get under your skin.

Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) provided by the Author and Publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an fair and honest review.

First off I want to say that I do not like romantic-suspense books centered around human trafficking, it is nothing less than slavery and unless and until everyone views it that way it will continue to exist unimpeded. I chose this book from NetGalley because I really like the author, Sharon Sala. I especially like her books featuring the Appalachian part of the county. This setting in Las Vegas, NV seems a bit off for her. She can write a location so it almost seems like another character. That aspect isn't present here.

In this story we really have four main characters but the plot doesn't start on the night their lives all intersect in a fiery crash in the desert outside Las Vegas, NV. It starts seven years earlier when a 17 year old girl meets up with a man she met on the internet. If Starla Davis could have that decision back she would, in a heartbeat. For the next seven years she is a slave to a very powerful, nasty piece of work, Anton Baba. When the chance presents itself she takes FBI protection and flees with her two year old son, Sammy. That ends with the fiery crash in the desert. She and her son survive but she is recaptured by Anton's goons. She has hidden Sammy and he is rescued by Good Samaritan Quinn O'Meara who is shot but saves Sammy.

Quinn is a complex character who has not had a lot of good breaks in her life. It would almost seen that this is just business as usual for her, but this is actually the day that the universe is making something right for her. Quinn is reunited with Nick Saldano, her Knight in Shining Armor from a foster care home. Nick is a Las Vegas cop and it is his arms she passes out in. Nick is a born protector and had always protected Quinn in the home, until he wasn't there any longer. He can't believe she is back in his life.

The first half of the book is fantastic and gripping. When the plot moves to the cat and mouse, time to get the baddie part, it bogs a bit. Starla and Quinn are both strong, resourceful, determined women. When the red-headed Quinn finally reaches her limit, watch out as she is determined to bring Anton Baba to justice.

Beautiful teenage Starla Davis fell prey to a young handsome predator and awoke into a nightmare.  Seven years later she's offered a life line out of the hell she finds herself in but her escape goes wrong.  Has she landed from the frying pan into the fire?    Read on as the pulse pounding story unfolds.
Quinn O Meara rescues  a baby abandoned at the site of a car accident in the Nevada desert only to find herself in the cross hairs of a master criminal intent on eliminating all lose ends that could link the accident with him.   Fortunately for her fate brought her into the arms of Nick Soldano who had once been a rock to her in the foster care system.   As Nick and Quinn try to stay one step ahead of the feds and the bad guys they re-discover their old friendship now has a lot of chemistry.
Starla is flung out of the burning car and dragged across the desert losing her two year old baby son in the process. She is a determined young lady who has been waiting seven long years to get out of the hell her one innocent act of defiance led her to. I really enjoyed how Starla and Quinn's stories intersect along with Anton Baba who runs a well oiled human trafficking ring.
Starla's  escape  from Anton, her ingenuity and her safe escape from captivity is extremely well written and believable. Her re-union with her brother and parents and the baby who's been in federal custody after being rescued by Quinn made a huge emotional impact. Quinn with her PTSD is compelled to help a baby she finds on the side of the road and then to rescue the master criminal who has made her life miserable since the rescue from a burning truck.
The Federal agents in this story come across as bumbling idiots as they fumble the details that they should control and are outsmarted at every turn.  All in all this is an excellent story of a young girl's sojourn in the foster care system and another young girls escape from hell. I found myself rooting for both of them to conquer their demons and win against all the odds against them.
This story just reminds me why anything with Ms. Sala's name on it is a auto buy for me.

When Quinn O'Meara sees the fire burning in the Nevada desert, her conscience won't let her keep riding without checking to see if someone needs help. To her horror, she discovers a car burning and a toddler nearby. Quinn rescues the toddler only to find herself in need of immediate police intervention. Fortunately, Nick Saldano intervenes only to realize that he shared a foster home with Quinn when they were children. But can Nick keep Quinn safe when one of the major players in a human trafficking ring is after her? And will their childhood love blossom into something more lasting?

Wow! Sharon Sala books are always a pleasure to read but RACE AGAINST TIME flat out blew me away. We see two stories intertwined as Sharon Sala gives us a look at the horrors of human trafficking. I love that Sharon Sala tackles such sensitive issues, bringing us a phenomenal story while providing awareness on the subject.

RACE AGAINST TIME alternates viewpoints, as we see the love rekindle between Quinn and Nick. While their first meeting was more of a childhood crush, this time they are learning how to love each other as mature adults. Nick's protective nature is heart-warming, particularly since he doesn't allow his own concerns and fears to overshadow the strong, self-sufficient woman that Quinn is.

Quinn and Nick are at the center of the story but it is Starla Davis' story that broke my heart. Human trafficking is a horrific crime and Sharon Sala gives us just an inkling as to the lives that are destroyed by it. Starla could be any teenage girl, looking to meet up with a good-looking boy she's met online.

