Publishers Weekly
11/11/2019
The suspenseful second romance in Dimon’s Whitaker Island series (after Her Other Secret) returns readers to the idyllic setting while introducing new threats. Reclusive Maddie Rhine has isolated herself on Whitaker Island for the past two years, hiding from her dark past. But just as she’s finally ready to reclaim her life and face the world, threatening notes start showing up on her porch, making her rethink her decision. When vacationer Connor Rye takes up residency in his family’s empty cabin near Maddie’s house, paranoid Maddie mistakes him for an intruder and attacks him, leaving him with a massive headache and a bruised ego. Connor came to Whitaker Island to grieve his sister in solitude, but when Maddie visits him in the hospital to apologize, he’s instantly attracted to her and eager to protect her from whatever’s made her so skittish. The discovery of a dead body amps up the danger as Maddie’s past finally catches up with her. The islanders are just as nosey, loyal, and quirky as ever, adding local flavor and comic relief to this intense story. Readers who enjoyed the prior book won’t be disappointed. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary. (Jan.)
Kirkus Reviews
2019-11-25
Secluded Whitaker Island faces a crime spree when Connor Rye comes for a vacation, but when an enigmatic beauty is in danger, he'll risk anything to keep her safe.
Needing a break, Connor follows his brother Hansen's footsteps to secluded Whitaker Island, but the night he arrives he's attacked by someone in his pitch-dark cottage and warned to leave. He's surprised to learn that a mysterious woman named Maddie Rhine, who answers the phone for the police department, is responsible, and they have an unorthodox meet-cute when the local police chief, Ben Clifford, makes Maddie confess to Connor. She tells him that she thought he was breaking into the cabin, but that's not true—she had been counting on having that cabin empty in case she needed to use it as a hideout since she had just gotten a threatening note saying "I found you, bitch." The notes escalate and seem to threaten Connor as well. Connor and Maddie find themselves increasingly attracted to each other, and Connor becomes Maddie's fiercest protector; meanwhile, Ben becomes more concerned that Maddie's past is coming back to haunt her. It turns out that Maddie used to be in the witness protection program. When a body turns up on the island and her old WITSEC handler follows, Maddie begins to think it may be time to run again, but she'd left WITSEC because she wanted a life—"Not her old one, but a life"—and now she finally feels like she's getting there and may have met her perfect match. Yet even as she and Connor are contending with a dangerous enemy, they're also navigating deep emotional wounds, and surviving physically might be less challenging than overcoming past traumas through honesty and vulnerability. Dimon's second Whitaker Island-set romantic suspense once again plays up the remote location populated by a community full of secrets and fueled by gossip. Calm, capable Connor (brother of Hansen from Her Other Secret, 2019) is the perfect partner for rattled Maddie, and their journey to happiness is smart and satisfying, though slightly marred by a villain with hazily defined motivations.
Quirky and sizzling.
