Hello, and welcome back! I hope you're all finding plenty of reading time as the holiday craziness gets nearer. My reading time is fast disappearing with all the hours I'm putting in at the bookstore right now, and I'm afraid that's only going to get worse over the next couple of weeks. That makes me a bit aggravated and very sad, as there are quite a few books stacked here on my desk that I really want to dive into. Then there are all the enticing January books that are arriving....

This time out, I have the latest from Laura Griffin, Unforgivable (Pocket Star, purchased), the next in her 'Tracers' series. This time, Mia Voss is carjacked, which is bad, but not indicative of anything other than some random crazy. At least, that's what she thinks. But Detective Ric Santos starts believing something else is going on, especially when something nearly as bad occurs right away. It doesn't take long before Mia is made to understand that she has to do something she truly doesn't want to do in order to protect herself and her loved ones. Then she needs to disappear. But Ric isn't about to let her go without discovering the secret she's keeping, and he's sure he can resist the attraction they've shared since they first met on another case quite a while ago. Mia isn't about to trust him with her secret, though, not after the way things have gone between them in the past. Resisting him, though, that's a whole other problem, as is discovering the identity of a serial rapist and murderer, but she's up to that challenge. I have loved Laura Griffin's books since the first, One Last Breath, and I really adored this one. The suspense is nail-biting, and the romance is scorching. Ric is appropriately broody and irresistible, and Mia is more than a match for him, going to any lengths to protect her family and able to stand up to Ric when she needs to. I hated getting to the end of this one, knowing it's going to be months before the next one. Maybe after my holiday-work-craziness settles down, I can go back for a reread of some of the other books by Ms. Griffin on my keeper shelf. This one has earned four and a half of Cupid's five arrows. Ric is a fantastic hero.

Until next time, happy reading!