Challenging Characters

I think it was 2006 or 2007 when I initially signed a contract to write this story.

Then there came problems.  Problems in the form of my heroine, Nessa.  You see, she wasn’t ready. I put her through ten different kinds of hell in Hunters Heart and Soul, and I admit, it was fun.

So I guess this was her payback.

Photo: http://ayricabishopimages.com

Because I couldn’t write her book then.  After banging my head—figuratively speaking, and maybe literally—I emailed my editor, desperate, panicking.  Either this is a common occurrence or she was expecting this from me.  But she said I could wait.  I had other stories I could tell and she was fine with one of those.
So I waited.  I wrote a different book, although it might have been two?? Hunter’s Need, Fragile???

I finished up that contract and with the next one, I was going to write that dang book.

Then I had to do it again—was going to try it again in 2008.  But nooooo.  Then I think Veil of Shadows got in the way, although it could have been Broken.  Those characters were ready.

Finally in 2009, I was able to start working on it.  But the heroine fought me every step of the way. Now the hero, Dominic, he wasn’t so bad.  I can’t explain why, except maybe he just wasn’t playing a game of payback the way his heroine was.

Now, he was easy.  Even when his heroine was driving me nuts, Dominic just settled back and smiled. I only wish all characters were that laid back.  Although I guess if they were, the process of telling of a story would get too easy and maybe I’d take it for granted.

It would be nice, though, if they sometimes remembered who is in charge…

Oh, wait.  Groan…the characters are.

I haven’t had a good long blog title in a while. I love the meaty ones but learned early on to shorten them because of link issues. And spacing. Also short and pithy gets more attention, right? I should know – I have the attention span of a two year old. No really. I’m happy to be having five different conversations at the same time. With a single person. (The other person is generally less thrilled.)

But! This is a post/review/defense of reading out of order. Exhibit A: Broken by Shiloh Walker. (And for any of you who think I’m biased – which is the good thing, not prejudiced- which is bad – I read this book before I ever met her. In fact, in the interest of honest disclosure, I bought this book to enter a contest to try to win a nook. A nook! I really wanted it. I didn’t win.) But the blurb looked good and I’d thought the previous titles I’d read by Ms. Walker were okay as well, so I gave it a go.

This is the premise/blurb:

Quinn Rafferty is working as a bounty hunter and bail bondsman in St. Louis when a new neighbor catches his eye. He’s tempted by her beauty—but he knows from experience that anyone desperate enough to live in his building is damaged goods. Besides, he has his own soul to mend before he can worry about anyone else.

Desperate
Sara Davis is on the run, but not for the usual reasons a woman goes on the lam. She’s not an abused wife, and she’s not a criminal. But she does have a plan for her future. And as much as she finds herself attracted to her gruff, tough neighbor, she can’t risk telling him the secrets she’s hiding. There’s just too much at stake.

Driven to desire…
But Quinn must get closer to Sara when she turns out to be the target of his new missing persons case, and he discovers that there is something more complex and dangerous to her than he thought. Now, both Quinn and Sara will have to expose their true feelings—as well as their fragile hearts—if they hope their love will survive…

Admittedly, parts interested me, and others didn’t. Bounty Hunter and bondsman didn’t really move me one way or the other. But the fact that Quinn fell in love with his target, Sara… well I love the forbidden romance stories. The angst and yearning – the delicious wanting… I eat it up.

So, we have the characters. First of all, Quinn is incredibly likable, which is strange because… he’s definitely not a people person. In fact, he’s down right surly and mean. I’d say that’s part of his charm, but it really isn’t. He’s a brick wall. What saves him, is that he has a huge heart. It just takes a lot of digging – and it’s not easy going. I liked that Ms. Walker kept him true to himself. Quinn isn’t friendly. He doesn’t want to be friends, and rather dislikes people. But in all that, you know he’s a good and decent human being. That his coldness isn’t complete. He’s definitely not a marshmallow, but he isn’t soulless.

Sara… I like, in a way because she fooled me. I won’t go into spoilers here, but Ms. Walker tricked me but good. I generally figure out books quickly. Too quickly, which is yet another reason why I don’t go for romantic suspense. Ms. Walker, however, had me snowed. I definitely didn’t suspect right off the bat. I also like Sara because when we meet her, she’s taking charge, and ready to make a change. She’s also lived and is living a hard life, and you just want good things for her.

