I do love reading books in a series and this is book one and I thoroughly enjoyed it, such a beautiful story of love and hope and putting the past behind you and with the added threat of danger around the corner Reid and Nat have a rough time to mend their love and look to the future, set on such a beautiful horse stud, this is a fabulous second chance love story one that I do hope you will enjoy like I did.

Reid Stratton has come home to the place he is hoping will help him put the past and guilt behind him CoalCliff is run by his loving grandmother Barb, Reid grew up here but when he was eighteen and had just had his heart broken he ran and made his dreams come true and became and X-Treme TV sports star with his best friend Luke. Ten years later Luke was killed in a climbing accident while filming and the media come at him from all angles, home is where he can mend his heart and get back on with life.

Natalia Robinson has been to hell and back with her nine year old daughter Tilly and it is now time to look to the future for her and Tilly, now a single mum she needs to do what she can for Tilly and herself, so when Barb the closest person to a mother she has rings and offers her a job at CoalCliff, Nat jumps at the chance and moves her and Tilly back to the only home she has ever known and where she can mend but finding Reid there was not what she expected especially when her feelings for him come to the surface after all of these years.

There is a lot going on threats to take Tilly of Nat and a few odd incidents around the stud and Reid is getting worried, but the more time they spend together the more they open up to each other both have had their lives turned upside down and maybe together they can find for love and happiness again. But with the danger heating up Reid steps up and finally Nat feels like she has someone she can trust and love finally grows together they can become a family.

This is a story that has great characters that are easy to love and with suspense flowing through the story it is enough to keep me on the edge of my seat, lots of emotions running along with the suspense and the ending is wow everything comes to a head and we find out who and why there has been danger, this is a story that I highly recommend and I am sure the next story is going to be just as good, bring it on.

Thank you to Harlequin Aus and Harper Collins for my book to read.

Thrilling story, great plot and characters that keep you guessing right til the end. Great for fans of this genre. Really enjoyable.

“Climbing Fear” is a romantic suspense novel; its’ strengths lie largely in the romance area, with the suspense elements being considerably weaker. It’s an enjoyable read, but romance readers will enjoy it far more than readers who are interested primarily in suspense.

Reid and Natalia both grew up at Coalcliff, a rural property in Australia. Both had difficult relationships with their parents, but found a home here with Barb.

Reid went on to great success as a climber and media personality, always partnered with his childhood friend Luke. But now Luke is gone, a victim of a climbing accident, and Reid is suffering from a crippling fear that prevents him climbing again. His whole identity is tied up with his life as a sportsperson and star; he retreats to Coalcliff to lick his wounds and reassess his life.

At almost the same time, Natalia retreats to Coalcliff too. After the violent death of her husband and a subsequent media storm, she and her ten year old daughter need a place to hide. Barb offers refuge and a job. And, unknowingly, a chance for Natalia and Reid to rediscover the blistering heat between them that left them both burnt years ago.

Violence seems to have followed Natalia to Coalcliff. What’s happening? Who can she trust? How can she protect her daughter?

As I noted, the suspense element of this novel isn’t very strong. I found much of it quite predictable, a little unbelievable, and frankly not all that exciting or interesting. Leighton hasn’t quite hit the mark with this sub-plot, and if you read a lot of suspense, you’re likely to find this strand very disappointing.

On the other hand, the romance element is well written and convincing. Leighton makes you believe that the fire between Reid and Natalia is ignited quickly and is irresistible. She convinces you that these two damaged people could come together to make something good. The misunderstandings and misgivings are more believable than in many romance novels, and she’s thoughtful about the kind of obstacles they might face in the long run.

“Climbing Fear” is a light read, and a largely enjoyable one. It isn’t compelling though, and I doubt it will prove particularly memorable. Still, many romance readers will appreciate it.

In Leisl Leighton's Climbing Fear, the first installment in the Coalcliff Stud romantic suspense series, this debut will leave you breathless and send goosebumps on your skin. For Natalia Robinson, she's a single mother and a widow, who needs a job and a place to keep her daughter safe. And she returns to Coalcliff Stud Ranch in Australia, when she could be safe from harm and escape her fears. For Reid Stratton, he's an action star on TV who's famous for climbing rock walls and mountains. But when his best friend Luke dies in a fall, he takes a break from shooting the series and returns to Coalcliff Stud, a place that's filled with memories and when his grandparents looked after him. That's when Nat and Reid reunite and work together on the ranch while they've gotten to know each other better as they started to work at the camp for young kids. For Nat, she has never gotten over her heartbreak from Reid in years gone by. But she fears that her former in-laws that might take her daughter away from her and turn her against her. She's also left emotionally scarred from when her husband attacked her before he killed himself. While Reid tries to get over his fear of climbing without Luke, things happen at the ranch: someone's been targeting the people at the ranch with attacks and spooking the horses along the way, both giving Nat and Reid a fright and a climbing fear. Together, the chemistry between them are sultry and steamy hot, when they try to find a way back into each other's hearts before danger strikes and hits close to home.

The setting of the area and the property CoalCliff Stud were very much part of the story. The atmospheric cover itself told me straight away I was in for a book with plenty of suspense.

