4 stars

Take Me Back is the fourth title in the Paradise, Idaho series but can easily be read as a standalone. A tale full of intrigue, mystery, danger, suspense and heat that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Ms James does a fabulous job of keeping you guessing until the very end, and hiding the identity of the person responsible for various acts of violence.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and liked the characters of Hallie and Jim, both complex and endearing. The side characters were quite entertaining and kept me quite enthralled with this story line. At times the pace was on the slower side, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the evolving plot. Hallie and Jim's relationship is a slow burn, and I enjoyed the slow build up of sexual tension and the chemistry and sparks that fly between this pair.

I look forward to seeing what Ms James has in store for us in the future.

This is a tense emotional story from the first page that you read. This book will make you laugh and cry through out. This story is as much about the romance as it is about the thriller story line, this will keep you hooked long into the night. The characters are fantastic and are written really well. I just couldn’t put this book down till id got to the end, then I was left wanting more. I cant wait to read more from this author in the future.

Highly recommended

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book

Take Me Back was my favorite book of this series!! There were so many intertwining storylines that I just couldn't put it down!

Rosalind James knows how to build romantic tension! Great story and great characters.

This is a DNF for me. The story is just not my cup of tea. Thank you for sending a copy, anyhow.

Hallie receives an inheritance if she returns to Paradise, Idaho for a length of time but stays away from the sheriff, Jim. These two have to work out their lives while he is solving the death of her father. Good characters and interesting story.
Ebook from Netgalley and publishers with thanks. Opinions are entirely my own.

Hallie Cavanaugh has come back into town for her father’s funeral, and after the reading of the will she has decided to stay. Jim Lawson who was forced to leave town when he was eighteen is now sheriff and they have a past together that neither really wants to explore right away. Henry, Hallie’s father did not die of natural cases and you know that as the reader. What you don’t know is the person who killed him or why. Also why do they want Hallie to leave? Yes there are a lot of reasons but they don’t add up. The more you find out you actually end up disliking her father and understand why she never came home after she went away to college. Though this is a story about Hallie and Jim it is really about her father and the wake of destruction that he left behind. Part mystery, part love story for me the epilogue was the best part. Overall a very good story with a good who done it.

I have chosen to DNF this title, as I was not able to connect with the characters or the writing of this story. I put it down, and picked it back up a couple of times, but have decided were I to finish, I would end up rating it a 2 or lower, so I have decided to not finish the title.

Thank you for the opportunity.

Laura

I really liked the last 15% of the book but not so much the first 85% of the book, so I'm having a really difficult time deciding how to rate and review this one.

I like Rosalind James' writing style, but in the Paradise, Idaho series I've found myself at odds with some of her characters and some of her plot points. In Take Me Back, the suspense/mystery aspects of this book were very slow and low key - barely making an appearance and that was disappointing. Until the very end of the story, the suspense elements were just a framework for Jim and Hallie's romance. And I found that I didn't particularly like their romance.

Rosalind created a great scene which Jim describes the loss of his wife and son. It's heart wrenching - Ms. James does an excellent job on this scene. But what also went through my head was it doesn't make him a great guy. Enduring this loss doesn't make everything else OK. He isn't thinking about what Hallie needs or wants. He just is thinking about the fact that he's horny and wants her. He has the impulse control of a toddler.

Much like how he treated her when they were teenagers. His life went on. He had a family. He moved on without thinking about her. Her life stalled out. She couldn't make real relationships. What little relationship she had with her parents was poor - and because they were selfish people who didn't care enough about her. What she needed was someone who looked out for her; who cared about her.

And if Hallie has a sexual relationship with Jim she basically loses her inheritance - which is like millions. All they have to do is wait 6 months and at one point it's down to 3 months. But they are like horny teenagers being dishonest with everyone and screwing around. This also means that Jim is lying straight faced to his daughter who pretty much asked him point blank. I skipped so many of their scenes together as I ended up not liking either party. She's so desperate for sex with him she can't wait. And hey, it's not like he would be losing any money so why would he look out for her best interest. I was fed up and irritated.

