Wanted by the Marshal
by Susan Lute
Release Date: 7/9/20
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Book #2 in the Angel Point series
Number of pages: 240
Kindle
Source: ARC from publisher
Contemporary Romance M/F
Rating: PG-13
Read 7/5/20 to 7/6/20
She doesn’t believe in happily-ever-afters…
Summoned to Angel Point for her sister’s bridal shower, U.S. Marshal Dakota James‘s plan is to make sure her sister doesn’t make the same mistake their parents did. But her quick in-and-out mission gets derailed when Taylor won’t listen and instead tries to introduce Dakota to every member of the single male population in Angel Point. One former marine in particular sets off life-changing fireworks that tempt her to reconsider her single status.He wants to be more than friends…
Beckett Leland came to Angel Point to check on his cousin’s widow and young boys and found a quiet, out-of-the-way town where he and his retired military dog, Tucker, could peacefully make the transition to civilian life. What he doesn’t count on is running into a fiery, passionate woman who doesn’t believe that love and happy endings are possible. But he wants more than friendship from the marshal who has taken his heart into custody.Can he convince her that true love is real and their happiness waits just around the corner?
This story is a bit all over the map and has some definite issues with cohesion. Luckily, I really liked the hero and his part kept me turning the pages. I learn to love the heroine, but it takes about half of the book before that kicks in. While I understand Dakota’s aversion to marriage, the way she goes about trying to convince her sister not to get married doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t get to know her future brother-in-law at all and gives no actual reason why they shouldn’t get married.
Beckett is wonderful, and so is his dog. The way Tucker and Dakota seem to understand and need each other is a touching part of this story. Beckett somewhat forcing them together because he sees they can help each other is one of the reasons I like him. He’s also so darn patient. There is a bit at the beginning of this story that I feel Dakota and Beckett have great chemistry, but Beckett’s endurance when it came to her hot and cold attitude extended well past my threshold for her nonsense.
One of the best things about this story is the older couple Dakota and Beckett befriend. It’s in no way how things would happen in the real world, but this is fiction so I’m okay with that. That part of the story is sweet.
Yes, I enjoyed Becket and the sweet old couple, and even learned to like Dakota. But there were too many other issues with this story. Some I cannot discuss without giving spoilers so I won’t. I can tell you that there is a point in this book that Dakota actually thinks about how great she feels after telling Beckett about an issue she had with her dad, Frank, a while back. The problem is, she never told him. There didn’t even seem to be an implication that she told him. She did open up about some other things, but whatever happened between Dakota and Frank is as much as a mystery to me now as it was when I started reading the book. I got the gist of it, but never the details. Like I said earlier, lack of cohesion.
Not only do I have a lot to read so have no time for books that don’t captivate me, I also don’t enjoy reading an author over and over and not giving a great review. I feel like I’m piling on. I always give new-to-me authors a second or third chance, but if there’s not a 4 star or higher story in there for my taste I have to move on. While this story was by no means bad, it wasn’t very good either. I liked the first story in this series, but it also had its issues. It is probably time for me to move on from this author.
2 stars
**I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely**
All In Good Time 