Pamela Tracy

Art teaching assistant Janie Vincent is checking her students’ art books when one student’s drawings leave her greatly disturbed. Derek's drawings seem to depict a murder scene and there is accompanying text which sounds like Derek was present at the murder. She hopes this is just made up, but she soon discovers that the referenced murder ties to a girl from the college that has gone missing. Handsome cop Rafe Salazar is working the case and is now Janie’s protector until the culprits are found.

This was such an enjoyable romantic suspense story. I really liked Janie. She worked hard with the police trying to find answers. I also liked that she painted animals, in particular the animals that were at the zoo where her sister worked. She hopes to one day paint wildlife animals in their natural habitat in South Africa. Rafe was a wonderful hero, always very protective of Janie. The secondary characters were great also, including the cops working the case, Janie’s students and fellow teachers at the college, and Janie’s sister and brother-in-law. The story was very suspenseful with a good mystery and it kept me interested and entertained throughout.… (mais)

A friend sent me this in a box of books. I haven't read the previous two books in the series. This can be read as a stand-alone but I do admit to being lost part of the time as to who was who and how they were related to the Hubrecht family. (Cooper, Timmy, Jesse, Jilly, etc.) At one point, I'd even forgotten Jacob was the father! (The rancher in the series title!). So you might be less confused if you read the previous two entries in the subseries.

What I liked:
-the close knit Hubrecht family
-Donovan's realization of his loneliness and his comparison of the Tates to the Hubrechts and why he felt differently around the two families.
-Emily's passion for Native American history and wanting to preserve it and pass it down.
-The author doesn't feel the need to have an official engagement or wedding at the end of a book where the couple hasn't known each other that long. Yes, they do agree to date and even seem to be agreeing to go steady or be planning a future engagement, but that's not quite the same as an official engagement being announced to others.
-That Donovan is encouraged to reconnect with his parents by his interactions with others in the story. (Not by them telling him to call his parents but by his realizing things by watching what happens to others.)

What I didn't like:
-Donovan and Emily don't really know each other that long (see note under what I like)
-The issue that comes up between them for the Pearl land ends up being dismissed/settled very quickly. Emily is blind-sided by Tucker's purchase of the land she was hoping to get for the museum. She goes off by herself rather than meet Donovan as promised. Yes, perhaps the time to think on the situation did make her realize she was more disappointed than angry, but reading it, it seems like Donovan appears on the scene and she just forgives him. It just all wraps up a bit too quickly.… (mais)

As far as I know, this is the first book I've read by this author, and unlike other reviewers, I don't remember seeing any of the characters in other books either.

I liked that Mary tried to keep her son safe. I liked that she told him what was going on rather than keeping it from him (as so many characters in these books seem to do).

I felt bad for Angelina and Alma--first that both became mothers so young and also because both their babies were taken from them.

I never quite got hold of what illegal businesses Mary's family was involved in--money laundering, perhaps. Odd that Mary's inheritance had stipulations where everyone else's did not. Perhaps telling too since as she says, if Eric's had had one, he'd have walked away from it just like he walked away from the family business.

I wondered if Mary found the rest of the antiques that had been taken from her family's cabin. She found the armoire and the table, but there was at least one more mentioned in the book. Also, although she decided to run an antiques business at the site of the former car lot, she didn't seem to have a business plan--she claims to have knowledge, but she never mentioned how she planned to find inventory to sell. She'd have to find it at less than what she could sell it for for her business to work--and I never heard how she intended to do that.… (mais)