A reason for that is because Sara is so real. She’s definitely not perfect, and makes mistakes. She isn’t always put together, but she’s driven. Part of that is clear in how disciplined she is.

Suffice it to say, I really liked the characters, and the plot, and the book. It’s one of my favorite reads of the year. I’d give it an “A.”

Because I enjoyed the book so much I immediately bought the book that actually comes first in the series. Actually, I was enjoying Broken so much, I bought Fragile about halfway in, riding the high of a good read.

I did not like Fragile as much. At all. The beginning of Fragile was very different to me. The whole tone, everything. Of course the setting was different, but for Broken it was authentic, and made sense. For Fragile I felt that I was expected to suspend my relief more often that I’m prepared to. I also felt that Quinn stole the show – pretty much as soon as we met him. And, the problem is that Luke Rafferty’s story comes first. Yes, there were some slight spoilers in Broken (which I obviously picked up on) that may have contributed to my less than love of Fragile. However, I contend that it didn’t truly matter.

Here is the blurb/premise of Fragile:

Sometimes the last thing you want is exactly what you need…

BATTLE SCARRED

Six years after trading in his combat gear for hospital scrubs, Luke Rafferty still hasn’t found what he’s been searching for: a normal life. At his job, Luke is faced with things just as heartbreaking as those on the battlefield, none more so than the abused children brought in by a pretty red-headed social worker.

HEARTBROKEN

For Devon Manning, being a social worker is a rewarding job, but also a constant reminder of her own troubled youth. Devon takes everything one day at a time—unable to form a relationship with anyone except the children she rescues.

A DESIRE TO HEAL…

When Luke meets Devon, he thinks he might have found what he’s been looking for, but in order to get the life he wants, Luke has to break through Devon’s emotional barriers and make her realize that his healing touch might be just the complication her life needs…

I started out liking Devon a lot. Liked her more than Sara, even, and was all in. And then… she got hit with a stupid stick. It’s a phrase that I think should come back. Because, she really and truly was. Yes, there were parts I liked, but Devon essentially cut off her nose to spite her face. She decided to avoid Luke, and was just awful… for no good reason. In fact, she knew it was the wrong choice and was unhappy. Generally, I can respect such stubbornness. In fact, that was fine.

And here, we come upon spoilers. I’ve whited them out for you if you haven’t read the series and/or can’t stand spoilers. (If you’d like to see the text, just highlight it.)

Devon is/was attacked. She’s a social worker and had a crazy dad out to get her. Not. Cool. She sensed it, and knew something was out there, but sneaks around because “she can handle herself” and avoids the people trying to protect her. Maybe I’m just overly paranoid, but if I felt that someone was stalking me, I’d be keeping close to whoever was assigned to protect me. And ask a security guard to walk me to my car, instead of trying to brazen it out. Seriously – it’s not fun walking at night from point A to point B wondering if someone is going to stab you. Devon understand this… but doesn’t follow it. *Even though she knows there’s a threat.*

Even more… crazy stalker dad dies. She passes out, and (to my mind) didn’t think she killed him – yet somehow crazy stalker dad is dead. So… she obviously did it, right? Even the book doesn’t spell out a third party does the deed, but come on now, Miss Devon. I’m getting frustrated just writing about this.

And then – to make it all worse, Devon breaks up with Luke. She thinks he’s attacking her. Well, you know what? Ok fine. Our girl is finally showing some survival and protective instincts. But, things don’t get better. In fact, they get worse. She dreams someone is doing horrible things to her. She wakes up with her clothes off. Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve never stripped off my clothes while I was asleep. And I’m not one of those sleeps like the dead people either. Strange occurrences like that don’t give her a clue. I could not believe that. It was too much for me. The fact that she had “waking nightmares” – couldn’t distinguish dreams from reality it seemed… but the fact that physical objects were moving – things she hadn’t done, when she was supposed to be the only person in the house?

Anyway, the ending was fine. It was great and everything was resolved and happy. Unfortunately at that point I wanted to smack Devon upside the head and say “look, you idiot, if you had any sense at all you wouldn’t have let it escalate to this degree. Set up a nanny cam. Something. Anything.” I suppose she did suffer enough… but it annoyed me. And so… if I had read Fragile first… I’m not sure that I would have read Broken. I likely would have suspected a similar story or device… which would have been a shame because Broken is fantastic.