And then when she puts him off, reminding him that she intends to go back to what she considers her home (not Paradise which has been nothing by misery and bad memories) he gets all self-righteous and gives a nasty speech. And when he was talking about emotions, it sounded like how he felt about Maya (his late wife), not how he felt about Hallie. Through most of the book, I really didn't like Jim which left me not understanding why Hallie was so hot for him.

In the end, I didn't feel the romance, skipped the sex scenes and felt the suspense plot which could have been good was underdeveloped.

Thanks to Net Galley and Montlake Romance for an ARC of this book.

I am loving this series! Romance, mystery, suspense - it is perfect! I love the way this author writes - I can't put her books down once I start them. Fantastic!

This one was a bit of a suspense book. Someone in their small town is a killer and you don't know who until the end.
Hallie's father died unexpectedly and a little suspiciously.
In his will he was leaving millions to his two kids and his brother. But the only way Hallie gets her share is if she moves back to Paradise for 6 months and doesn't have a sexual relationship with Jim.
If she is unable to do either than her share gets split between her brother and her uncle.
Now someone is trying to run her out of town and is trying to catch her with Jim.
Jim is a cop who is now a single dad of an 11 year old daughter. His wife passed away 2 years ago from cancer. He had taken Hallies virginity years ago before her father ran him out of town and he joined the army. Now she is back and he can't resist her even though there are millions to be lost if they sleep together.
I really enjoyed most of this book. I felt some areas dragged along and the ending was super rushed. I liked the suspense of not knowing who the killer was and that kept me reading to find who it was. I think the author could have stretched the ending out a little bit more. Instead it was like 'Bam' here's who the killer is 'The End'.
I would be interested in reading the others in this series still. This is book 4 but can def be read as a standalone.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with the ARC.

Great second chance romance with just enough heat between Hallie and Jim and a mystery to keep it really interesting. I read this as a standalone and was fine with it, although now I'd like to see more from James. I had a good sense of the town of Paradise but would have liked more of Idaho. That said, this is a fast, entertaining read that's perfect escapist fiction. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

4.5 stars
Ms. James does it again!
We return to the college town of Paradise, ID - this time to check in with Deputy Sheriff Jim Lawson and Hallie, the high school crush who changed his life before they went their separate ways. Hallie has avoided town, and her father, for the last five years. When his death brings her back to town, it's the beginning of a suspenseful and sexily heart warming story.
Jim is a typical Rosalind James hero. He's a retired Army ranger, widower, and single Dad with a truck load of baggage, but he's also smart, sensitive, and just the right amount of Alpha. Hallie is a heroine who is stronger than she thinks she is - and I loved watching her figure that out.
Secrets, hidden agendas, father's who try to control from beyond the grave, and a romantic connection that can't be fought all weave together to create a story that is hard to put down. I found myself rooting for Hallie and Jim to figure out a way to be together. I also found myself trying to figure out the puzzle of who was behind Hallie's troubles and everytime I would think I started to figure it out, there would be another twist and surprise.
Well written and captivating, Take Me Back is another fantastic installment in the Paradise, ID series and another winner for Ms. James.

5 STARS!!

Take me back is a second-chance romantic suspense. After being manipulated and deceived as teenagers, Hallie Cavanaugh and Jim Lawson are separated by 14 years and hundreds of miles. Hallie comes home for her father's funeral and reading of his will. By the will's decree, she has to stay in Paradise for the next six month's (along with a few more stipulations) in order to receive her inheritance. When someone tries to scare her out of Paradise, Jim steps in to help protect her.

I have read each book in Rosalind James' Paradise, Idaho series and although I've enjoyed them all, I absolutely LOVED this one. It is, by far, my favorite in the series. Rosalind James outdid herself with this book. When Jim Lawson was introduced in the first book (Carry Me Home,) I had no idea who he would become in his own story and how much I would respect and like his character. Hallie is a wonderful heroine, as well. I am notoriously hard-to-please when it comes to fictional female characters and Hallie was my favorite in this series. She was strong and decisive, but also honest about her vulnerabilities. Unlike many fictional heroines, I loved that there wasn't chronic vacillating inner monologue that questioned every decision, motive or action.

