A Colton Kidnapping (The Coltons of Owl Creek #6) by Justine Davis
This is a very good series that can be read as standalones. This is Greg and Briony's story. After the death of their two best friends, Briony and Greg become guardians of the couple’s two children. They have to protect them from Rick's evil dad. There is angst, misunderstandings, murder, kidnapping, desire, trust, love discovered, some laughs, plenty of tears and a little heat all to get us to a HEA.
Reasons I enjoyed this book:
Witty Romantic world building Page- Ever After Tear-jerker Easy-to-read -packed Wonderful characters.

Actual rating is 4.5 out of 5.

Briony is a shy, quiet, orphaned accountant. Greg is a successful rancher and a Colton, which is a big name in the area. When Briony's best friend is tragically killed along with her husband (and Greg's best friend) in a car accident the police believe was orchestrated by an unknown person, Greg and Briony come to find they are both listed as the guardians of their friends two young children.

Though they think they have nothing in common, they immediately agree to band together in order to show a united front caring for the children. This united front becomes all the more important when they are told the children's grandfather is pursuing law custody of the kids. In order to increase their chances of keeping the kids, they enter into a marriage of convenience.

The good:

Honestly, this one hit a lot closer to home then I was expecting. The grief in this book was tangible to me. I guess it's an empathy thing. So if you are an empathetic person and/or have also experienced death of someone near and dear to you, be prepared to possibly relate to Bri and Greg and spend a lot of time feeling sad, to varying degrees. I totally did not start it on my lunch break and had to put it down for a minute to stop myself from sniffling...

It's not a bad feeling, feeling sad. It was just unexpected because, romance novel. I was actually very impressed how the author could just keep that emotion going for a huge chunk of the book. I mean about 220+ pages worth of sad before the book flips to being a more traditional suspense romance.

So this book takes place over a 3+ week time span, but for some reason I thought it was a bit longer. Maybe because it makes it even more plausible? Bri and Greg pretty much 'fall in love' through duty, unity and devotion to these kids. Their now deceased friends were constantly trying to get these two together, so the joke of them finally having their way in the end is tactfully made.

I liked the kids. They behaved appropriately for their described ages. Justin is three, if I remember correctly and Jane is maybe 18 months? They are quite prominent in the book, as they should be seeing how the whole plot revolves around their well being after the passing of their parents.

Greg's family. What a wonderful and supportive father Greg has in Buck! And his aunt is nothing to sneeze at either. The ultimate grandparents? His siblings also play a small role, particularly towards the end.

The not-so-good:

Sometimes the author gets a little repetitive. Several things are repeated in almost the exact same way they were the first time the author wrote it out. At some points it goes from reminding you about XY and Z to clubbing you over the head with info you already know. Students are always told, "Tell them what you are going to tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them." This had a similar feel in some places. Sometimes it was super effective to rekindle a feeling, mostly sadness for me, but other times I found myself thinking "yes, you told me this multiple times already."

The flip of a switch from making you sad to the lone spice scene. I'm not sure I completely was on board. I really liked how the two of them were slowly building this relationship from the ground up. Then they just sorta decide to do the deed and of course it's the best hanky-panky either of them has ever had. Shortly afterwards the author does try to remind you about the sad, but the book loses the feeling of grief, for me at least. It becomes a quick tasting of what it was advertised as, a suspense romance. Considering the book is roughly 268 pages, not including the epilogue, and the spice scene happens somewhere around page 224, there's not a huge amount of suspense.

I think I might have liked the book a little better if it was advertised as a 'clean' romance because I wouldn't have lost that feeling the author worked so hard to get out of me so consistently throughout the book, grief. The spice just tossed that feeling right out the window. lol

The epilogue. I could have done without any sort of epilogue. I know it was 100% dropped in there to create the cliffhanger for the next book coming up in the series, but I didn't need it. I like to read series if I enjoy the characters involved. I do not want or need a cliff hanger that ties into the next book to just be dropped like a bomb at the very end with no lead up to it.

I do 100% plan to see if I can track down the previous books from this series, because I like the Colton clan.

Conclusion

I really liked this book. The heavy grief felt by the two main characters was well done and felt very appropriate. I honestly can't think of another romance novel that has managed to invoke such a feeling out of me for such a consistent amount of time.

The action is definitely held back until the last possible second, so if you are straight up looking for a suspense romance that is absolutely action packed, this one maybe isn't for you because it spends a lot of time dealing with grief rather than running around, getting into shoot outs, and going after the bad guy.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I am going to go find the others from this series (and find out if I actually have read at least one of them before).

A sweet yet heartbreaking story. This romantic suspense obviously has a kidnapping involved as we are told in the title. Lots happens prior to that but we know the happily ever after we want can't come even though it may seem so until that event occurs. This was my first experience with the Coltons. Now I want to read the previous ones. This book also gives a hint of what is to come in the next one, so I am looking forward to that tale. Thanks to the publisher for providing a copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary.

This is a Romantic Suspense, and this is the sixth book in the Coltons of Owl Creek series. I have read the first book in this series before picking up this book. I really was pulled into this story for the first page, and I really love the characters in this book. I really enjoyed reading this book. The ending did leave you hanging which is never my favorite thing in a book. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.