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When Kelsey goes away to college, Regan finally begins to relax. She even starts to think she can have a real relationship, perhaps with her flirtatious neighbor, Tyler Sloane. Then Regan is attacked again.
Desperate to get to her daughter, Regan accepts Tyler's help—despite her suspicions about him. She knows nothing about Tyler but he knows a shocking amount about her past. Tyler can't tell her what he knows or who he works for, but he insists she can't face her enemies without him. Tired of living in fear, Regan is ready to take the offensive, with Tyler by her side. But is she relying too much on a man she can't trust—and falling for him, too?
89,500 words
When they reached the third floor, Kelsey flashed a grin over her shoulder. “ This is it.”
Regan managed to smile back, but noted that someone had propped open the stairwell door with a folded piece of paper. She toed the paper out and let the door close, then nudged it with her fingertips. It drifted open again. Great. The latch didn’ t work.
“ Don’ t use the stairs when you’ re by yourself, Kelsey.”
“ I know, Mom.”
Regan could almost hear the eye roll. At least she’ d kept the sarcasm out of her voice. “ What’ s your room number again?”
“ Three ten.” Kelsey stopped halfway down the hall, distant from both elevator and stairwells. Some of Regan’ s tension eased.
The door to room 310 was locked, and Kelsey gleefully used her key to open it. Regan suppressed a sigh. Until the full-tuition scholarship had come through, she hadn’ t been willing to consider letting Kelsey go away to college. Even afterward she’ d been reluctant, since the scholarship had an anonymous backer. But Kelsey had pitched a fit over her mother’ s insane caution—only the third time she’ d ever rebelled—and Regan had finally let her win one. Watching her joy now, Regan was glad.
The suite’ s center room held four built-in desks. Twin beds showed through the small gaps in the slightly open sliding wooden doors on either side of the room. Regan went straight ahead to the large window that looked out over the grounds behind the building rather than the parking lot. Kelsey wouldn’ t be able to see who was coming in the main entrance, but she’ d be less vulnerable on this side.
“ There’ s a tree out here, Kels.” She glanced behind her. Her daughter had gone into the left bedroom. “ It’ s close to the window.” She slid it open, grimacing against the late-August heat, and flipped up one of the hooks holding the screen in place. “ You can shove this out and climb out onto the limb, and then—”
“ Mom, let it rest, will you?” Kelsey came up behind her and gently pushed the window closed. “ You’ ve trained me to recognize all this stuff, but when have we ever needed to use it?”
Regan hesitated, then stroked her hand down Kelsey’ s long brown hair. “ You’ re right. We haven’ t.” Not that Kelsey could remember, which made Regan both damned grateful and more afraid every day. “ I just—”
“ I know what you just. You don’ t have to explain.”
Regan could see she meant it and swallowed the guilt. She never had explained, not fully. She hadn’ t wanted to frighten her daughter with the story of her attempted kidnapping. Kelsey deserved to know about it, and how it connected to her father’ s death before she was born, but Regan didn’ t know how to tell her. Why would an eighteen-year-old care about a five-minute event that occurred so long ago? How could she understand why Regan had let a few words dictate every decision she’ d made for her daughter’ s entire life.
Regan has spent the last 18 years running from the people who tried to take away her daughter. Eighteen years of training will keep her alive, as she finds herself on the run with her daughter and her friends, and a next door neighbor, who may or may not be on her side.
The fast paced novel seemlessly blends action with romance. Damschroder's writing promises a future of fantastic novels in this genre.
Disclaimer: A copy of this book was provided by the publisher.
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Posted March 29, 2011
Is it paranoia if people really are out to get you?
Regan Miller is letting go of her daughter in a way most parents do: she's sending her to college. There's a difference, though. Regan's daughter Kelsey was almost kidnapped as a baby, and her boyfriend (Kelsey's father) was murdered, so Regan did what any mother would do: changed her name and went into hiding. She also practiced being incredibly paranoid, took self-defense, and used every precaution available to keep the two of them safe.
There haven't been threats since Kelsey was a baby, though, so Regan feels at least moderately okay about letter her go... right up until her house is broken into and she's nearly killed.
Let me tell you one thing about this book: it's absolutely incredible. It's one of those books where there are times when nothing much is happening, but there's a constant feeling of fear that permeates every page, even when it doesn't seem like there's a reason to. That may just have been Regan's feelings being absorbed by me through osmosis, but even when she was home alone, weeks after dropping off Kelsey and doing something as commonplace as having her man friend over for dinner, I was tense.
Turns out it was for good reason, because when the bad guys come after Regan and Kelsey, it's no holds barred, watch out because they're around every corner and always a step ahead of you kind of book. Just writing this review is making my heart pound all over again.
Even better? We don't know if we're supposed to trust the hero or not. It feels like he's trustworthy, and he seems to be helping, but Tyler is clearly hiding something.
Toss in Kelsey's devoted and stubborn boyfriend, her fun and bullheaded roommate (who's a terror with a hockey stick) and you have one heck of a group of good guys to root for while they run for their lives from a whole pile of people who never give up.
Regan's an amazing woman. Smart, capable, strong, and incredibly loyal. She's raised an equally amazing daughter who's one blind spot is her boyfriend, Tom, who would probably be safer if he'd just let her go. Neither one is prepared to make that sacrifice, however, and it's just as well because the bad guys know who each and every one of them are.
I really sympathized with Regan. She's spent her life afraid and is terrified to let her guard down, even for a moment. The one time she does, she pays for it and is determined that will never happen again. But she can't seem to protect Kelsey on her own this time, and has to let people in, at least a little. And, in Tyler's case, it's more than a little even though she suspects he might not be everything he seems to be.
Tyler is so conflicted. You know there's stuff going on inside his head that you can't see -- we don't get his POV in this story, it's all Regan and Kelsey -- but he's such a caring guy, you want him to be okay. And you understand when Regan starts to give in to those feelings he evokes in her. Who wouldn't?
Still, we don't know who to trust. Every time it seems as though they can take a breather, they're found out. How is that possible if it's not an iside job?
Read the full review at The Long and Short of It Romance Reviews
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Posted August 14, 2011
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Posted March 9, 2012
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Posted April 4, 2011
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Overview
Eighteen years ago, a group of men killed Regan Miller's boyfriend and tried to kidnap her daughter, Kelsey. Since then they have lived in hiding, always vigilant and never getting close to anyone.
When Kelsey goes away to college, Regan finally begins to relax. She even starts to think she can have a real relationship, perhaps with her flirtatious neighbor, Tyler Sloane. Then Regan is attacked again.
Desperate to get to her daughter, Regan accepts Tyler's help—despite her suspicions about him. She knows nothing about Tyler but he knows a shocking amount about her past. Tyler can't tell her what he knows or who he ...