This review has minor spoilers, but nothing major that will ruin the ending.



This is the first book I have ever read by B.J. Daniels and I will definitely be reading more of her work. There was a little bit of a slow start, but once it got going I could hardly put it down and was reading until 2AM. She built up the suspense well and had me guessing the entire time. Early on I thought I had it figured out and was quickly proven wrong. After that, I didn't have any idea who did what anymore. There were a lot of puzzle pieces to put together and the mystery was well drawn out. There were multiple points of view throughout, but not to the point of confusion. The story moved quickly and the romance between Blaze and Jake was pretty subtle until towards the end. As the story went on, the character development of several characters was evident. Blaze definitely made some changes and grew as a person, forgiving and opening herself up to others.

However, I needed more background explanation on Blaze and Jake. There would be references to when they were teenagers and got in trouble but were both set back on track by the same judge. Apparently they had broken up only a year ago and the last time they had seen each other Blaze had been holding a knife to him....there was absolutely no explanation about why that happened!! Like, what??? Plus, Blaze had been gone from this town for 10 years but everyone immediately knew who she was. Jake seems to be from the same area (population 759) and no one knows him at all. I mean, it didn't say that he was from this town exactly, but they had met at a rodeo and dated as teenagers and were separately seen in the court of Judge WT Landusky when they had gotten into trouble. This makes me think that they were at least from the same general area, but no one, not even her father, knew who he was. Again, like, what??? They apparently dated as teenagers, so how would her dad have never met Jake before?

My other "complaint" would be about the cover. Jake Horn is explained to be of Native American and Irish descent, with long black hair (long enough to pull back in a ponytail) with green eyes. The man on the cover has short black hair and brown eyes. Even if they couldn't find someone who had the features they were looking for, they could have done some computer editing to make him look more like the description in the book. Now, the man on the cover is attractive, so I'm not saying that it's a terrible cover, it's just that he doesn't look like what he's supposed to look like.

All in all, if you like mystery, suspense, and putting puzzles together with a little romance and family drama thrown in, then you will definitely like this. ( )

Good book. Blaze has not been home in many years thanks to her estrangement from her father. But when she learns he was charged with murdering a neighboring rancher, she heads for home. When she first arrives, Blaze believes that Monte is guilty of the murder, but is determined that he have a fair trial. It isn't long before Blaze changes her mind about his guilt and turns her efforts to proving his innocence. Though it pains her to do so, she will even accept ex-boyfriend Jake's help.

Jake hasn't been able to forget Blaze. He's more than happy to help her with her investigation as it gives him the chance to spend time with her. He is determined to do everything he can to prove his love to her.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Blaze and Jake. Their previous relationship burned hot, disturbing both with the strength of their feelings. Blaze took advantage of an incident with Jake to break off the relationship. She's not happy at first to discover he was sent by a mutual friend to help her. Though she claims to be over him, there is no doubt about the sparks that still fly between them. But Blaze has trouble trusting Jake's professed feelings after witnessing the disintegration of her parents' marriage. She doesn't believe that love lasts. As they worked together, Blaze's feelings for Jake grew, but she was afraid to acknowledge them. I loved Jake's patience and persistence as he showed Blaze how he felt in many different ways. There were some sweet scenes as he took care of her, and some steamy ones as the sparks between them continued to grow. Jake refused to give in to those sparks without Blaze's admission of her feelings, creating some volatile moments. I liked the conversation between Blaze and Monte that helped put some of her fears to rest, but it was nearly losing each other forever that pushed Blaze past those fears. I liked Jake's big moment, even though it wasn't quite what he'd planned.

The suspense of the story was terrific. I was a little surprised that Blaze believed Monte was guilty when she first came back. But it didn't take long for her to pick up on the clues that Monte was likely protecting someone by pleading guilty. Blaze accepted Jake's help in investigating after realizing that it wasn't going to be easy to discover the truth. Monte was not a popular man, and many were more than willing to believe he was guilty. At the top of that list was the sheriff, who had a long-standing grudge against Monte. The deeper that Blaze and Jake delved into the past, the more suspects they found for Frank's murder. They also stirred up a veritable beehive of trouble, resulting in several attempts on their lives. The tension increased the closer they got to the truth. The final confrontation was intense, with a couple of unexpected revelations. There was also the secondary mystery of what had really happened to Blaze's mother, which drove the sheriff's vendetta against Monte. The resolution of that question was very well done.

I loved the depth of characterization of the people of Saddle Butte. It was interesting to see the number of secrets that were present in this small town and how pulling one thread unraveled so many of them. ( )