Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin
Romantic suspense.
Ava and her trained scent seeking dog find an abandoned camp in the desert that doesn’t feel right to Ava. She takes photos and shares them with Detective Grant Wyoff. As more women disappear, Ava and Grant face evidence issues and threats as they track down clues on the cold case.

Fast moving action and tense situations as Ava and Grant dance around each other in their investigation. Huck, the dog steals the scene over and over again with his heroism and antics.
I now want to donate more to,the organizations that train there’s animals.
Gripping and romantic between the danger moments. Overall a great suspense romance.

🎧 I listened to an audiobook version narrated by Julie Atwood. The performance was very well done and had me listening closely to the action. The voice variations were subtle and caught me in surprise twice when I expected more of a masculine tone and realized that I wasn’t missing that throughout the text for the most part. Emotions and tense situations had me listening closer which to me, makes it’s a good story. If you want to pay attention, that’s a good story. I did speed this up a bit to my standard of 1.4 which was the most comfortable conversation speed.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley and Dreamscape Media.

Exciting book that keeps your attention from the first page.

Ava is an attorney and her dog is an excellent trained search dog. She gets called in to help with a search and finds the missing person. As she gets called in for other searches, her efforts are more than successful. She finds evidence of crimes.

Ava won't take no for an answer and starts an investigation on her own. But doing so may be putting herself in danger.

Meanwhile, she is attracted to Grant, a law officer, but he's put off by her big city ways.

I listened to an audio version of the book. While the narrator was excellent, I sped up the speed because I like a faster pace.

I recommend this book for mature readers.

4 stars

This is an engaging, atmospheric mystery with a dash of romance. It's also an example of my favorite kind of audiobook: not overly complicated, attention holding, and fast paced.

Ava, the m.c., comes to a small town to continue her law practice and to process her father's death, and her dog - who is also her dad's former dog, Huck - is a constant reminder of her ties to the past and opportunities for future growth. Early in the novel, Ava stumbles into a suspicious situation that gets her wheels turning. She begins working with a local detective to crack one case that suddenly snowballs into a potential network of related events.

While I wasn't as gripped by the romantic elements of this plot, Ava's growth, Huck, the sense of place, and the general mystery all kept me interested. I enjoyed this one and am looking forward to reading more from this author. Audio version recommended for those who can access it!

Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin
Narrator, Julia Atwood
This was a good romance/mystery/search and rescue dog story. I have not read this author before but I see she has a long running series and several standalone novels. I plan to try something else she has written soon.
I am a sucker for a working dog story and this one included plenty about the dog as well as the mystery and not too much romance. I get bored with a romance that doesn’t have something else going for it.
Also, being from Texas, I liked the locale of the imaginary town of Cuervo.
Note to Ava, if you don’t want the dog to eat your Ferragamo shoes, put them in the closet and shut the door.
The narrator is new to me but she did a good job with both male and female characters.

A sexy romance and a solid mystery/thriller with strong writing by Laura Griffin. The story was well-crafted, and the person I felt sure was the killer wasn't, which is always a nice surprise. I loved that the main character was a woman attorney who did search-and-rescue work with her late father's dog, Huck; Huck was a believable character himself. All around a nice, solid read.

The narration was excellently done by Julia Atwood in the advanced reader copy generously provided to me by Dreamscape Media and Netgalley. I would be glad to read more books by this author.

Laura Griffin is a dependable author. You can depend on her to give you a hot romance. You can depend on her to give you a twisty mystery. You can depend on her to provide you with a great book. The audio, narrated by Julia Atwood, of this book was wonderful and added a new dimension to this story.

Former corporate attorney, Ava Burch, loves the pace of life in Cuervo, Texas. When her dad died, she inherited his search and rescue dog, Huck. She was tired of the daily grind in Dallas and a small-town practice with her best friend as partner suits her just fine. Ava and Huck have been on a few SAR operations that have been successful. While searching for a lost child Ava comes across an abandoned camp site. She can tell it has been there for a while and decides that photo documenting this site is the best she can do until they finish the current SAR mission and find the missing child.

