"A wonderful story full of action and adventure!"

While this is my first Shelter Valley book and my first book by Tara Taylor Quinn, I must say I picked a great one to start with! It's full of action, adventure and page turning suspense.

Gregg Richards is back in Shelter Valley after leaving to take care of his invalid father in Tucson for years. His sister Bonnie, her daughter Katie and her husband live in Shelter Valley and Gregg wants to be near his family. He's also going to solve the carjacking case that made his father an invalid ten years before and seems to have started up again. There are just too similarities in the cases for them not to be linked somehow.

Beth Allen and her young son Ryan wake up in a hotel in Snowflake, Arizona. Beth has no idea how she got there and why she's been beaten. She also has no memory of her past life. All she knows is she's on the run and it's from something so traumatic that she lost her memory because of it.

She reads an article about Shelter Valley and automatically heads there with the knowledge that she will be safe. That's before she becomes friends with Bonnie and her hunky Sheriff brother, Gregg. Beth would like to get to know Gregg but he can't learn her secret until she regains her memory. This becomes harder and harder to do the more Gregg pesters Beth to go out with him. What will Gregg do when he finds out about Beth? Beth can't take the chance. She must keep Ryan safe. The problem here is that Gregg won't take no for an answer.

I was captivated by this story. Gregg cared so much about Beth that he would do anything to help her and Beth doesn't know what she's running from so she doesn't know how she can trust Gregg until she finds out if she's done something terribly wrong or not. While there were two different mysteries in this book, I didn't feel either detracted from the other. This just added to my enjoyment of the book. In my opinion, another great read!

Reviewed by Kathy Boswell
Posted October 30, 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.