“A killer, men with guns, and a gorgeous Sherriff with a magic mouth… Welcome to Colorado.”
As a huge fan of Alpha male romance, I’m always on the lookout for books in this category and this one hit the spot! It was bossy man meets smartass woman and it was FUN!!
The story followed Jennifer who was widowed at the age of 39 and left by herself when her daughter went off to college. Stuck with a house she couldn’t afford filled with memories of her past, she decided to take matters into her own hands and move forward with her life. As a journalist, she could work anywhere and she’d had a life long dream of living in the mountains of Colorado so she sold her house, and headed off to make her dream come true.
But just a few months after she got settled, a serial killer began a chilling spree of murders in her small town… and when she went to investigate, she found that the town Sheriff (and badass Alpha male extraordinaire), Jack, was none too pleased to have a reporter poking around in his case….
That was how they met and this is their story 🙂
Ok ladies, if you like your men ALPHA, then you are going to fall in love with Jack. He was bossy, possessive, protective… all man! All the fucking way.
“I’m not 9-5 suit material; I wear jeans; I hunt bad guys, and I rescue damsels in distress.”
He was also a lawman through and through. His job meant a lot to him and he worked hard at it. He’d never found love and had pretty much settled on the fact that he wasn’t going to. But when Jenn came into his life, everything changed.
“Word of advice, Jack isn’t the type of guy to settle down. He’s been on his own for twenty years, and he’s had women, but they never last. Every time he spends time with one; they think they’ll be the one to tame him, but it never happens.”
She was fiesty, stubborn and a total smartass and he loved it. The last thing Jenn needed in her life was a bossy, possessive man in her life telling her what to do. She was very much in charge of her own life, very driven to do things her way and determined not to let any man walk all over her.
“Insufferable man thinks he can order me around? Who does he think he is? Ok, maybe he’s the Sheriff, but still, I don’t need him barking orders at me. No wonder he’s still single, who’d put up with that?”
But pretty soon, Jack’s charm began to win her over…
“I am so out of my league with this guy. He should have a warning label on his back, “Proceed with caution; smile will dazzle you.”
You know that moment when a book steals your heart? I can tell you when that happened for me here — it was at 7%. I broke into a grin and that was the moment where I. was. hooked. !!
I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face to her ear and whispered. “I got you, baby.”
I loved their connection. By 10% into the book, I was getting full body chills and shivers. I totally felt their chemistry. My heart fluttered, pounded, melted. It was just SO much awesome. Almost too much swoon to handle at times!!! Jack knew what he wanted and he was not going to take no for an answer.
“I’m not sure I”m ready for any type of relationship, Jack.” “Babe, you may not be ready, but that’s not going to stop me from changing your mind.”
Their dynamic was just awesome. Hilarious. Touching. I loved it!! They were both stubborn and both strong-willed so it was a lot of fun seeing them almost butt heads at times.
On one hand you had Jack in all of his Alpha protectiveness…
“Babe, I’ve known you about thirty-six hours, and in that time I’ve learned pretty damn quick that you’re going to do whatever the hell you feel like doing. That being said; I’m gonna do my damnedest to try and keep up with you so I can catch you when you fall. But honest to god, right about now, locking you in a cell sounds pretty damned good to me, at least there I know you’re safe.”
And on the other, you had Jenn who was not about to be bossed around by anybody…
“Let’s just say I’ve got too many men in my life and not enough bullets.”
It made for some pretty freaking awesome scenes!!
Now, given the creepy serial killer on the loose, this book was part romance, but it was also part mystery/suspense and let me tell you — the suspense parts scared the shit out of me. No joke!! My heart spent several scenes lodged firmly in my throat!! And I loved the mystery side of it too — my mind was racing to try and figure out who the killer was. Was it a character I’d met? Was I about to meet them?
The thrill of the romance mixed with the excitement of solving the mystery of the murders made for an absolutely delicious blend of awesome that kept me glued to the page. If I had to describe it, I’d almost say it felt a little bit like a Kristen Ashley-style romance crossed with an episode of Castle.
In the interest of full honestly though, I’ll admit that the second half of the book that didn’t quite capture my heart as much as in the first half and there were definitely parts which were just “too much” and I felt could have been edited out completely but, still there were a whole ton scenes that totally satisfied my Alpha male craving.
The ending was beautiful with a happy, swoon-filled epilogue and the last words made me teary. This was definitely a great debut and I’ll be looking forward to more from CP Smith!
Rating: 4.5 stars for the first half, 4 for the second.
This is a standalone Adult romance. Did I mention Alpha yet??? 😉