Deputy Sheriff Grant Wycoff has seen Ava around town and with her fancy car and designer clothes he has decided she is out of his league. When he learns she is part of the SAR team he is surprised. When she offers to accompany him to the abandoned campsite, he believes he may have misjudged her. Grant thinks this may be a break in the case of a young woman who went missing two years ago.

Another young woman disappears and both Grant and Ava feel there could be a connection as this is the fourth young woman to disappear in the area. Grant wants Ava to leave it along and let him do his job, but Ava is compelled to follow the leads that Grant has ignored. Even being at odds over this is not enough to put a damper on the red-hot sexual attraction that ignites between Ave and Grant. But the more Ava follows her leads the closer she gets to a killer.

My thanks to the Publisher and the author for providing a complimentary audio Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley. This is my fair, honest and personal review. All opinions are mine alone and were not biased in any way.

Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin Narrated by Julia Atwood is a sizzling new entry to the romantic suspense genre. While on a volunteer search-and-rescue (SAR) mission with her dog Huck, Ava notices a seemingly long-abandoned campsite. Something just doesn’t seem right so she photographs the site and provides the photos to local law enforcement. The fact that several young women have gone missing in the area doesn’t seem coincidental. Could Ava be next?

What a fabulous narrator! Her voice was so smooth with just the right inflections, especially during the more suspenseful scenes. Narration can make or break an audio book and this narrator definitely made the book for me. I will definitely search her out when looking for my next listening experience.

This book is taut, edgy and fast paced, such a page-turner that I couldn’t stop listening. The main characters were great - smart and sexy, yet flawed and relatable. The sense of place was tangible from the dry and excessive heat to the starry nights and rugged canyons. The author also conveyed so well the pain of the families who search relentlessly for their missing children, no matter how long it takes. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.) This was my first book by this author but it won’t be my last.

Laura Griffin is one of my favorite go to authors for Romantic Suspense. Her stories are always so fascinating to me. She writes about main characters who are in one job or another that would be involved with investigating a crime or multiple crimes like the Vanishing Hour and I'm always hooked with their job and how they investigate.

In this one, Ava is a lawyer who also has a search and rescue dog. She gets involved with a search for a missing boy that ends up leading to something much bigger. She has a high inquisitive nature that won't let her leave what she finds to the authorities and ends up investigating on her own. This introduces Grant, one of the investigative officers, and you see a romance bloom in the midst of a dangerous situation. Like I said...fascinating!

I listened to the audible version of this book and Julie Atwood did a fantastic job of narrating this story. She made it very easy to get lost in the audiobook and did such a good job of each character that I never had trouble knowing which characters she was portraying. I highly recommend this audiobook.

Ava has recently moved to a smaller town to start a law firm with a friend. In her spare time she works search and rescue as a volunteer with her dog Huck. While searching for a missing person they stumble across an abandoned campsite unsure if it’s important or not she takes a few pictures on her way to turn over to the police. Only she finds the local sheriff to be dismissive of her. Grant a detective decides to look into what she saw and it reminds of him of a cold case from two years prior. But when they go to look at the campsite for another look it’s been cleared away like nothing was ever there. Which of course is suspicious and jumpstarts Grant digging back into the case which later leads to the discovery of a body. But who could be responsible? It’s been two years so the case is well and truly cold but does it have to do with some other girls that have gone missing?

Grant want incredibly irritating I get that he was the cop and that he didn’t want meddling from a civilian but if not for Ava no resolution would have been had AT ALL. She found the campsite and photographed it, she was the one who used her dog to search and ended up finding a body, she was the one to find people to connect the cases, she was the one basically giving him leads and she figured out who the killer was. Without her this would have been a bunch of cold cases. Yet he treated her like she was crazy? Of course she was invested she found the campsite and the body.