So there you have it. And, if you don’t have the book? Go buy it. Honestly. I think you should. And then come back and discuss the plot with me.

Now, your turn. Will you read books out of order? Do you read the end before reading the book? Did you ever have a good experience reading out of order? Bad?

Sandy M’s review of Broken by Shiloh Walker
Contemporary romance published by Berkley Trade 2 Mar 10

After reading about Quinn in his brother’s book, Fragile, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Broken. From the moment we meet this man, our hearts are broken just as much as his has been up to the point his life actually starts when his mother dies and his father brings him home, when he meets his twin. You want him to reach out and grab the love of his new family, but he’s got so much hurt and distrust, it’s a total unknown if he’ll ever be able to put all the pieces back together again.

We get to see the same scenes from Fragile now from Quinn’s point of view as a child, and you can’t help but weep for the boy whose mother never loved him, who beat him at the drop of a hat. Though later he witnesses the loving relationship between Luke and their father, he still can’t trust enough to drop the I-don’t-give-a-damn attitude, to stop pushing his father to provoke that first punch he just knows will come. But in time Quinn does learn life doesn’t have to be bruises and stealing to keep himself fed.

Twenty years later he has a good relationship with his father and sibling, he’s left the army and is now a bounty hunter, bringing those who abuse to justice. What he still needs in his life is that person who can heal him inside and out, who can soothe his soul, who can love him no matter what. When he least expects it is when such a person literally falls into this arms.

Sarah has her own problems, ones that have kept her on the run for the past two years. She moves from city to city, gets lost in the crowds whenever possible, never lets herself get too attached to those who are nice to her so someplace feels like home. She’s thinking of moving into an apartment offered by a woman who seems to look straight into her heart and know what Sarah’s all about, though she knows that’s not possible. Accidentally falling into the arms of the woman’s other tenant is one more reason she should turn around and keep running. But the lure of safety and friendship, against her better judgment, is difficult to resist.

The attraction is instant between Quinn and Sarah, but they both know they can’t get involved. They have too much distrust, too much of a past to let themselves even think of starting a new relationship. But what’s between them is stronger than they are. Thoughts and dreams of each other plague them and fate seems intent on throwing together whenever possible. They eventually do give in to their needs and the resulting lust and sex is explosive.

Little by little they learn more about one another. Not the huge things in life since they both hide from such disclosure, but it’s the small things that bring them closer. And, of course, the sex. Sizzle, burn, hot, the above explosive, any of those adjectives barely cover the surface when these two characters are together. But I digress. For Quinn, the little things he’s learned is enough to acknowledge his feelings for Sarah. It takes a little longer for her. And neither of them can bring  themselves to say it out loud. And that made me want to scream every time. Just say it before she leaves! Say it before he walks away!

The ending is a huge surprise. Never in a lifetime would I have figured out what Ms. Walker so cleverly comes up with. And amid it all is when both Quinn and Sarah realize they have to begin to trust each other to make their love work, though one last time they’re still stubborn in admitting those feelings, which made me scream again. And it wasn’t screams of frustration due to a ruse to keep the characters apart as you see in a lot of romances. It’s more of NO! Don’t give up! Now’s your chance for all you’ve been missing in your life! Sigh. These two exhausted me. But it’s a good exhaustion.

This book is everything I thought it could and would be and then some. I think Quinn Rafferty has become my favorite Shiloh Walker hero. And that’s saying something considering all of her heroes.

Grade: A+

Summary:

Quinn Rafferty is working as a bounty hunter for a private detective agency in St. Louis when a new neighbor catches his eye. He’s drawn to her-but he has his own soul to mend before he can worry about anyone else.

Sarah McElyea is on the run, but not for the usual reasons a woman goes on the lam. She has a plan for her future. And as much as she finds herself attracted to her gruff, tough neighbor, she can’t risk telling him the secrets she’s hiding.

