Full review to be published online in early February, 2018.

SURVIVE THE NIGHT is the third book in Katie Ruggle’s “Rocky Mountain K9 Unit” series. Although not quite the quality of her first series “Search and Rescue”, these have nonetheless been enjoyable reads. Sarah has been hiding out from her criminal brother, as well as an abusive fiancé. She’s come to Monroe to seek shelter with Jules and her siblings. She is quickly drawn to cop Otto, and things go along nicely until her troubles catch up with her.

SURVIVE THE NIGHT is a lot of fun, but I’m not sure how well it holds up as a standalone. There are a lot of characters from previous books weaving in and out of the storyline. Ruggle has a habit of continuation stories; and I’m not sure how well that works for the casual reader who might miss a book or two in the series. If you are a regular reader, all is well; and you will enjoy visiting with the leads from previous books.

I first discovered Katie Ruggle's Search & Rescue books, devoured them, and recommended them to every romantic suspense fan. This new series, and especially Survive the Night, isn't quite on the same par. In Survive the Night, the pace is so fast it detracts from character development and creates an instalove situation without enough arc to fully believe it. While it was nice to see characters from previous books, the characterization is too dramatic, often making the characters seem spazzy. The ending also tended toward over the top. Even so, I will be sticking with the series and Katie Ruggle.

Really great read, love this world that Kate has created. Looking forward to the next book.

My love for big, quiet heroes is still going strong. When they're kinda socially awkward and put their foot in their mouth and/or get so tongue tied they can't speak at all in front of the lady who catches their fancy...I AM SO IN. In other words, Otto is one of those characters I adore.

His special lady friend, Sarah, also scores high on the socially awkward scale. That mostly stems from her sheltered existence, though. Or maybe I should say, her imprisonment by her family. Because, let's face it, when someone is locked in their room and physically punished, that goes beyond being sheltered.

However, like Jules and Grace, Sarah got out (with help, of course) and found a place for herself in Monroe. Jules, Grace, and the guys welcome her with open arms and try to give her a sense of security despite not knowing everything she's dealing with. Otto jumps in with both feet and does his part in keeping her safe. He's such a big softie. Seriously. I like those big quiet ones, especially when they adopt strays no one else wants.

That said, I did think this book had a lot of things happen that were too coincidental. While I understand why some of it came to pass, it just felt too easy at times. However, this is all pushing us toward a final resolution for Jules and her siblings and I've been wondering how things would be resolved on that end since book 1. So I'm in. I'm in 'til the end.