For readers who crave a fascinating and romantic tale of loyalty, trust, and protection, this is a must-read, weaving together the unbreakable bond between a detective and his canine partner with a heart-pounding mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Colton K-9 Target is the eighth book in the Coltons of Grave Gulch series. Justine Davis is the author of this installment. While this is a long running series, I didn’t have any problems jumping right in with the whole gaggle of Colton’s that live in and around the fictional Grave Gulch.

K-9 detective Brett Shea is newer to the Grave Gulch PD, and he took this job to get out of the big city drama, looking for a more low-key working experience. What he finds is a police department and town full of Coltons, who stick together like glue and have each other’s backs no matter what. While Brett never had that kind of family support system, he can’t help but be irritated by encountering one of them every where he goes.

The only Colton that Brett likes is dog trainer Annalise, and he’s undeniable drawn to the smart, caring, and attractive woman who loves his dog Ember like she’s her own. But Brett has sworn off love after being burned too many times by both girlfriends and his family, so he stays respectful and aloof.

Annalise is tired of being one of the few Coltons that isn’t happily paired up, so she joins a dating app to hopefully find the man of her dreams. Little did she know that the man she paired with was catfishing her, and after she fought off his robbery attempt. Now she’s firmly in this guy’s crosshairs, and luckily the best K-9 detective is there to protect her and help drive out the suspect before he can target anyone else–or get his revenge.

Annalise is strong and in control when it comes to dog training, but her personal life is left in shambles after the attack. She’s had feelings for Brett since they first met each other, and she’s finding it very hard to keep those emotions inside as she and Brett are forced together. Can they go through all of this togetherness with Annalise temporarily moving in with Brett for protection without getting closer than they’ve ever been to anyone before?

I give COLTON K-9 TARGET a 4.5 out of 5. The suspense built throughout the book, and I really enjoyed the will-they, won’t-they relationship between Brett and Annalise. There was an underlying serial killer story in the background of this book that carried over from previous books, but they main focus in this book was the danger to Annalise. I enjoyed their relationship, but also the other Coltons that pop in and out of the story. Justine Davis does a fantastic job of incorporating real-world policing with dog handling, and I really enjoyed all of the interactions with the people and dogs.

There's just something about the K-9 units in romantic suspense. I tend to be drawn to them, and I'm rarely disappointed. Colton K-9 Target is one more on my list of entertaining romance with danger and suspense. The pacing is good, and the characters are interesting. This is the 8th book in the Coltons of Grave Gulch series, and I'd have to say it's not really a standalone kind of story. There's a continuing storyline that kind of runs in the background and there are characters that cross over from the earlier books. That said, this particular case and romance are engaging, and I enjoyed rooting for this couple.

Detective Brett Shea is the new K-9 officer for the small town of Grave Gulch. His partner is a gorgeous black lab named Ember, and Ember's trainer was Annalise Colton. The Colton name is not new to Brett. In fact, his boss is a Colton, as is most of her family.

Annalise longed for true love, and chose an online service in her search. However, she was catfished and soon attacked. Although the man has gotten away, he has no intention of letting Annalise go. Brett is determined to do his job and find Annalise's attacker, and in the meantime, he finds himself drawn to her. However, Brett and Annalise are very different. At least their backgrounds are. Annalise has the entire Colton clan behind her. Brett's family life left a lot to be desired.

While Annalise and Brett draw closer together, so does the danger facing her. Will they catch the man, and while they work on that will Annalise be kept safe? At the same time, will Annalise and Brett find a way to be together, despite Brett's reticence due to his past?

Colton K-9 Target was a quick and enjoyable read, especially if you enjoy dogs that play an important role in stories.

Many thanks to Harlequin Romantic Suspense and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

3.5 Stars

The Coltons of Grave Gulch continuity continues with the eight installment in this much-loved series from reader favorite Justine Davis: Colton K-9 Target.

K-9 Detective Brett Shea is new to the Grave Gulch Police Department and he cannot help but feel like an outsider looking in. It seems that wherever he goes in town and wherever he turns, he finds himself bumping into a Colton. Brett never thought that there would be so many members of the same family living in the same town – even Annalise, his dog’s trainer, is a Colton! Brett was intrigued by Annalise from the very first second he clapped eyes on her. However, even though he cannot stop himself from thinking about his dog’s trainer, Brett has erected iron-clad barriers around his heart and has sworn off love for good. But could Annalise get him to change his mind?

As his attraction to Annalise intensifies with each passing day, Brett finds his resolve to keep his emotions at bay wavering. When Annalise is attacked by a man pretending to be her date, Brett vows to do whatever it takes to catch the monster who hurt her and to punish him for what he did. Will Brett manage to track him down? Will he find the courage to admit to Annalise how he really feels about her? Can they ever have a future together? Or is a relationship for the two of them simply out of the question?

