Monday, July 14, 2014

Lone Wolf Standing - Carla Cassidy (HRS #1807 - July 2014)

Series: Men of Wolf Creek (Book 3)

Maybe it's just her imagination, but Sheri Marcoli's convinced she's being watched. With the disappearance of her aunt still unsolved, Detective Jimmy Carmani's not taking any chances. But sticking close to the vulnerable beauty isn't just a job. For the first time in his life, Jimmy's discovering feelings he thought himself incapable of.

But the powerful attraction Sheri feels toward Jimmy is scaring her almost as much as her stalker. The swarthy, dark-eyed detective is nothing like the golden-haired prince she's waited for all her life. But as Sheri struggles to resist her overpowering desire, an evil madman is closing in...on both of them.

Good conclusion to the series.  Sheri's aunt is still missing and everyone is starting to lose hope that they will find her. When Sheri gets the feeling that she's being watched and then is attacked, Jimmy makes it his job to be sure she's safe. He doesn't mind staying close to her as he's been drawn to her for several months. 

I liked Jimmy a lot. He had a rough childhood growing up in foster care and always longing for love and a family of his own. He has come to the conclusion that he will never have it and devotes himself to his work instead. Working on the case of the missing aunt brings him into frequent contact with Sheri. Feeling that he's not really cut out for a relationship he offers her his friendship but soon discovers that he really wants more. By this time, though, he's heard all about her dream of the blond haired and blue eyed prince that she is looking for. I really felt bad for him with the way that he was falling so hard for Sheri and yet had to listen to her go on about the dream prince of hers. I thought he was a real sweetheart of a guy. He is there for her when she's scared. When she's attacked he takes care of her, sensing what she needs almost before she knows herself. I loved that he had the courage to tell her his feelings, and felt so bad for him when she rejected his claims of love.

Sheri irritated me through most of the book. She was so fixated on her childhood dream of her blue eyed blond prince who would simply show up out of the blue and sweep her off her feet. When she started having problems she had no trouble accepting help from Jimmy. She accepted his offer of friendship and enjoyed being with him, but couldn't see past her dream to the terrific man that he was. She was attracted to him but fought it because he didn't fit her ideal. I really hated the way that every time they gave in to their attraction she reiterated that he was all wrong for her. I really wanted to smack her when she rejected his profession of love. It took several people telling her what an unrealistic jerk she was being, then nearly dying for her to accept what her feelings really were. 

I enjoyed the suspense part of the book quite a lot. In the previous books we'd get brief glimpses of what Liz was going through and the occasional glimpse into her captor's mind. As things started to escalate, the danger that both Liz and Sheri were in got worse. I could feel the detectives' frustration over the lack of clues and their worry as time went on with no progress. There were several possibilities of who it could be and I never got a sense of who it was until the end.

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