Sharon Sala is a master at crafting stories that will both warm your heart and make you cry. RACE AGAINST TIME is an emotional thriller, packed with action, love, regrets, and criminal activity that will make your blood boil. If you read just one romantic suspense story this year, make it RACE AGAINST TIME as you're guaranteed a phenomenal story.

Race Against Time is inspiring, heartbreaking, hope springing story that kept me on my toes. It has a well-balanced mix of heartening human connections and deadly, savage suspense. The story is told from several different points of view, giving a panoramic, layered picture of the events and a portal to the evil, disturbing thoughts of the criminals.

The story starts off with a point of the matter type of telling of the tragic tale of human trafficking. While it broke my heart, and the ease of it happening is as frustrating as it always is in these cases, the way it was told - and then, and then, and then - it took me by surprise. But after the scene is set, and the characters are introduced, the story started to flow, and the style of telling came smoother and enjoyable.

While at times the story was a bit confusing (inconsistent) or moving on slowly, there are elements in this story that I enjoyed and found intriguing.
One of them was the developing relationship between Quinn O'Meara and Nick Saldano. I loved the connection they had from their foster care years. Their memories from the time together were emotional, delightful and sweet. The spark that now was in between them was convincing. Their childhood years gave them a good foundation to get to know each other more, something that was easy for them to build upon. They both are strong, heroic characters who are able and willing to step up and take care of business. I loved it how tough Quinn was, truly a survivor and a heroine, she is the woman we all inspire to be.
There are other survivors and champions in the story as well, but to point them out could give something away of the riveting, danger-filled, action packed plot.
The empire of the crime lord and his power and reach was intriguing in the scary kind of way. The human trafficking and its consequences are interesting as we should know more about it, we should be more aware of it, and how easy it is for them to come and sweep the victim away.

In the mix of all the life-threatening danger and death, the book tells inspiring stories of people who managed to turn around their circumstances, their destiny, and make a difference in their own lives. The stories of these survivors - heroes and heroines of their own lives - have uplifting, encourages messages of hope, love, and faith. Race Against Time is a story that made me think, it is a story that will stay with me because of the compelling characters it introduced. I do wish there would have been room to get a deeper look at all the different players of the story, yet the vulnerability of the survivors and the constant, deadly threat to them took the tale to an enthralling spin of peril and risk to their lives.
Both the danger and the beauty of life took my breath away with this engaging tale
~ Four Spoons with a teaspoon on the side

Hard to believe but ever so awesome that Ms. Sala could create yet another heart touchingly great book but she has!! I definitely recommend this book to all!!!

I've read almost all of Sharon Sala's romantic suspense books and enjoyed the vast majority of them. However, RACE AGAINST TIME had a decidedly "been there, done that" feel to it as I read it. It read more as revamped storylines from several old books merged into one new storyline and it just didn't work for this reader. I don't mind formulaic romantic suspense reads, but this one was too contrived for me to enjoy...sorry.

Race Against Time is a stand-alone romantic suspense novel that kept me on the edge of my seat as the story progressed. It started out very fast and kept that pace for most of the time.

The seedy underbelly of Las Vegas is explored in the world of Anton Baba, a casino kingpin with his hand in assorted related ventures (not the least being human trafficking). When Baba decides to make some changes his world starts to collapse in ways he’d never imagined. He won’t rest until he takes down the people responsible.

Race Against Time is a story of good vs. evil. It was easy to cheer on Nick and Quinn as they courageously stood up against Anton Baba. They knew it would be worth any chance to bring down that evil man instead of having to run and hide for the rest of their lives. They have a past and are brought back together in a wild coincidence – one that I decided just to go along with and enjoy wherever the Sharon Sala’s story took me. It’s a very fast read and one I’d recommend to fans of the genre and the author.

Fate will find a way. - Virgil

Starla Davis was a young, virgin 17 year-old girl who made a bad choice and she's ending up having to live with the consequences of that mistake for the rest of her life. She finds herself put on an auction block and sold to the highest bidder - a Las Vegas crime boss. And for the next seven years she lives at his bidding.

But she finds she does have reasons to want to stay alive, and with help, escapes his clutches.

Because of her escape, others get pulled into the nightmare of her life and she's not the only one on the run.

The Feds are involved, the Las Vegas police, two former foster children who are all grown up now, family, friends, and enemies.

I enjoyed this story very much. There are two strong female protagonists and a whole cast of interesting characters. I have been reading author Sharon Sala's books for years and the books she writes under the name of Dinah McCall too. She has been a favorite of mine for a long time.

This is an excitement packed thriller and I recommend it highly.

I received this book from MIRA Books through Net Galley in exchange for my unbiased review.