Ratings11
Average rating3.6
"The Bodine ranch and resort in western Montana is a family business, an idyllic spot for vacationers. A little over thirty thousand acres and home to four generations, it's kept running by Bodine Longbow with the help of a large staff, including new hire Callen Skinner. There was another member of the family once: Bodine's aunt Alice, who ran off before Bodine was born. She never returned, and the Longbows don't talk about her much. The younger ones, who never met her, quietly presume she's dead. But she isn't. She is not far away, part of a new family, one she never chose--and her mind has been shattered. When a bartender leaves the resort late one night, and Bo and Cal discover her battered body in the snow, it's the first sign that danger lurks in the mountains that surround them. The police suspect Cal, but Bo finds herself trusting him--and turning to him as another woman is murdered and the Longbows are stunned by Alice's sudden reappearance. The twisted story she has to tell about the past--and the threat that follows in her wake--will test the bonds of this strong family, and thrust Bodine into a darkness she could never have imagined"--
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I personally love Nora's writing! Darker than I thought (in a good way). For such a long book the end kinda wrapped up way too fast? But otherwise a really good even handed romantic suspense.
Not my favorite Nora. Too long, the main romance was paint-by-numbers, and the minutiae about running the ranch resort made my eyes blur. The parts about Alice Bodine, both past and present, were heartbreaking but they were not well integrated into the rest of the plot until the end. I would have liked more pages devoted to Alice's trauma and recovery, and fewer to the predictable romances between beautiful, perfect characters. I couldn't help comparing this book to [b:Montana Sky 114144 Montana Sky Nora Roberts https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309197209s/114144.jpg 1353111], another big Nora book set in Big Sky Country. There were three heroines in the earlier book but they weren't quite as tough or ultra-competent as Bodine, Jessica and Chelsea (although only one, Lily, started out meek and afraid). But they were somehow a little more human. I think it's great that female characters in today's romance novels take no prisoners and can kick a** as well as any man, but I need them to have a few vulnerabilities as well if I'm going to identify with and empathize with them.
It took me much longer than usual to get into this book (especially for a NR book), but eventually I did and I liked so many things by the end!