But Quinn must get closer to Sarah when she turns out to be the target of his new missing persons case, and both Quinn and Sarah will have to expose their true feelings-as well as their fragile hearts-if their love is to survive.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Sandy M’s review of Fragile by Shiloh Walker
Contemporary Romance published by Berkley 3 Feb 09

I take every chance I get to read a Shiloh Walker book. I don’t have my own copy of Fragile yet, so when a friend mentioned she had a copy, you guessed it. I wasn’t shy one bit in asking to borrow it from her – even before she’d read it. I’m glad I did. I once again got lost in a compelling and emotional read.

I really liked the beginning of the book when we get a taste of Luke’s background first when he finds the twin brother he never knew about and then seeing him wind down in his military career, realizing it’s not what he wants any longer. We learn that though his twin, Quinn, pretty much hates the world when he comes to live with Luke and their father, they do end up with a good relationship, experiencing that twin thing over the years.

Leaving the service, Luke becomes a doctor and trades one version of hell for another. Instead of seeing his buddies either shot up or die in the field, he now sees abused women and children, and that’s how he comes in contact with Devon. She’s a social worker who puts her heart and soul into helping the abused because she once walked in their shoes and was lucky enough to have someone care enough to help get her on her way to where she is today.

Finally getting a chance to meet Devon outside the hospital, Luke takes the chance and asks her out. Once they begin to learn about each other, he very quickly puts together what happened to her as a child, so he uses kid gloves to court her, refuses to rush her. However, he finds out just as quickly Devon isn’t as fragile as she appears. Suddenly a stalker is after Devon and a nightmare ensues for both of them.

They each have their scars from their pasts, Devon more so than Luke, of course. He has to work against both her walls she’s built around herself and the stalker to make sure they have a life together. While all of this is going on, we also get a bit of a look into Quinn and all he went through as a child, how a screw-up on a mission is currently affecting him and his relationship with Luke. I’m actually very intrigued by Quinn and look forward to his story.

The love scenes between Luke and Devon are quite hot and intense, once Luke knows Devon can handle him in the bedroom without the kid gloves. I like his tenderness, especially because he figures out Devon’s issues on his own, knows he has to take care in his wooing of her. And her fierceness in life, from the kids she helps to surviving hell again, makes her a great heroine. The mystery with the stalker takes an unexpected turn and I was caught off guard when he’s finally revealed.

Once again, Ms. Walker had me hooked in a very short time and I devoured this book in no time at all. Broken is up next, and I can’t wait.

Grade: A-

Summary:

BATTLE SCARRED

Six years after trading in his combat gear for hospital scrubs, Luke Rafferty still hasn’t found what he’s been searching for: a normal life. At his job, Luke is faced with things just as heartbreaking as those on the battlefield, none more so than the abused children brought in by a pretty red-headed social worker.

HEARTBROKEN

For Devon Manning, being a social worker is a rewarding job, but also a constant reminder of her own troubled youth. Devon takes everything one day at a time—unable to form a relationship with anyone except the children she rescues.

A DESIRE TO HEAL…

When Luke meets Devon, he thinks he might have found what he’s been looking for, but in order to get the life he wants, Luke has to break through Devon’s emotional barriers and make her realize that his healing touch might be just the complication her life needs…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Welcome to Duck Chat!

Shiloh Walker is a busy woman, and though she’s working right this moment on her next project, she’s taken a few moments to chat with us today.

Married to her high school sweetheart, Shiloh and her family live in the mid-west. She quit her nursing job in 2004 to begin writing full time. I’m sure her fans are more than thankful for that. If you haven’t read one of her books yet, Shiloh has an impressive backlist in a number of genres, from suspense to erotic to paranormal and then some, so there’s something there for everyone. Take your pick, you’ll enjoy every last word.

But first spend a few minutes with Shiloh to get know her a little better. Be sure to leave her a comment or question and we’ll put you  in the running for an autographed copy of the winner’s choice from Shiloh’s backlist! Now let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Shiloh, let’s jump right in and talk about your upcoming release, Hunter’s Need, along with the Hunters series. First, would you tell our readers about the series as a whole? Has it evolved as you originally envisioned it?

SHILOH WALKER: Well, asking if it evolved from an original vision kind of implies I had some planned-out mental image of the world. And I didn’t. The series started with just one character—Tori from the first book, Hunters: Declan and Tori. I didn’t have any thoughts about making an ongoing series at the time. I just wanted to tell her story. Once I finished, I realized there were a lot of stories in that world.

