My first try at this author and I loved it. The dialog especially was stellar. I liked that the relationship between the hero and the heroine developed over time and was not insta love. I loved all of the guys at Burnout. There was just a tiny bit of 'she's so gosh darn cute that we all just have to gush over her.' But it wasn't too bad so I'll forgive it. I liked how her story was revealed over time and we found out about it at the same time as the guys. The story made sense and held together really well. ( )

2.5 stars

This is a hard one to rate for me. I was really enjoying it up to around the 30-40% mark and the author had to go and include a scene where the hero and his friends turn into d-bags toward a woman obviously just created to make our heroine look better and create some completely unnecessary angst. I disliked it enough that I seriously thought about dnf-ing because I'm sick of stuff like that. Also, if you have a problem with your hero sleeping with someone other than the heroine, there's a moment you're going to hate, author doesn't show scene but reader gets clear idea on what happened. It was such an odd scene because the only time the hero and his friends displayed this attitude was the one scene but talk about leaving a distaste in my mouth.

Anyway, the first half had some really fun contemporary moments.
Ex.:
“So,” Chris said, leaning on his cart. “If I’m not a pirate king or a highlander, what kind of romance novel character am I?”
The checkout girl looked him up and down. “Definitely contemporary. Maybe a fireman or-”
“Army Ranger?” Chris asked teasingly.
The girl picked up a sales flier and fanned herself. “Lord, girl you snagged yourself an Army man?”
“Landlord,” Slick repeated. “Land. Lord. No snagging.”
“We’re having lunch today,” Chris told the checkout girl. “She’s making roast beef sandwiches.”
“There was a sale,” Slick whined. “I like roast beef.”
The checkout girl shook her head. “Girl, you like some kind of beef, I’ll give you that. You take that man home and get some beef, okay?”

A little meta-ness with discussing the heroine's love of romance books and their heroes and some cuteness with Chris our hero actually being a former Army Ranger.

I thought the second half dragged on with too many sex scenes, this could have been edited down about 20% as far as I'm concerned. It would have made the danger Hayley was in feel more prominent and kept the story engaging. Hayley also turned into some kind of Mary Sue/Leave It to Beaver mom that made me wonder if her character was written from a male gaze. Chris stayed the same throughout and while at sometimes seemed one dimensional, he broke out enough times to make him interesting.

Overall, I liked this but the slut shaming and general d-bag attitude towards a woman character was not endearing, at all. The story needed to be edited, would have liked the female characters as complexly written as the male, the serial killer plot could have been formed and strung through better, and the writing could have been cleaned up a bit. Chris' friends are clearly serial bait but their different stories and attitudes have me hooked and I'll give the second book in the series a try. ( )

"The photo of the Black Hills National Forest on the cover had caught her eye and she thumbed through it, settling on Rapid City as the closest she could get and still feel anonymous."

Hayley Turner is a young woman with a secret. Arriving in yet another destination to escape the horror of her past, she meets Chris “Shooter” Sullivan, war hero, biker, landlord, and a man that seems to dislike her. Should she leave before he finds out?

Shooter Sullivan moved back to Rapid City after the horrors of Iraq to open his custom motorcycle shop. His life was at an even keel with business and his buddies, when beautiful and lonely Hayley Turner shows up hiding something in her past. Should he trust her?

This story evoked powerful emotions in me. It depicts two people who have had devastating things happen to them in the past and who discover their path to peace and happiness in each other. The way Ms. West draws Hayley’s past out is sensitive and credible and the suspense that follows is intense. Both characters were well-developed and presented well, and I can’t wait to read about Shooter’s buddies in the rest of the series.

If you like broken heroes and heroines and romantic suspense, I recommend this book.

See more eclectic reviews on my blog at https://eclecticreview.com/. ( )

4.5 stars of absolutely yummy men and a freaking cool and strong woman who knew how to live her life and to find happiness where she could and would make the most of it. It was a beautiful story, with its highs and lows. There was steam and sexy time, throwback time and the cute and funny times. There was absolutely everything you could want for in a book and I can't wait to get my hands on the next one. ( )