Thirty-two-year-old Angie Powell has always spoken her mind, but in the presence of Dare Callahan she nurses a simmering rage. After all, why give Dare the satisfaction of knowing he can push her buttons and push her to the edge?
Three years ago, Dare returned home to rural western Montana and opened a hunting business to rival Angie’s. Complicating matters is the fact that Dare has asked Angie out (not once but twice) and has given her a gift of butterflies in the process. Angie has no patience for butterflies. They only lead to foolish decisions. And now the infuriatingly handsome Iraq war vet has siphoned away Angie’s livelihood, forcing her to close up shop.
(synopsis cont’d)
Before Angie is to leave town, she organizes one last trip into the wilderness with a client and his guest, who wants to bag a black bear. But the adrenaline-fueled adventure turns deadly when Angie witnesses a cold-blooded murder and finds herself on the wrong side of a loaded gun. Before the killer can tie up this attractive loose end, a bear comes crashing through the woods—changing the dark game completely.
Luckily, Dare is camping nearby and hears the shots. Forced together for their very survival, Angie and Dare must confront hard feelings, a blinding storm, and a growing attraction—while being stalked by a desperate killer and a ferocious five-hundred-pound beast. And neither will stop until they reach their prey.
When an Army Veteran moves in next door to Angie Powell and opens the same type of business but actually does it better, sparks are gonna fly.
Angie runs a hunting/guide business in rural western Montana. Dare Callahan, an Iraq war veteran, moves in near Angie and opens a very similar but more prosperous hunting/guide business and in the process takes badly needed clients form Angie. Angie decides to cut her loses and relocate her business elsewhere. Sounds like the blurb on Amazon, right. Well, basically that’s the story in a nut shell with some suspense and romance thrown in. I love Linda Howard. This novel, however, was not one of my favorites. It is extremely well written with all the needed parts in place to make it an excellent book. It just did not click with me. POV from a bear, really. Not completely terrible but not impressive. Lots and lots of “thoughts” by the main characters but nothing earth shattering and it didn’t move the story along either. The characters didn’t feel fully developed compared to some of her other works.
Being a die hard Linda Howard fan, I won’t give up reading her books. Her writing is still some of the best put together today but this story never took off and held my attention. I was just going through the motions and it almost felt that’s what Ms Howard was doing with this novel.
I think I have read the majority of Linda Howard’s books. Most of the time I buy them in hard cover but only because I actually prefer hard cover over paperback. Now, however, I have another option, Kindle. That’s not to say I won’t buy another hard cover but it will have to a very special story to entice me. My advice, even if you’re a committed fan, check this out from the library first, then make the decision if you want to buy it for your collection. I will not be rereading this novel.
So, how to rate this novel? The writing is top notch, the storyline is not.
My rating, a very weak: 3 Stars
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