Landing in a racing pile of pounding hooves put an end to Rachel Parkers riding career. She returns to small town Pennsylvania to turn her grandfather's dilapidated farm into a profitable horse farm. Rachel had inherited the farm years ago but never done a thing with it. Now she realizes just how much work the house, barn and property needs. As if that weren't enough to stress her out, sister Sarah is in an abusive marriage. Rachel rescues her and her daughters but not before Sarah's husband attempts to beat the tar out of her. Adding to all the issues is the fact that she has a stalker. Is it a friend of Troy's, Sarah's ex, getting vengeance? Or is someone else after her?Police Chief Mike O'Connell has more than enough troubles of his own. He's suffering from residual guilt regarding a serial killer recently operating in his area. Mike had been unable to catch the guy and someone else had to step in and deal with it (She Can Run). His job is on the line because one of the council members has taken an inexplicable dislike to him. And now he finds himself for the first time ever tangled into a victim's life. Rachel Parker has him thinking of her night and day and he wonders just how effective he can be in doing his job if he can't get his mind off her. I enjoyed this book while reading it but know by next week I will struggle to remember the details. A large part of that is because nothing sets this book apart from the crowd. This is an indirect follow to "She Can Run" by Melinda Leigh and follows a similar theme. Woman threatened. Nasty problems follow her. However, unlike the first, the hero in this book Rachel Parker returns home to her small home town to take care of her younger sister. Sarah, the sibling, is a bit of a victim and gets pounded in the book's opening scene by her loser drunk husband. Rachel nearly takes him out and in the process gets to meet the town police chief. Nearly from the start they have chemistry, but neither acknowledges it right away. But give it time. This at its essence is a love story/thriller. Leigh stitches the genres like a pro. This is better than her first. But her first foray is still worth a read. This one took me a little more than a day. It does have some bodice-ripping parts (friend in college showed me those in romance novels). Steamy. Still, two thumbs up on the action. Great characters.
Do You like book She Can Tell (2012)?
Pretty good. It does keep you guessing. Nice whodunnit.
—hjhansen09
