Tool Belt Defender by Carla Cassidy
Miniseries: Lawmen of Black Rock
Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Published Jan 2012
Read: December 2011, 224 pages
3/5
Book Blurb:
“It’s party time.”
That’s the “invitation” shoved under her door. It’s got Brittany Grayson fearing for her life…and her sanity. She’s sure the monster who once held her captive for months is dead, so why his chilling words in the note? His menacing face in the window? And why won’t anyone —even her lawmen brothers—believe that somehow he’s after her again?
Brittany just wants a normal, independent life in Black Rock. Romance is out of the question…although she’s okay as friends-with-benefits with Alex Crawford, her hunky, marriage-phobic contractor. Alex, a single dad, has his own good reasons not to fall for Brittany. But none of them matter when the race is on to find the killer who’s kidnapped her!
Thoughts:
Just based on the cover, I didn’t think this was going to be a modern romantic suspense story. While this is part of a series, you don’t have to have read any of them before – I didn’t – but it does mention that the main heroine, Brittany, had been kidnapped and held captive and that her brothers had rescued her. So I’m assuming the other books in the series go into her being kidnapped and her brother’s relationships.
So now Brittany has just moved back into her own house after staying with her older brother and his family for a few months after facing death and dodging it. The one thing that got her through the entire ordeal was imagining building a back patio deck for all her family and friends to enjoy. Alex has just moved in down the street, away from the city life, to allow his daughter to live near her grandmother. While he’s always been a successful businessman, he has dreamed of leaving the desk and building with his own two hands. When Brittany needs a back patio built, he contracts himself out to her. Soon it is very evident that there is a serious attraction between the two, but there are so many things to get in the way (as they do) – Brittany’s fear of letting someone else into her heart, Alex’s fear of bringing someone new into his daughter’s life, and then there’s the strange occurrences that keep happening at Brittany’s house – the strange note, the man in the window. Is she just reeling from her tragic ordeal or is someone out there trying to get in?
While it was not was I was expecting, I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was cool that Brittany and her brothers were all policemen and I loved Alex’s daughter! She was so sweet and she and Brittany were so cute together! I could not put it down until the very end! I had to know if Brittany was crazy or if a crazy was really after her!
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
