"An excellent reading experience"

The wail of an infant wakes up Beth Allen in a Snowflake, Arizona motel with bruises on her body especially her head and a loss of memory. Beth knows her name because that is the identity she registered with to obtain a room. She concludes based on where she is and the contusions that she is on the run, but has no idea from whom or where. When she reads an article in a magazine about a battered spouse welcomed to safety in nearby Shelter Valley, she decides to go there with the child she assumes is her son.

Months later, Beth still suffers from amnesia and remains in hiding for fear that her unknown enemy will find her. Sheriff Greg Richards asks her out as he is attracted to her, but though she likes the lawman, she rejects him because she doesn't want him probing into her past even innocently on a date. As he works to stop deadly carjackings that is reminiscent of a cold case, her past is closing in on her and only Greg can keep her and her son safe.

Fans of the series will delight in the latest entry as characters return from previous novels and Greg finds his true love. The story line uses a police procedural as a secondary subplot, but mostly focuses on Beth's dilemmas. Though amnesia is an overused gimmick, the audience will want Greg to stop whoever seeks to harm the heroine. Romantic suspense readers will enjoy this tale though the villain's reason for chasing Beth seems stretched, but then again perhaps cult insanity makes it reasonable.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 11, 2002

Summary

Beth only wishes she knew. Six months ago, she woke up in a shabby Arizona hotel room with no memory of her past. What she did have was a bruised face, $2,000 in cash—and a little boy who called her "Mama."

What's her real name? Is she a victim or a criminal? The child's savior or his kidnapper? Until her memory returns and she can answer those questions, Beth knows she has to hide. She's chosen Shelter Valley as her sanctuary.

The town welcomed her, as it welcomes all others, and Beth has begun to fashion a new life for herself and her child. But when she falls in love with Greg Richards, her sense of sanctuary is threatened. Because Greg's the sheriff of Shelter Valley—the one man who could uncover the truth about her past, a truth that might destroy the woman she's become.