Aside from irritating Grant the one thing I didn’t like was that the whole thing was just so dumb and unnecessary. Why did these things happen around the same time over the course of a few years? No reason at all. Did any of the women actually know anything? Why was the sheriff so lazy and refused to ever actually do his job? What was going on with Jenna? Why continuously mention Ava’s father and their strained relationship when none of it ever actually matter? There were a lot of random things thrown in for like literally no reason.

To be fair it wasn’t a bad story the mystery was good until the truth is revealed then it’s just like ehh whatever. And I don’t think I actually like Grant. Ava wasn’t the typical too stupid to live kind of women her investigation was using the internet and meeting people in public at their place of work.

The narration was good but the story was just ok… it was better before all was revealed.

Beautiful cover. The Romance? Not so much.
The idea of solving a cold case, connecting missing girls and tagging along with a lawyer who volunteers for search and rescue with her dog and a possible romance with a detective? Sign me up! But then it was just a bit lacking, the relationship and the mystery/thriller aspect felt a little flat and didn’t leave a huge impression. Also the character’s relationship with her dad kept getting brought up but it really wasn’t relevant or important to the plot? I wanted to know what happened but towards the middle I was just eager to get to the end.

“When a cold case in Texas leads to a sinister string of disappearances, a newcomer to the small town helps a detective piece together the clues in this new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.“

This book is PERFECT if you’re in the market for a little Revenge Bedtime Procrastination. I stayed up until 2am, because: Just. One. More. Chapter.

I found the characters well-developed, the plot interesting, but not overly complicated, the setting intriguing and (look at that cover) stunning, and the romance spicy, but natural.

I loved that, while we’re not left hanging, Griffin left room for future stories with either these two main characters, or some peripheral characters. I’m looking at you, Conner and Jenna.

Also: There’s a dog.

And (spoiler) he doesn’t die.

8.5/10

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this, not-dry-as-desert-dust ARC.

Vanishing Hour has two things that I love; It has a great mystery and a lovable dog. Vanishing Hour follows Ava, Ava is a lawyer that also volunteers along with her dog Huck on search and rescue operations within her local national park. On a successful search and rescue, Ava and Huck stumble into an abandoned campsite that brings forward some clues on a missing person case from a couple of years prior. Ava brings evidence of this campsite to Grant who works for the sheriff's department and then a lot of pieces start coming together.

Vanishing Hour was an extremely fun and fast ride. It was full of suspense, thrills, and love. Ava knows she is on to something and then when it seems someone is now targeting her, she knows she is on to something big. That is when the suspense is at its height. You really worry for Ava because she is such a well-developed and likable character. Grant starts off a lot less likable but once you get to know him you will start to love him and want him and Ava to be together.

Going through this story I was very worried for Ava, Grant, and especially Huck. I wanted all three to solve the mystery and live together happily ever after. I had difficulty putting this one down because I wanted to sprint to the finish. I loved every minute of it.

When corporate attorney Ava Burch leaves the big city for rural Texas, she envisions a quiet life.... but somehow finds herself in the middle of an investigation into a cold case involving a series of disappearances. As she navigates her town and its residents, she'll have to figure out who she can trust before it's too late.

I loved everything about this book; good plot, good characters, good pace, well written.....it's just the perfect quick read mystery. This book does have a lot more. descriptive intimate scenes than most mystery, so I'm not sure I'd like a younger reader try it, but for adults it does a good job of adding some spice without making you feel like you're reading a romance novel.

A cold case, a disappearance, and danger!

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch decided that she wanted a quieter life and left the city behind to move to small town of Cuervo in rural Texas. While out with her dog, Huck, during a volunteer search-and-rescue mission, they discover an abandoned camp site and Ava takes pictures of it.

Deputy Sheriff Grant Wycoff sees there is more to Ava than her expensive clothing and flashy car. She impresses him with her findings on the trial. Plus, she is easy on the eyes. He tries to shake that off, when he is reminded of an unsolved case of a woman who went missing two years earlier. Soon, another woman goes missing.

