A very contrived plot for this firefighter/romance story. The writing is simple and easy to read, but I thought there wasn't a great deal of character depth and the story was very underwhelming and formulaic. It started with pregnant Karen mourning her boyfriend's Paul's death, to insta-attraction as soon as she saw his friend Jesse and vice versa. This happened within the first few chapters. Sorry, I didn't like it much. My thanks go the NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in return for my opinion.

This was a story of romantic suspense that left me with some questions. The relationships didn’t really work for me. The concept of the plot was good.
Many thanks to Salt Run Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

DNF Just did not find characters or plot interesting or unique.

I tried to pick up and read this book many times but I just wasn't able to connect with characters or story. I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to pick it up and complete it but I just couldn't at this time.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
I thought it was a great story!
Karen finds out she's pregnant, then that the father of her baby is killed in a fire. In trying to locate Paul's family, she meets his partner, Jesse.
Jesse is upset about his ranger partner being killed in a fire but he never bet on meeting Karen.
As they both feel something is suspicious about Paul's death, they start a little investigating of their own.
A few warnings and close calls don't stop them. But will they find the answers they're looking for or will the answers find them?
I give it 5 stars.

This is the first novel I've read by this author, and while I was intrigued by the plot summary, a romantic suspense novel featuring forest ranger/firefighters, a mysterious death, and an unmarried but pregnant heroine, it was simply an okay read, and I gave it 3 stars, primarily because it was an interesting concept, had an intriguing hero, was a good mystery and it was well-written, albeit slow-moving.

As the novel opens we first meet the heroine, Karen Ellis, a NY-based freelance photographer, who always felt that she was treated like a stepchild and a burden when compared to her sister, Elle, whose mother was deeply involved with Elle's beauty pageant career. Karen was having a relationship with Paul Jackson, a forest ranger, who, several months ago, was killed while fighting a raging forest fire in upstate New York's Adirondacks. She's 3-months pregnant with his child, a child she never even had a chance to tell him about. She's always dreamed of the perfect family, but during their rather short relationship, she never learned anything about Paul's family or his childhood, but she does want to inform his family about her pregnancy--wanting her child to have a family life she always wanted for herself. She also cannot believe that Paul died in a fire--he was simply too good at his job for that to have happened and she wants both answers and information. She decides to try to find his close friend and co-worker, Jesse, for those answers and that information, and she tracks him down to his small hometown in Bristol, NY. As luck would have it, she stops at The Diner in Bristol for a bite to eat and in walks Jesse. They notice each other immediately and are immediately attracted to one another, but Jesse knew absolutely nothing of Paul's relationship with Karen and while he thinks she's hot, he curtly and rudely brushes her off.

Karen is not easily brushed off and manages to discover where Jesse's family lives and goes there to continue trying to find out more about Paul. When she arrives at Jesse's sister Emily's home, the family is having a welcome home party for Jesse. Apparently his relationship with his now adult step-siblings and their families has been chilly at best, since he was sent to live with his father at age 9, and his father was a cold, remote, stoic man, who, rather than get to know his son, either ignored or punished him. He's surprised to find that Karen is welcomed into his family dynamic in a way he never was and he resents it. He's still attracted to her and she to him, and she's persistent enough to convince him that she believes that Paul died under very suspicious circumstances (so does he). When she finally lets Jesse know about her pregnancy, he's beyond shocked, since he knows that Paul was married and already had a family, information he keeps to himself.

As the story moves to the search for answers about Paul's death, we finally get to the suspense part of this romantic suspense novel. Attempts are made to stop their investigation--people in town are talking, Jesse's boss warns him to back off, and attempts are made on their lives. The whodunit part of this novel keeps you guessing until the end, but the on-again, off-again nature of the relationship between Jesse and Karen is too much like insta-love and Jesse's waffling between wanting her and wanting her gone become incredibly repetitive and annoying, as does Karen's non-stop weeping. She starts off as a strong, spunky woman looking for answers and turns into a weepy, clingy, pathetic character, and I found her more irritating than sympathetic.

I think this could have been a 4- or 5-star read had the action not lagged, had Karen and Jesse not fallen almost instantly in love, and had I not lost respect for Karen midway through the novel. I'm curious to read some of the author's previous work because I think she has the capacity to do a better job, and since this is my first encounter with her work, I don't know if this novel is par for the course or an anomaly.

Karen is a freelance photographer who happens to be pregnant with her deceased boyfriend Paul’s baby. After a successful attempt to mend fences with her estranged sister she decides she wants her baby to have the family she never had. She decides to track down Paul’s family and friends. She also hopes to glean some more details into what happened to Paul.

Jesse is one of Paul’s friends and co-workers. He’s feeling guilt over Paul’s death because instead of following his instincts and following Paul into the fire that killed him, he followed Paul’s orders and stayed away. Now he’s asking questions about Paul’s death and he is soon ordered to take time off or lose his job. This raises suspicions. What really happened to Paul?

This book is definitely a quick read. The suspense was a little on the bland side but it was there. The resolution to the mystery seemed a bit rushed.

Speaking of rushed, we start the book with Karen still grieving over Paul and worrying about her unborn baby and quickly fall into Karen falling madly into love with Jesse. It happened so quickly that if you blinked you would miss it. Of course she ends up saving Jesse from his broodiness and the book ends about how you would expect. It was a little disappointing to say the least.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

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