Fruit for Tomorrow

By Francena Arnold.  A very quaint and sweet little book. The cover says "A Hearth Romance", but there was practically no romance until the very end. Instead it's a story about family and keeping faith and persevering through hardships. 

The Escape (US Marshalls, Book One)

LISA HARRIS

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Revell, 2020.

How acquired: From the publisher for review, through the Revell Reads Blogger Program.

First line: There is a razor-thin edge between justice and revenge, where the two easily blur if left unchecked.

(For Goodreads synopsis, scroll down.)

My thoughts: This is officially my favorite of Ms. Harris’ books. It’s only the third book of hers I’ve read, but still. I love plane crash/survival stories, so I had high hopes, and the author delivered. When we meet Madison, a US. Marshall, she is still grieving the senseless murder of her husband five years before. She’s dated occasionally over the years, but her heart was never in it. Every year on the anniversary of his death, she would visit his grave, and every year she would find a black rose left there. This year she did not go to the grave site, but coming home after her morning run she found a black rose on her bed. She doesn’t have time to deal with that though, as her boss calls her in to help transport two prisoners from Seattle to Colorado. She is partnered with Jonas for the flight. When Madison was training to be a Marshall, Jonas was her instructor, but their acquaintance never went beyond that. Like Madison, Jonas is focused on work and has no interest in dating or relationships, especially with a co-worker. He’s been down that road before, and it did not end well.

The plane carrying them to Denver crashes in the Idaho wilderness, and this is where the book really took off. Both pilots and one of the prisoners are killed in the crash. The other prisoner, Barrick, facing a life sentence for murder, manages to escape, and Madison and Jonas are determined to hunt him down.

I sailed through this intense book in two days, despite my full time job. The descriptions of the land, the forests, the river, are vivid, as Madison and Jonas hunt the prisoner, who sometimes hunts them. There are lots of near misses, with Barrick somehow managing to stay two steps ahead. The action is non-stop, and I never knew what to expect from one chapter to the next. The wilderness aspect only lasts for about half the book, and then they are back in civilization, with other law enforcement officers involved in the man hunt, but I was just as riveted, and stayed that way until the very end.

This book is part of Revell’s romantic suspense line, but there’s much more suspense than romance. As Madison and Jonas work together, they learn more about each other, and come to admire each other, but neither is looking for romance, and they don’t have time for those kind of thoughts regardless. However, I did expect the two Marshalls to come to term with and admit their feelings at the end, and I was not prepared for the book to end on a bit of cliff hanger! The story line with Barrick is thankfully wrapped up, but the mystery of those black roses still needs to be solved, and there is no happily ever after, or even a happy for now, leaving me very eager for the next book in the series.

Goodreads synopsis: US Marshals Madison James and Jonas Quinn are thrust into a high-profile case when they are called on to transport two prisoners across the country on a private plane. But when the plane experiences engine trouble en route from the Pacific Northwest to Colorado, the pilots crash-land the aircraft deep in the heart of the sprawling Salmon-Challis National Forest.

When Madison and Jonas regain consciousness, they find both pilots and one prisoner dead--and one fugitive on the run. They'll have to negotiate the rugged and remote backcountry through Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado while tracking a murderer who is desperate to disappear--and will do anything to stop them.

This high-octane game of cat-and-mouse from bestselling and award-winning author Lisa Harris will have your heart pumping as you try to catch a fugitive with nothing to lose.