The Hunters are basically paranormal cops—the world they live in has plenty of paranormal creatures and not all of them are the good guys. The Hunters work to keep those people in line.

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

SW: Oh, that’s easy…. So, do you write your books from personal experiences?

I once had this very, very weird guy ask me that at a signing and trust me, he wasn’t asking about whether or not my nursing background plays into my writing, or whether I write about romance because I’m living a happy-ever-after with my high school sweetheart, either.

*G* I did answer him. I smiled sweetly and said, “Well, no. I mean, after all, I haven’t killed anybody yet.”

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

SW: My characters frequently surprise me, but I’m not a plotter by nature. I’ve got a vague idea of where I want the story to end and as I write the book, things happen to push me toward that goal. Very frequently, events happen that are nothing like what I’d thought was going to happen.

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

Oh, I frequently argue with my characters. And who wins depends on what the argument was over. But a lot of the time, the characters win. 

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

SW: Laundry. Email. Twitter. Phone calls. Website junk. Blog stuff. Clutter. An empty stomach. Facebook. I’m easily distracted—staying on task requires me to frequently kick myself in the tail.

DC: Do you have the next Hunters book in the works yet? How many more books will be in the series?

SW: I just finished the next in the series…Hunter’s Fall, which will be out in either late 2010 or early 2011. I don’t have any idea how many more Hunter’s books I’ll write, though. It might be just be one or two, or it might be a lot more. I just don’t know.

DC: What has been your favorite book cover from all of your releases and why?

SW: The cover for the romantic suspense that came out earlier this year, Fragile. I just love and adore that cover. It’s shiny. It’s pretty. What’s not to love? 

DC: How about your least favorite cover? Why?

SW: That one is harder to answer—some of the earlier covers from Ellora’s Cave I haven’t liked as much because they were the computer-generated images and I’m just not as big a fan of the CGI stuff.

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

SW: Well, I try to make the characters deeper, more complex. I think that’s just natural for a writer to do, though.

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

SW: Well, sooner or later, I’m going to try more traditional fantasy stuff, I think. Possibly urban fantasy, without as much romance. Maybe some thrillers. And horror-I have one idea for a horror story that I’ve wanted to write forever…I just haven’t managed to do it, yet.

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

SW: Hmmmm. Nothing. Choices I made when I was younger led me here and I love my life—wouldn’t want to do anything that might change it.

DC: Next March Broken will be released. Can you give us a sneak peek into Quinn and Sarah?

SW: Quinn is a complicated bastard and he gave me ten kinds of hell writing his book. Sarah is equally complicated. I fought the two of them tooth and nail.

DC: If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

SW: Oh, I’m a lousy person to ask about blurbs… I hate and abhor blurbs. Writing a blurb about me? I’d just suggest you skim the first few pages instead…

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

SW: Smartass…

DC: One of my favorite books of yours is The Missing. Where did the story idea for Cullen and Taige come from? Can you tell everyone a little bit about it?

SW: The story for The Missing stemmed from the little girl, Jillian. She was the first character I ‘met’ from that story, so to speak. Cullen and Taige emerged later. I woke up one morning with this mental image of a girl sitting in an airport, drawing. She showed the drawing to her dad. There were three kids in the drawing, one in each corner of the page. He asks who they are and she tells him, “They are the missing.” Then she tells him that each of them had disappeared.

That’s was the bare bones of the book, as it first came to me.

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

SW: Nursing. That’s what I did before I focused on writing full-time. I keep my license current and still work on occasion. Just in case.

DC: For a reader who may not have picked up one of your books yet, where would you recommend them to start to get the full effect of Shiloh Walker?

SW: The full effect…LMAO. Well, one of my personal favorites is Fragile. Or Candy Houses, an urban fantasy/paranormal erotic romance that came out from Samhain Publishing in October. [LOL, okay, so it was really early morning when getting Shi's interview together, the brain apparently was having fun at my expense! - SM]

DC: What’s on the horizon for Shiloh Walker?

SW: Right now, I’m working on a romantic suspense trilogy for a new publisher. My current plan is to write paranormal for Berkley and romantic suspense for Ballantine.

