This clean, Christian, suspense romance is not only very good, but also thought provoking.
The story centers around forensic anthropologist Melanie Hutton and Detective Jason Cooper.
Melanie was best friend’s with Allie, Jason’s sister, until the day they were abducted when they were sixteen years old. Allie’s body was never recovered, and Melanie was left with amnesia of the two days they were in captivity, and badly beaten physically and emotionally.
She left town to live with an aunt, while Jason never forgave her for the death of his sister.
Fifteen years later, Melanie is back in town working next to Jason. She is determined to find Allie’s body while he still blames her for Allie’s death.
But as threats and attempts to kill Melanie increase, buried feelings resurface between them. Can they figure out who the murderer is, survive and have a chance at love?
As engaging as the story was and the characters were well developed, the story was more than the plot. It was a story about letting go of past hurts. In doing so, one not only will feel emotionally lighter, but also the chance of finding happiness, in this case with someone special, is within reach.
I was entrusted a copy of this book by Netgalley and Harlequin . The opinions expressed are solely my own.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

Melanie Hutton returns to the town she grew up in as the forensic anthropologist and coroner. However, someone is not so happy she has returned and the man she has to work with is none other than the brother of her best friend who hates her. When Melanie was a child her and her best friend were abducted, she escaped and her friend has never been found. Melanie has spent her whole life determined to find out what happened to her friend but amnesia keeps many of her memories locked away.

I am not a huge religious romance reader, I am more partial to the graphic bodice rippers, however I have to say the mystery in this story really drove it forward. This is a quick easy read.

Solid Tale Of Its Type. So apparently "Inspired" / "Inspirational" is code for "Christian" in American marketing parlance (I guess similar to how "family friendly" is code for "kids"?). Did not know this going in (or, more likely, had known it long ago and forgotten over the years since I left that world behind). Thus, I was quite surprised to see a Christian Fiction book on the same blog tour schedule (well, emails sent within a few minutes of each other anyway, though in fairness there were a few different sets and I've picked up books from all of them) as some other... steamier... books, one of which I had just read earlier in the same day as this one. :)

My semi-shock at stumbling into a Christian Fiction tale published by Harlequin aside (and kudos to them for reaching out to *all* segments of their market), this tale was actually quite solid. Reminded me a bit of Dee Henderson's O'Malley Family series many years ago in that the suspense was high wire level tight, the leads worked well together personally and professionally, and the religious aspects were at least worked in as every day parts of the characters' lives and thus never truly preachy. And hell, the actual mystery at hand was actually sufficiently creepy that fans of the general romantic suspense genre will find quite a bit to enjoy here - so long as you don't mind praying. (I know of at least some readers who absolutely will not touch a book that mentions God or prayer *at all*, *no matter what*. If you're that level... yeah, this book isn't for you. If you're at least ambivalent about that particular feature and just looking for a great suspense tale... you're gonna like this one.) As I said in the title here, this is truly a solid tale of its type, and thus it is very much recommended.

This suspense story from the Love Inspired line stars Dr. Melanie Hutton and Detective Jason Cooper. Now a forensic anthropologist, Melanie has come back to town hoping to finally find out who kidnapped her and her best friend Allison fifteen years earlier and to try to recover Allison's body.

Jason Cooper was Allie's older brother and the object of Melanie's teenage crush. He has never forgiven Melanie for surviving and escaping when his sister did not. But Melanie doesn't remember those two days when she was held captive and beaten. But her amnesia and the PTSD she also suffers from don't relieve her guilt that she left her best friend behind.

But someone is really, really unhappy that Melanie is back to try to uncover secrets. First, she's attacked while jogging. Then her apartment is fire bombed. There are more attacks because Melanie is determined to do her job which puts her out in public. Jason has been assigned and then self-assigns himself to keep Melanie safe. He gradually gets over his anger at her and begins to remember the young woman he was falling in love with.

The attacks don't stop with both Melanie and Jason getting injured numerous times throughout the story. Each injury, each attack, makes Melanie more determined to find out what her brain has suppressed and makes Jason fall in love with her more.

There are lots of possible suspects and another murder to add to the tension and twists of this story. It was action-packed and fast-paced. Fans of Christian Romantic Suspense will especially enjoy this story.