Justine Davis certainly knows how to juggle pulse-pounding drama, emotional romance and nerve-twisting tension. Colton K-9 Target is a fast-paced romantic suspense novel full of action, intrigue, passion and adorable canines.

My only qualm was that, as this was the eighth title in the Coltons of Grave Culch continuity, readers who hadn’t read the previous instalments would be a bit lost sometimes because of the over-arching back story, however, Justine Davis’ mastery of romantic suspense ensures that they will still find themselves hooked by her latest novel, Colton K-9 Target.

Colton K-9 Target is the 8th book in the Coltons of Grave Gulch series. This one is Annalise and Brett's story. I enjoyed the book. I thought the catfishing mystery was interesting and fast paced. Annalise and Brett had great chemistry and their fall for each other made perfect sense given the amount of time they had known each other. I loved how Annalise was able to show Brett what family is supposed to be like. This book reads well as a stand alone. The series is written by different authors and seems to have a serial killer story line that runs through the series. There is enough back story given for events in the previous books that I didn't feel lost. I definitely recommend this one.

COLTON K-9 TARGET (Coltons of Grave Gulch Book #8) by Justine Davis is a romantic suspense in the Coltons of Grave Gulch series. This is the first Colton book I have read in this series and while the romance is enjoyable, I wish I would have read the previous books first. This series should be read in order and not as standalones.

Detective Brett Shea was happy to move to the small-town police force in Grave Gulch and become their first K-9 officer. Brett’s canine partner is the black lab, Ember who has been training with Annalise Colton.

Annalise Colton and many in her family are all part of law enforcement in Grave Gulch. Besides her job training dogs, she wants to find a forever love like many in her family. She goes on-line and believes she has found her perfect match, until she is attacked and discovers she has been “catfished”. Brett happens to be close by and interrupts the attack, but he gets away.

Brett and Annalise have grown up with very different examples of family and love and even as Brett does want to catch Annalise’s attacker, he is hesitant about their strong attraction. As the two grow closer, so does the danger from an attacker who wants to finish the job.

I enjoyed Brett, Annalise and all the dogs in this story, but the romantic suspense plot itself was not strong enough for me. Much of the book was two supposedly successful and mature adults not honestly communicating enough until three quarters of the way through the story and the “catfishing” plot was interesting, but it was interrupted repeatedly by the series overall plotline of a serial killer on the loose.

Overall, it was a fast, enjoyable read, but not as good as other Colton books I have read.

I think this was my favourite of this series. Brett is new to a town that is filled to the brim with Colton’s. Local government, the police force, even his K9 trainer Annalise is a Colton. Something that makes Brett – a man with a tainted family experience – uncomfortable. But then Annalise is targeted and attacked and Brett vows to find out who is attacking women. Something that brings him closer to Annalise and the realisation that maybe being a Colton isn’t so bad afterall.

I like that this book deals with a darker subject matter and doesn’t shy away from it. Annalise is targeted through a dating app and catfished in a way that has her questioning herself and fearful of trusting again. The way this topic was dealt with was sympathetic and aimed to build up women who are victims of this kind of abuse. I was impressed and enjoyed reading a traditional Harlequin romance in a more series setting.

First off like always I want to say a huge thank you to the publisher Harlequin Romantic Suspense-HARLEQUIN - Romance (U.S. & Canada), the author Justine Davis, and to NetGalley for the invite to join this blog tour as well as letting me read and review it.As well as a big thank you for introducing a new to me author and for still been one of my go to romance publishers .For those who don't know this Harlequin romance was always in my home thanks to my Grandmother who was a big read , they was her all time favorite romance books to read and when she passed away when I was still little I had I don't know how many bags of her books that I wanted to keep and all of them was Harlequin.unfortunately I don't have them any more but every time I pick up one of their romances it brings me back to reading some of them. In fact that's how I got in to reading romance Suspense, and when every I see one from Harlequin and its some thing I knew I'l read I tend to go head and pick it up, and as soon as I saw this one even before been invited to the blog tour , I had already knew that I wanted it to read it, one was because of the cover ( what can I say I love dogs ) 2 : part of the title said K 9 ( other thing I love in books wither their romance or not is when you have characters working with dogs wither their K9 , or search and rescue), and with those types of books I tend to read them in a day ,because their the ones that I get lost in when I'm having a bad day.And that's what happened with this one right from the start I got lost in it , from the characters themselves to the case they were working, as for the story itself it seemed to be romance then suspense ( but that was fine because like I said I needed something to just get me out of my head for while it it did its job).