I truly enjoyed everything about this book, but most of all, I enjoyed how Jim and Hallie connected. There relationship felt very real as they dealt with the hurts from their past, their physical attraction, and then the blossoming of a real relationship. On top of that, the romance was super sweet AND sexy. The mystery and suspense aspects were fun to follow, as well, with all of the red herrings thrown in the path. I liked that the romance and mystery/suspense didn't overshadow one another and were on equal footing. It truly was a mystery until the end and what an ending it was. I'm not talking about the suspense or the solving of the mystery (although that was fun, too,) but about the BEAUTIFUL and MOVING epilogue. (Sighs) I, literally, cried "happy tears." Like I said, Rosalind James outdid herself!

I loved this book, not really surprising because I've loved just about everything Ms. James has written. I have been waiting for Jim’s story since the beginning, and his little girl, what a great character! I love the way Ms. James writes children, heartbreaking and wise and sweet and best of all real. Jim and Hallie’s second chance was powerful, and their histories (both together and individually) were so heartbreaking. I hated Hallie’s father and I kinda wished that he could come back to life so someone could kill him again! The suspense part of the story was well paced and not easily predictable. As always I loved getting to see previous couples in their HEA. I love the town of Paradise and am hoping there will be more stories to come!

Take Me Back is the 4th book in Paradise, Idaho but can easily be read as a stand alone book. The main characters are Jim and Hallie. Jim and Hallie had one night of sex when they were younger and then Jim went off to the Army. Hallie eventually left her hometown and made a life for herself. Hallie's father who is a horrible person dies in the beginning of this book bringing Hallie home. In order to inherit she has to stay in his home for 6 months and not have sex with Jim. Jim and Hallie have a lot of sexual tension. Here's where I had a bit of a problem (once you find out everything that really happened between Jim and Hallie I can't quite figure out why she was still infatuated/in love with him. Let's face it, Jim was a huge jerk as a young man and Hallie deserved better. What I did like is that Jim admitted what a rotten guy he was as a young man and that he should have treated Hallie better. He had to work to get her to be in a relationship with him again and I loved that. What didn't really work for me was the suspense. Their were enough suspects to keep in interesting but I never really understood the motivation for the escalation of violence towards Hallie. It happened so quickly and IMO wasn't explained well enough. I also would have liked to have seen more interaction between Jim's daughter and Hallie because there were definitely some issues that needed to be worked out there. Overall, though I enjoyed the book and would definitely read another in the series.

This was the first book I have read by Ms James and though it wasn’t a book that engaged me as much I as would have wanted, i would give the author another try.
Hallie returns to Paradise, Idaho, when her father’s will is read. A father thateven after his death is still manipulating her life. A life she left 14 years ago in Paradise.
Jim Lawson, her old flame , is now the deputy of the town. The chemistry is still there ,and when she is threatened , he is determined to protect her.
It’s a story filled with suspense and romance, as well as interesting characters.
I was gifted this book by Netgalley. The opinions expressed are solely my own.

Generally, I love Rosalind James books. It is with a heavy heart that I admit that Take Me Back missed the mark for me. I didn't find it very romantic and I didn't find it very suspenseful either (I actually didn't really care who the "bad guy" was by the end of the book because I found the book annoying and a little boring.)

For most of the book I just felt bad for Hallie. She had the misfortune of having a moderately evil father and an emotionally neglectful mother. Then the love of her life (Jim) doesn't seem to care much about her. I didn't dislike Jim exactly, he just seemed to suffer from Head Up Own Ass Syndrome (HUOAS) from his teens on.

I really disliked hearing about how much Jim loved his late wife Maya. I'm happy that he dearly loved Maya, but it bugged me that he was able to walk away from Hallie so easily and move on to a new relationship. Hallie was just someone he used to know while Hallie was left with a broken heart and seemed almost haunted by the loss of their relationship.

I also found the book a lot longer than it needed to be. The last 25% of the book seemed unnecessary and I kept hoping it would end. I have enjoyed the other books in the Paradise, Idaho series and I will definitely read the next book.

Take Me Back is a murder mystery written in that grim, matter of fact voice that many mysteries seem to have. This is a good story, although missing excitement.