Description:
Just in time for the holidays, navy SEAL Zach McCloud returns home from deployment—and discovers someone wants his family dead. When he married his cousin's struggling widow, he vowed to help her and her seriously ill son, and now he'll risk everything to protect them. Even if their arrangement is only temporary. Kristi's certain an unhappy client from the law firm where she works is determined to hunt her down. But when a sniper bullet wildly misses its target, they begin to question whether it's really her someone wants dead. Working together, can they figure out why they've been attacked…and keep little Cody from the nefarious forces dead set on making this Christmas their last?
About the Author:
Liz Johnson is the director of marketing for a Christian radio network. She finds time to write late at night and is a two-time ACFW Carol Award finalist. Liz makes her home in Tucson, AZ, where she enjoys going to the theater and spending time with her nieces and nephews. She's happiest writing stories of true love with happy endings and shares about her adventures in writing at www.LizJohnsonBooks.com
My Review: 4 stars
I’ve been a big fan of Liz Johnson’s books since reading her very first one and I have yet to be disappointed! I was so excited to read this book, though maybe even more so when I realized I somehow (gasp) missed reading the two books that come directly before it! I have no idea how that happened, but it has since been corrected and I was so happy to realize that I was going to get to read 3 new books by one of my favorite authors, rather than just one. Though you technically don’t have to read this series in order, the other stories are all excellent, so why not?
Ms. Johnson’s books always hold my attention from the first chapter, and with this one, it was the very first line! I adore marriage of convenience stories and add in suspense and a SEAL team and you have all the ingredients for a book I’m almost guaranteed to love. I definitely enjoyed the bit of a mystery and the guessing of who the culprit was and what they wanted that kept me on my toes. Ms. Johnson once again did an excellent job of creating a story and characters that were fully engaging. I so enjoy how she describes things, with the unique words and details sprinkled throughout that add an extra layer of depth and quirk to her tales. She alternates holding my breath captive through a suspense scene and making me laugh/sigh at a sweet moment.
As always, the characters were my favorite part. I adored Cody, Kristi’s son, who was so precious and lovable. And obviously Kristi and Zach, though I felt so silly for not remembering that his nickname was Ziggy and I’d met him in the previous books. I enjoyed getting to know both of them as they worked to figure out how their marriage was going to work and how to keep each other safe. Zach has spent years in training and then protecting people and how he has to protect those who mean the most to him. He doubts himself at times and I loved Kristi’s faith in him when he second guesses himself. Kristi at the same time wonders if she’s enough or if she’s made a mistake in jumping into another marriage, while at the same time battling the grief of moving on without her late husband. There were so many layers to their characters and my only mild disappointment with this story was how few of those I saw. There were simply so many things going on and with a story that’s rather short by my standards, sometimes it’s hard to fit in the depth I always enjoy. I rarely come across modern marriage of convenience stories and I have to say that this one was very well written. It’s very realistic with their questions and concerns and I appreciated the
conversations they had, trying to work things out and figuring out how to move forward.
Oh! And I have to add that the ending was so perfect! Definitely a sigh and read it again ending! And then read it again, and again, and again, until you get tired of the sweetness of it.
Overall, I would highly recommend this engaging story to anyone who enjoys romantic suspense paired with marriage of convenience and an adorable kid.
Thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read my review! I hope you enjoyed it and are having a good start to the new year! :)
As always, links are below!
Have a joy-filled day!
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