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?     -Dark
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?     -Not a peanut butter person…unless it’s with chocolate.
- heels or flats?     – Bare feet. 
- coffee or tea?     – Both, depends on my mood.
- summer or winter?     – Fall. (It’s my favorite season)
- mountains or beach?     – Mountains, absolutely.
- mustard or mayonnaise?    – Mustard.
- flowers or candy?     – Why do I have to choose?
- pockets or purse?     – Purse.
- Pepsi or Coke?   – Coke.
- ebook or print?   – Both.

And because we still enjoy the answers we get:

1. What is your favorite word?    -Love.
2. What is your least favorite word?     -Cunt
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?     -Sunsets. Kids laughing. Hugs.
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?     -Cruelty. Neglect.
5. What sound or noise do you love?   – The sound of my kids laughing.
6. What sound or noise do you hate?     – Fingernails on a chalkboard.
7. What is your favorite curse word?     – Don’t have one.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?     -  None…I’m doing what I always wanted.
9. What profession would you not like to do?     – Teacher. I lack the patience.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?    – Oh, I absolutely believe heaven exists…and I expect to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

DC: Thanks for spending the day with us, Shiloh!

Sybil’s review of Fragile by Shiloh Walker
Romantic Suspense released by Berkley Trade 3 Feb 09

Suspense was one of my first book crushes. It is really rather shocking I didn’t fall into reading romantic suspense right away or that I don’t do more of it now. I think it falls under ‘too many books too little time’ and that I have found too few authors I think do it really well. Or it could be I have gotten seriously jaded in my old age and find most of it too hard to believe. And at the same time, I almost didn’t pick up Fragile to read because it sounded too depressing. I am just all sorts of shades of difficult like that.

There hasn’t been a good opening over the past five or six months for Dr Rafferty to ask Devon Manning out. Generally the social worker’s visits to the hospital don’t leave a lot of room for romance to develop. After six years in combat he is used to working around difficult situations.  Mix in a way dysfunctional brother, along with no relationship with his mom and Luke has more than his fair share dealing with personal demons. The bonus here is Luke isn’t a man who scares off easily. When Devon is handed to him on a dinner plate, well, as a dinner ‘date’ when they run into each other one night he jumps at the chance to get to know her better. Sadly all doesn’t go well and he almost blows it before he has a chance to ask her out on a real date.

Devon confronts the situation in the parking lot head on and they talk about it – like adults. And it sets the stage for a great romance to develop. The suspense has a slow enough build up that the reader is given a chance to wonder which direction it is coming from, at least at first. I have to say I kept waiting for Luke to be accused because he was becoming almost ‘stalkerish’ in his, I am the hero, hear me roar ways. But I would be lying if I didn’t say he was yummy, in an ex army ranger way. But after the first 10 times it started to be a bit much.

And the thing I hate more than anything in romantic suspense is the heroine who knows she is being stalked, who knows she can’t go it alone, resisting help. And Devon isn’t dumb. She hates she has to give up some of her hard won independence and self reliance. And she has reason to fight giving it up; the fight is with herself as much as with Luke. But she does eventually give in. Luke and Devon are a fabulous couple together and I really enjoyed the book. Although I did find it dragged a bit in the middle. Parts felt repeated and I am not sure if that was suppose to be that way due to what was happening to Devon or not. But it slowed the book down for me.

Saying that I thought the end was interesting and can’t wait for Quinn’s book. Quinn will be getting a book… yes?  Shiloh Walker wears quite a few different genre hats and does it well.  I look forward to reading more romantic suspense from her and would love to read some contemporary romance as well, if anyone is taking suggestions or anything.  Oh and as always historical romance .

Grade: B

Summary:

Six years after trading in his combat gear for hospital scrubs, Luke Rafferty is faced with things just as heartbreaking as those on the battlefield. The abused children being brought in by the pretty redheaded social worker tug at his soul like nothing he’s ever known.

For Devon Manning, being a social worker is a rewarding job, but also a constant reminder of her own troubled youth. Devon takes everything one day at a time—unable to form a relationship with anyone except the children she rescues.

When Luke meets Devon, he thinks he might have found what he’s been looking for, but in order to get the life he wants, Luke has to break through Devon’s emotional barriers and make her realize that his healing touch might be just the complication her life needs…

Read an excerpt.