Both Ava and Grant set off individually to solve the case of the missing women. Ava constantly thinks about the case but also finds herself thinking about Grant and how easy he is on the eyes.

With the tension and attraction growing, this book picks up steam and things become more suspenseful. I enjoyed both characters and their interactions. I found this book was a nice mix of searching for answers and their growing personal relationship. Plus, the national park and rural setting also created an underlying sense of danger. What happens when a person gets lost (or someone harms you) while out camping, hiking or out in the wilderness. The fear of being alone and no one being able to hear, see, or help you if something should happen. I really enjoyed this element. Then there is Huck, the dog who steals scenes and hearts.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator.

This was a very enjoyable book which kept me invested in the story. I wanted them to solve the case just as much as I wanted them to find romance. This book was very nicely done and thought out.

This book is a really well written romantic suspense novel. There is a clear mystery, plenty of plot and drama, but the romance still is weaved intricately throughout. The romance was borderline insta-love; Ava and Grant clearly both have an instant attraction to one another. The book description makes it seem like there is a moment the two of them don't like each other, but truly they have chemistry from the jump. I like how Grant respects Ava's strength while also being concerned about her safety. The ultimate reveal of the mysteries at the end felt a bit like a let down, but for me the romance really helped the ending of the book. These are adults with adult concerns, but they don't struggle with the same communication issues many romance novels have. The side characters were lovely, and for me it seemed like it opened the door up for a continuation of the book in perhaps a series? The setting is really lovely and I would enjoy reading more. I listened to the audiobook version, and I really enjoyed the way the narrator read the book. She was calm, and almost whisper like - with all the drama, her voice didn't go dramatic which I appreciated. I had to speed it up some, but this is typical for me when listening to an audiobook. I highly recommend the audio if you can! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.

Ava recently moved from the city to rural Texas, along with her search and rescue dog, Huck. While searching for a young boy, she finds an abandoned camp site and it doesn't feel quite right. She tries telling the sheriff about it, but he ignores her. Later, a deputy, Grant, shows up at her door. It turns out, a girl went missing two years ago and has never been found. Ava starts poking around and a lot of people- including Grant- do not want her investigating on her own.

So, I almost dropped this to three stars. I enjoyed it a lot, but there are some loose ends that were not tied up. <spoiler> Red herrings, yes, but they still felt unresolved. Especially Jenna. </spoiler> Ultimately, I did enjoy it a lot and read through it very quickly. I decided that it deserved to stay at four stars.

I listened to the audiobook. Julia Atwood narrates. Unless she also reads under an alias I can't figure out, she is pretty new to narrating audiobooks. I like her narrations, so hopefully she keeps at it.

I received an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this audio ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: October 25, 2022

Part mystery, part romance—this audiobook was my faithful companion during 10+ hours of driving this weekend. It kept me engaged (and awake!), and I wasn’t able to predict how this one played out.

At first listen, I found the narrator to be whispering, as if it was a long ASMR video, but eventually I didn’t notice and this proved a good listen!

I cannot pass up a book in any form by this author and absolutely loved getting my hands on an audio version of this one! Ava is a lawyer from the city who has moved to the small town in Texas with her dog Hank who is a SAR dog. We meet them when Hank discovers an abandoned campsite when they are looking for a lost boy. They do find the boy. When Grant Wolcott, the sheriff, is alerted to the abandoned campsite he is hoping it is linked to a missing woman he has been searching for but when they go back looking for it they are unable to find it. I really enjoyed watching these two develop their romantic relationship and working relationship all while the danger is abounding and someone is targeting Ava or are they targeting Hank? Great suspense and great romance!

The mystery was decent and the west Texas setting was fun, but the romance aspect was just ham-fisted.


Review copy provided by publisher.

Thank you Net Galley for an audio ARC of Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffen. This is a mystery/thriller That has small town vibes. It is a really enjoyable listen!