Colton K-9 Target is a great book that keeps the reader turning pages and guessing what will happen next. The book invites the reader to watch a romantic relationship develop and wonder what will happen next as Annalise and Brett get to know each other personally and work together professionally.. I highly recommend this book for those who love a good romance wrapped in a mystery.

New to me author Ms. Davis adds to the Coltons of Grave Gulch multi-author series. I'm glad I picked up this own with adorable dogs. Book 8 in this series can be read as a standalone. This book features Annalise, a dog trainer and a K-9 Detective Brett. Their tentative romance is put through the paces with many factors.

This world building features a town call Grave Gulch somewhere in Michigan. It's easy get a up to speed with the overall story arc. This town's law enforcement is populated with many Coltons and this leads to accusations of nepotism and corruption. This specific book shows from the Colton point of view. After reading what is going on, I tend to lean towards the Coltons as being the good guys.

Annalise, our female lead is looking for Mr. Right. Unfortunately for her, her possible Mr. Right is a total con and catfishes her. With so many family members including a brother and sister on the police force, law enforcement shows up in mass to support her. The case is given to Brett. He happened to be close on site when Annalise was attacked. He isn't new to law enforcement but he is new to this small town. He left the politics and large city of Lansing for a more straightforward police work. He didn't exactly get what he thought he would... the politics of having Coltons showing up everywhere is making him question his decision.

With this backdrop, the first conflict shows up. If Brett does become interested in Annalise, would it be a career suicide because of the Coltons intertwined throughout the police force ... up to the Chief of Police. The romance of this story is a slow burn as Annalise and Brett dance around their attraction. the stars of this story are the dogs. They are adorable, loyal and great defenders. I loved them.

The actual crime in this story is all too real. Too many women are catfished on dating apps. This one is particularly insidious with not only this humiliating con, but the guy also steals from them! Heinous... only a loathsome jerk would do such a thing.

This contemporary romance is recommended to readers who dog lovers and enjoy a bit of suspense.

There are so many Coltons in Grave Gulch that newcomer K-9 detective Brett Shea feels like an outsider. Dog trainer Annalise Colton is attacked by someone pretending to be her date, and Brett is determined to find the man. Despite his vows to refrain from love, he can't help but be drawn to Annalise.

Colton K-9 Target is the eighth book in the Coltons of Grave Gulch series. I haven't read any of the others and didn't feel like I lost anything. Other Coltons mentioned were likely those from the other books, but they were involved in this story when their lives touched on Annalise's. The attraction between Brett and Annalise was present even prior to the man showing up at her door intending to tranq her with a dart, and only became heightened over the course of the novel. Grave Gulch is a relatively small town, and there's definitely the small-town feel of everyone knowing almost everyone else. It's both good and bad; Brett assumes that anything he does will circle back to the Colton half of the police department almost immediately.

In addition to the catfish scam being run on women that had caught Annalise, there is a separate case that Brett is working on with his partner, and background tensions rising due to problems in the police department. Those likely were brought up in earlier books as well, and serve to increase the tension between Brett and Annalise; while he's potentially endangering himself elsewhere, Annalise is forced to admit her feelings for him. The potential risks to Annalise also force Brett to recognize his own feelings and desires.

This is a fast-paced novel, and I had a lot of fun watching the push and pull of the characters as they navigated in and out of each others' space. It's primarily a romance, so the tensions aren't drawn out for too long before we get to the happily ever after.

I have read many “Colton” book series before but I missed a couple here and there and I have to admit I was a bit confused. This is not a standalone because you will be confused by all the drama & side characters if you are not in the know.

That being said, Annalise is our heroine who is a “Colton” and looking for love. Our Hero is not. She goes on a dating app and finds herself in trouble and cue Hero & her family to the rescue.

This is the same formula that I have come to expect in this series so nothing new here.

I received a copy from NetGalley & Publisher for an honest review.

Annalise is a dog trainer who was catfished and was attacked thankfully K-9 Detective Brett Shea is there to help her out. Brett will do everything he can to protect her but also figure out who is the guy pretending to be a doctor/dog lover and prevent this person from attraction someone again.

I really enjoyed this book. To be honest it took me a couple tries to get into this book but once I got the hang this book was pretty hard to put down. I enjoyed the characters and seeing why Brett was a bit hung up over that she was a Colton things aren't looking too good for the family. So for this story Annalise is a bit down falling for this guys tricks and wanted to do what she can to help Brett and the others catch the guy it was an interesting process. Then theres the bit of romance that although felt rush during high intense things it was clear they were going to end up having something together this was after everything was done would it last? Overall great book I enjoyed it.

This is a light suspense romance read.