There were two storylines that met at CoalCliff Stud, one was our main man Reid's story and the other our main female character Nat's story. Both are running from things that have happened to them and CoalCliff Stud is the place from their childhood where they both feel safe to do their healing.

I loved Nat's daughter Tilly, who is trying hard to be brave for her mum. And I loved interfering Barb, who has drawn Nat back to CoalCliff Stud. Barb is a great secondary character and I really enjoyed the role she had to play in pushing Nat and Reid to face some truths of the past and the present. She was also such a warm character, just the person you would want to help you through tough times.

The layers of suspense throughout the novel were just right and kept me guessing till the end to see what would happen and who was responsible. There was one character I definitely had some suspicions about right from when he enters the scene but had no idea why he would be doing what I thought he was doing. 

I really enjoyed the growing relationship between Reid and Nat and the way they helped each other heal, despite misunderstandings, and how they had to face their own truths along the way. I hope, seeing as this is the first in a new series, that we get to see how they are doing down the track in the next books. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Escape Publishing for providing me with a digital copy in return for an honest review.

DNF 45%

As another reviewer stated, the descriptions are over the top in this book. The author goes on and on for paragraphs describing something that probably could have been described in 2-3 sentences. There's almost an over attention to detail.

But the bigger issue I had in this book is that I didn't feel any emotional connection between the characters. We're told about their history together, we're told about how they felt together, we're told about the issues they dealt with when they were apart. We're never shown any of these. I would have loved to read flashbacks to their time on the ranch when they were young. Flashbacks to Natalia's ex and her dealing with his issues. Flashbacks to Reid's friendship with his business partner and ultimately his loss.

We're TOLD a ton, but never shown.

** ARC received from Netgalley **

In what is presented as the first volume in the CoalCliff Studs series, we meet Natalia when she comes back to her childhood horses’ farm to begin a new life with her daughter after her ex-husband’s death. She meets again Reid who, after his best friend’s alpinism accident, has come to seek refuge at his grand-mother’s to try and fix his soul.

I found the main characters interesting and their pasts seem to be well thought, unfortunately we only discover these pasts little by little through diverse hints that made me thought they were perhaps present in another book. I thought it made the reading frustrating as I wanted to know more than the snippets put here and there. Between them it’s a childhood friends reunion story, but we quickly understand through other hints that they were more than friends shortly before Nat went away and married her daughter’s father, but it takes a long time to finally learn more. The attraction between them is fast, bringing a lot of sensuality to the story, but both struggle against their feelings so don’t wait for a lot of love scenes, which is perfect here. Reid is the first to admit his feelings and talk about them. It’s also the character I preferred and I though his anxiety after the accident where his friend died understandable and realistic.

On the secondary characters’ side, Reid’s grand-mother, owner of the farm, is colourful (even her hair lol), Nat’s daughter is a typical pre-teen: grumpy but with an easily diverted attention, and Steve, another of Reid’s friends, seems a bit transparent, willingly or not.

The synopsis leads to think it’s a romantic suspense, but not at all. In reality it’s a contemporary romance sprinkled with a little touch of suspense. At the half of the book nothing had yet happened, and in the whole novel less than a quarter concerns a suspense quite evident from the start and of which one of the culprits is as evident from his first appearance.

The story isn’t helped by numerous descriptions and repetitions, sometimes the descriptions are repeated like when the hero explains to the girl how to take care of the horses, and then the author describes the heroine doing everything the hero said. There are also lots of repetitions in the couple’s thoughts, especially concerning their feelings for the other and what they want of it.

All in all it’s a correct novel that didn’t grab me in spite of certain qualities.

I relaxed into this book almost from the first page. The characters were so well developed they felt like real people to me. Their dialogue and mannerisms were natural and realistic and as a result the plot was believable.
Both Natalia and Reid, the stars of this show, have returned to Coalcliff ten years after leaving. Nat is seeking a new beginning with her daughter after the death of her abusive husband while Reid hopes to regain his strength and overcome his fear of climbing, which arose after the death of his best friend and partner Luke. Both are emotional wrecks in their own ways and when strange things start to happen the tension ramps up.
The setting near the old Victorian gold mining town of Walhalla is perfect for the story, which has a real Australian bush feel to it. There’s a sense of community that matches the setting.
I really enjoyed this book both for the plot and for the characters. I felt invested in the outcome of their story from the start and pleasantly satisfied at the end.

After his best friend and business partner dies in a supposed rock climbing accident, extreme sports TV star Reid Stratton can’t face his fears and climb again. He decides he needs some healing time and takes up his Gran’s offer to return to the familiarity of Coalcliff Palomino Stud the Victorian Alpine Region. He had initially left because of a girl called Nat but now she’s back with her young daughter Tilly after her husband’s suicide.

This was a very easy read but a little too ‘sweet’ for me. It reminded me of the American rural romances of which I’m not really a fan of, maybe because I felt there were a few americanism terms in the story which put me off, this is an annoyance for me when the book is in an Australian setting.
But really that’s just my personal issue, overall the book is a gentle read with a hint of suspense and big on second chance romance, with healing and forgiveness at the fore.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy to read.

While I enjoyed this book I did feel that the premise was somewhat rushed and I did skip over parts because I felt it was redundant.