Vanishing Hour

Laura Griffin

Blurb:

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch has had enough of the big city and the daily grind. She grew up with her father, who raised search-and-rescue dogs, in rural Texas and has moved to the small town of Cuervo to spend time in the dry, rugged wilderness near Big Bend National Park. When she and her dog, Huck, discover an abandoned campsite on a volunteer search-and-rescue mission, she's perplexed, but she carefully photographs it all the same.

All Grant Wycoff can see when he looks at Ava is a city slicker--with her designer jeans and shiny car--who has no business on a serious team made of seasoned outdoorsmen and retired cops. But when she tells him of her findings on the trail, he sees there's more to her than meets the eye.

Ava's discovery reminds Grant of the unsolved case of a young woman who went missing two years ago. As they look into the campsite further, another woman disappears under odd circumstances. With time running out, Ava and Grant must work against the brutal heat from both the Texas sun and their own electric chemistry to solve the case.

Themes: Contemporary

Rating: 4 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

Sometimes a change of career and pace is what we all need in life to truly find our happy, and for this new novel by Laura Griffin we get exactly that with our heroine. Laura Griffin is the type of author that manages to always make her romance novels suspenseful and scary with just enough police procedure and real-life drama thrown in, without losing any of the romance. Lawyer Ava Burch ahs had enough of the rat race and decides to team up with man’s best friend, Huck, to become one of the foremost search-and-rescue teams in rural Texas. When on a volunteer search and rescue mission, she stumbles across a suspiciously abandons campsite, documenting and reporting it after the rescue is completed, she can’t seem to let it go. Deputy Grant Wycoff doesn’t have time to deal with a city girl who thinks she knows it all and insists that they investigate some trashed and abandoned campsite, but when more information begins to come in, he soon can no longer deny that Ava might be on to something. Together they begin to investigate and another woman disappears under suspicious circumstances, they fear their time is running out. Working together gives them both more insight into one another and maybe their first impressions were wrong and they could have a chance to be friends and maybe even something more. Ava was an interesting character, one of those women with confidence but no ego, who just quietly gets the job done instead of bragging about it. She is smart, driven, and intelligent but never lets anyone tell her what she can and cannot do in life. She’s missed out on a lot in her family but is determined to move forward and find her happy without allowing anyone to lead her astray. Grant is kind of an ass in the beginning, basically typecasting Ava without ever getting to know her, instead of giving her a chance, and then not standing up for her even when he came to respect and believe in her and his superiors tried to set her down and dismiss her. However, he definitely has his good moments and when they were in private together, he was great to both her and Huck, sweet, kind, and giving after letting go of his preconceived notions. I enjoyed seeing him as he worked to investigate and locate the kidnapper, and when Ava was ultimately in danger there was nothing that would have stopped him from being the killer down, showing his true level of determination. The passion between these two was a slow build mostly staying in the background until the trust and friendship was established, but once that foundation was there the relationship blossomed organically and naturally. I am looking forward to whatever come next from Ms. Griffin and kind of hope we get to see more from these characters, even though we’ve not been told officially this book is part of a series. Another masterpiece Laura!

*eARC provided by publisher (via NetGalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.