I really enjoy the suspense, the catfish case really got me creepy and the action that the K-9 brings is really good, although all the excitement happened in the last few chapters. The romance quite cute. So yeah, I pretty enjoyed it.

What's really bothering me though is all the repetitions in those inner dialogs, Annalise's innocence kinda annoying for me, well it's cute but it makes me want to slap some senses to her and for Brett, his inner dialogs feels like he's whining and get jealous all the time, I found it hard to like these two main characters. Once I get passed all of that though, Annalise and Brett so cute together.

Overall it's really entertaining and enjoyable suspense read for me.

This is a Romantic Suspense, and this is the 8th book in the Coltons of Grave Gulch series. I have not read and review all the other books in this series, but I have read and reviewed some of them. I think I this is one of those books I never to say you will enjoy more if you read the other books in the series. There is an on going case in this book series, and that case is in the background of this book. I really loved all the dogs in this book. I have to say I did not love the beginning because I guessed what was going on. I did love that a lot of the characters I already know because of reading some of the other books in this book series. I think the romance in this book was better then the suspense. I wanted more for the suspense. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Harlequin Romantic Suspense) or author (Justine Davis) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Let me start by stating that I've been a fan of Justine Davis' books since the early 1990s, and I've especially enjoyed her Cutter's Code series, because her love of dogs is obvious, as is her background in law enforcement, all of which add to the knowledge that when it comes to romantic suspense novels and police procedurals, she knows what she's writing about. This novel, the eighth book in her Colton's of Grave Gulch series is the first title in the series I've read, and while it was an enjoyable read, it also felt a like walking in during the last 30 minutes of a movie--I didn't know any of the characters or their stories, most or all of which had been featured in previous novels, so I strongly advise reading the books in this series in the order in which they were written. The best rating I could give this novel is 3 stars. I liked it but didn't love it.

While the fault in reading the books in this series out of order is mostly mine, I also felt that this novel, which had plenty of sexual tension, didn't really deliver on the romance. As for the suspense, there's a serial killer on the loose in Grave Gulch, although it was news to me, since he first showed up near the end of this novel. Once again, I missed out on any knowledge of him or the crimes he committed.

The main character in this novel is Annalise, who is one of the Colton family, all of whom seem to be in law enforcement, and she used a dating app trying to meet the man of her dreams. She thinks she found him, an ER doctor, but she couldn't have been more wrong. Apparently, what happened to her, and other women, is called catfishing, and the primary focus is in catching him, which brings her into falling hard for recent transferee to the Grave Gulch police department, handsome and protective officer, Brett Shea. Annalise is looking for love, and Brett doesn't even believe love exists.

If you are as unfamiliar with the term "catfishing" as I was, it's loosely defined as a deceptive activity where a person creates a fictional persona or fake identity on a social network, usually targeting a specific victim. The practice may be used for financial gain, to compromise a victim in some way, as a way to intentionally upset, rape, or torture and kill a victim. In the case of Annalise, while she fought off her attacker, he still scared her, but as with his previous victims, his only intent was to steal something of value, and he got away with a diamond bracelet given to Annalise by her grandmother. Again, had he seriously harmed any of his victims other than stealing from them, all the time spent on luring him into another meeting with a fake social media persona in hopes of catching him in the act when he struck again didn't strike me as particularly suspenseful, nor did I think that is Annalise wasn't a Colton, no other police department would have devoted that much time to catching the perpetrator.

Finally, much of this novel deals with the K-9 dogs that Annalise trains, including Brett's dog, Ember, who is the reason they first met. While I love animals, more time was spent on Ember and the two abused dogs Annalise is helping by fostering and training them. It added charm to the novel for this animal lover, but it was no substitute for the romantic suspense plot. Although Colton K-9 Target was an enjoyable read, I would have preferred that it had included both more danger and more romance than it did. This novel simply wasn't a good example of the taut romantic suspense that I've become accustomed to from this author.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

Guarding Colton's Child (the Colton's of Grave Gulch Book #5) is the only other book from the series I have reviewed.

I have enjoyed K-9-themed books by other Harlequin authors, and so when I saw Colton K-9 Target featured in the Fall Blog Tour I knew some of the backstory and would have liked more suspense in the book but the romance was well done and the writing flowed well.

Thanks to Justine Davis and Harlequin Romantic Suspense for my ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

4 stars

I really have been enjoying the Colton's of Grave Gulch series. I've only read a couple of the books and have really enjoyed them. Perfect balance of romance and suspense. Like the different authors in this series and have found many great books.

Good book! This book had suspense, intrigue, action, and some light steam! It had a decent storyline, I would recommend reading this book but it wasn't one of my all time favorites?! Just a good decent read! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!