"A suspenseful first book to the Shannon Sisters trilogy!"

This is the first book of C. J. Carmichael's that I've had a chance to read and she's found a new fan in me. This book had all the elements of the things I love to read about: murder, a villain and a second chance to "get it right".

Dylan McLean detested his mother's second husband, Max Strongman. The guy was manipulative, violent and just an all around nasty fellow. When he talked Dylan's mother into letting him have oil wells dug on the ranch, Dylan gets a group of people together to protest. During the protest, a shot is fired and a 15-year-old girl is killed. All fingers point to Dylan so he leaves town on the day of his wedding to Cathleen Shannon.

Now two years later Dylan is back. He's been on the rodeo circuit and has been badly injured enough to know that he needs to retire. He also wants to make it up to Cathleen but doesn't know if that's even a possibility.

Cathleen wants nothing to do with Dylan. He broke her heart right in half the first time and if she has anything to do with it, there won't be a second time. She just doesn't know how persuasive Dylan can be though, especially when the town shuns him. Can Dylan persuade Cathleen to give him a second chance even though certain circumstances happening around town conspire against them?

Even though there were a few unresolved plot points in this book, I'm hoping that those will be explained in the next two books in this trilogy. One question is just who is Poppy and what kind of a secret is she keeping? This first book in the series just whet my appetite for more!

Reviewed by Kathy Boswell
Posted January 15, 2002

Summary

He's back!

Two years ago, almost everyone in Canmore, Alberta, thought Dylan McLean was responsible for the death of a teenage girl on his father's ranch. Only Cathleen Shannon believed he was innocent.

Then he left her at the altar and fled town. Now Dylan has returned and he wants a second chance--from the townspeople and Cathleen!

Having been jilted on her wedding day, Cathleen is furious when Dylan shows up asking for assistance. But that doesn't mean she wants him paying for a crime he didn't commit. So maybe she will help him clear his name.

A second chance at love, though? That's out of the question. Or is it?