A solid romantic suspense with an interesting premise.

This book is predominately a mystery that also features a sweet and slow-burning romance. The mystery (which is very much still ongoing despite it being years since Tess was last in Cold Creek ), is good and develops at a good pace, and the romance was sweet and gentle and very cute.

I'll definitely read from this author again!

4 Stars!

Karen Harper has grown a great deal since the writing of this book. This one was clunky and didn't flow well, I wasn't all that convinced of the mystery aspect at all.

<b>Always the quiet ones you have to watch out for...</b>

Review notes: I was right!. Wordy convo dialogue. Thrilling case. Adrenaline rush romance. Hit something personal (more than once). Everybody has secrets!!!!!

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Returning to Cold Creek, Ohio, is an act of courage for Tess Lockwood. Abducted and held captive as a young girl, she is unable to remember anything about the crime that destroyed her childhood and tore her family apart. Now a grown woman with a bright future, she is certain she has put the past behind her. But when she inherits the family home, Tess must confront the demons that still haunt her and the town of Cold Creek.
Gabe McCord has always blamed himself for what happened to Tess. He had been a teenager when she was snatched from the group of children he was responsible for watching. Now Gabe has taken on the role of sheriff and hopes to shed new light on the cold case, especially given his growing feelings for Tess.
Tess isn't ready to recall what happened to her, and she has no intention of digging up any details that might remind her of the truth. But when another child in the town goes missing, she's certain it's related to her return to Cold Creek. Together, Tess and Gabe will have to work to unlock their painful memories in order to save another child and heal their damaged souls, for good…

The first in a new romantic suspense series by well-known author Karen Harper.

The first 1/3 of this book was quite interesting - it laid down the character of Tess and her backstory, setting up a nice little mystery story. I was hooked by that point. But then, it started to plummet downhill pretty quickly, I am afraid.

The dialogue got to be ridiculous - if you knew people who spoke like that in real life you would be questioning their sanity. The actions of Tess and Gabe seemed to be well out of proportion to the situations they were in. And, speaking of situations, they got increasingly more absurd and the way Tess and Gabe got out of them became purely insane.

I am still giving this 3 stars as I am hoping that future books will help the author clear through the silliness she put on those characters and tighten it up a little more and give the reader a real suspense novel.


Paul
ARH