ARC review • pub date 11.04.25

I have lovedddd some of this author’s past thrillers, and while I didn’t love this one *quite* as much, it was still a decent read.

Madeline & Wes Drake have it all - a mansion on a beautiful ranch. They decide to go all out and have a massive gender reveal party - and the way the gender is announced is by blowing up an old truck to see if the powder is pink or blue. But when they pull the trigger, there is immediately a second explosion which causes pure chaos - and lots of injuries.

Told in multiple POV - we get Madeline as she navigates the first few days after the incident, her estranged sister, a woman weaseling her way into her life, and the ATV agent Jamie that used to live in that town.

I won’t discourage the read, but i never really connected with any of the characters. The story was well laid out and I will continue to read this author! It took me a week to get through the book but I will chalk that up to being in the process of buying a house during those days 😅

3.5⭐️

Thanks to Harlequin Trade Publishing & NetGalley for my ARC

All families have secrets, but the Drakes, Colson and Archer/Saldana families have more than usual. Explosions, babies, murder, and missing siblings..what other secrets are there? Another great story by Heather Gudenkauf. 4 stars

Madeline Drake is living a seemingly charmed life with her husband Wes on their enormous horse ranch. They have invited many guests to an elaborate gender reveal party. Wes and his brother have rigged up an old truck with explosives, and they plan to shoot a gun into the truck and cause an explosion which will rain down colorful debris letting everyone know the gender of their baby. What could possibly go wrong? When Wes and Madeline shoot into the truck, both it and an old barn on the property explode, causing damage, injury and death. Madeline's best friend and midwife, Johanna, is killed. The investigation brings Agent Jamie Saldano back to the town where he lived briefly with his sister and mother during high school. He doesn't have fond memories of the town since his sister Juneau disappeared, and he was attacked there. His sister was never found, and Jamie is plagued by what happened to her. Maybe while he's investigating the explosion he can also do some digging into what happened to his sister. On the day of the gender reveal party, Madeline's estranged sister Lucy also shows up in town. She's bitter that her father left everything to Madeline on his death. She's come to town to demand what's hers and also get revenge. Then there's Mellie, the young waitress who's been having an affair with Wes. She's determined to break up his marriage at any cost, so when Madeline invites her to stay after she's injured at the party, Mellie can't believe her luck. When the authorities determine there was a bomb placed in the old barn, they have to figure out if Johanna was the intended target or if she just got in the bomber's way accidentally.

I really enjoyed reading about all the secrets and twisted motives all of the characters had. Everyone is hiding something, and most are not good people. There were a few strange things, such as how the brother-in-law (who prepared the colored explosion for the truck) knew the gender of the baby when the parents didn't that didn't add up. There are also several issues that weren't cleared up, so I'm not sure if this is meant to be the first book in a series featuring some or all of these characters. Overall, it was an engaging mystery that kept me guessing.

Just when you thought gender reveal parties couldn't get any more revolting, along comes a Pistols and Pearls party where the parents to be host a party for over 200 people and a prop fails and a guest is killed. The ostentatious wealth is a little nauseating, the saving grace is the disgraced detective assigned to the case