The Detective and the Burglar

KIRSTEN PAUL

Stats for my copy: pdf review copy; pub. 2020   

How acquired: BookSirens

(For the Goodreads synopsis, scroll to the bottom of this post.)

My thoughts: I requested this book because it sounded like a light, fun, romantic comedy, and the book delivered! Emily is an appraiser for an auction house, and is in King Court to help appraise furniture at an inn for an upcoming auction. In her younger years, she did some breaking and entering, but has been on the straight and narrow for the past ten years, and is focused on her career. Then she sees a small wooden train car at the local antique shop, which may help unlock some secrets about her biological family, and before she can talk herself out of it she steals the train car. Armand is a detective with the local police, investigating several car thefts, and when Emily's rental car is stolen, their paths cross, in a very unforgettable way. 

I was pretty captivated from the first few pages. Armand and Emily are, of course, attracted to each other right away, but both have reasons for not acting on that attraction. Armand is a morally upstanding officer of the law, and Emily is a victim and a witness in his car thefts investigation, which makes her off limits. Emily just broke the law when she stole that train car, so of course she wants to stay as far away from Armand as possible. The last thing she needs to be arrested and loose her job and her professional reputation. I smiled a lot, and laughed occasionally, while reading about their antics and escapades. And when they finally give in to the attraction? Hoo boy, worth the wait!

The author’s writing is a little on the breezy side (that’s a good thing!), and when I finally had some time over the weekend to just sit and read I sailed through the book fairly quickly. There are quite a few supporting characters, and while they weren’t all as fully fleshed out as Armand and Emily, they were often amusing. Looking at the author’s other books, I noted that one of the characters had her own story in THE HOCKEY PLAYER AND THE ANGEL, which came out in 2019, and I definitely want to read it also. 

Overall, a a fun and quite enjoyable story. 

Goodreads synopsis: Former burglar on demand, Emily Atterberry has left her life of crime behind. Or so she thinks until she stumbles on a piece of her past holding clues to her biological family's identity. She feels guilty but steals it, hoping it will lead to the answers she is searching for. Detective Armand Lecavalier is investigating recent luxury car thefts and is convinced Emily knows more than she's saying. He needs to find out what she knows to prove to the big-time police precincts he's more than just a small-town officer. Thrown together, Emily and Armand find it hard to remain professional. All they want to do is have fun—with and without handcuffs. But can Armand look past his code of conduct for love or is Emily facing time behind bars?

Finding Our Forever (Silver Springs, Book 1)

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT SOME MAY CONSIDER SPOILERS.

BRENDA NOVAK

Goodreads synopsis: The search for her birth mother brought Cora Kelly to the New Horizons Boys' Ranch. Getting a job there was easy enough, but confiding in the ranch's owner that she's really her daughter? That task is daunting. Especially with Elijah Turner watching her every move.

Elijah can't deny his deep attraction to Cora. But there's something about the ranch's newest employee that has him questioning her motives. If she's there to hurt his family, there'll be hell to pay. Yet, if the feelings the lovely teacher awakes in his guarded heart are any indication, Cora's appearance might be just what they were all waiting for.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Special Edition, 2017.

How acquired: Fresh Fiction Subscription Box.

First line: Cora Kelly had never met her birth mother.

My thoughts: I work in the adoption field, and I'm always a little leery of reading a book that has an adoption storyline. I can't enjoy the book if adoption is sensationalized or portrayed negatively. But while I've never read this author before, I see her name and hear about her a lot (and a quick perusal of my book collection shows I have six more of her books waiting to be read), so in I went. And I'm really glad I did, because I really liked it.

Cora has applied for and acquired a job at New Horizons Boys Ranch specifically to meet her birth mother, who owns the ranch. It was a closed adoption, so Aiyana wouldn't recognize her name, and Cora doesn't tell her or anyone else who she really is. She's had a good life, she loves her adoptive parents, but there's always been something missing, not knowing her heritage and where she comes from. Throughout the book she struggles with it, with getting close to Aiyana, and Aiyana's adopted son, Eli. Struggles with hiding the truth from them, with whether or not to come clean, or to just leave when her year's contract is up. Constantly wondering and questioning why Aiyana has adopted eight kids, but didn't want her.

Eli is an unexpected complication. Unlike Cora, he was not placed for adoption at birth. He was taken from his abusive and neglectful mother at the age of ten (if I remember correctly). So he's come from a completely different place than Cora, and isn't quite as well adjusted as she is. He loves Aiyana and his adopted brothers, he loves helping run the ranch and making a difference in the lives of the boys there, but other than that he's emotionally closed off. Until he meets Cora, and she gets into his head and under his skin.

The building romance between Cora and Eli was sweet, and I especially loved how supportive and accepting he was when he finally learned Cora's, and Aiyana's, secret. There's a wonderful and touching scene when Cora's adoptive parents learn she has found her birth mother, and Cora drops everything to run home and reassure them that she loves them and that her search for Aiyana is no reflection on them. And when Cora finally learns why Aiyana placed her for adoption, it was a sad story, but an understandable, believable, and worthy story, just like the stories of the hundreds of birth mothers the agency I work for has encountered over the years.

Well done, and beautifully written. Plus a gorgeous cover! And now I'm off to hunt down the rest of the Silver Springs series.