Series: Last Chance (Book 9)
Ross Gardiner has had his fill of difficult
relationships. Returning to Last Chance after a rough divorce, the town's handsome
new fire chief just wants safety and stability-a tall order given his dangerous
job and the way he has the attention of all the single women in town. All
"except "Sabina Grey, the girl who stole his heart when they were
teenagers.
Sabina knows a lot about playing it safe. Always the good
girl, she's now responsible for her antiques store and caring for her sister.
But having Ross in town brings back the memory of one carefree summer night
when she threw caution to the wind-and almost destroyed her family. Now that
they are both older and wiser, will the spark still be there, even though
they've both been burned?
Ross returned to last chance after his divorce and began
a new life as the town fire chief. He was drawn to his high school crush,
Sabina, but she seemed uninterested in him, so he moved on. Instead, he started
going out with her younger sister Lucy, who was much different than his
ex-wife. Ross is wary of committing again, so his slow moving relationship with
Lucy is fine with him.
Lucy has some serious control issues, dating from a fire
in which she was badly scarred. She's enjoying her relationship with Ross, but
she has a long checklist of requirements that must be met before they can get
married. All of that goes out the window when local matchmaker Miriam Randall
shows up at the store that she and her sister Sabina own.
Sabina is alone at the store when Miriam arrives and
tells her that before she finds the love that is meant for her she has to get
her sister settled. Her mother overhears this, and goes into matchmaking
overdrive, facing down Ross and Lucy and telling them it's time to get moving
so that Sabina can finally move on. Neither is up to withstanding Hurricane
Henrietta, and soon find themselves looking at a rapidly approaching wedding.
Sabina has made it her mission in life to take care of
Lucy ever since the fire that injured her so badly. Sabina feels guilty about
what happened to Lucy, since she had been told to watch her sister that night
while their parents were out. Instead, she left her thirteen year old sister
home alone and snuck out to meet friends. Since that time, she has put her own
life on hold to watch over her sister. She doesn't want Lucy and Ross guilted
into rushing into marriage. She also has the deep, dark secret of the crush she
had on Ross when they were in school, a crush that is still there.
I don't normally care for love triangle stories, but this
was much more than that. Ross is the
last chance fire chief who is dealing with an arson fire that appears to be
eco-terrorism. This has brought the ATF and the FBI to town, creating even more
complications in his life. Also
returning to town is a man Sabina knew as an eighth grader, one who she treated
badly. He has made good and come back to help his uncle, the developer who was
the target of the arson. He shows a
great deal of interest in Sabina, and pursues her. She initially accepts his
advances as an apology for her treatment of him, and as a way to get past her
feelings for Ross.
The wedding plans aren't going smoothly, as Lucy reacts
badly to the loss of control of her decisions.
Ross is doing his best, but coming up short in her opinion. In her
efforts to help Ross and Lucy get married, Sabina finds herself in close
quarters with Ross on several occasions. Their deeply buried feelings start to
come closer to the surface and they end up in several awkward situations.
It's very obvious that Ross belongs with Sabina, not
Lucy, but he is too honorable to break things off with Lucy. Meanwhile, Lucy
discovers that it is much easier to spend time with one of the ATF agents than
with Ross. Misunderstandings and interference from various well-meaning
townspeople nearly bring a disastrous wedding day, before that confusion is
straightened out.
There is also the ongoing mystery of the arson. The first
fire is followed by a second one, one that injures Ross. Small town politics
and ambitious federal agents put both Ross and Lucy in the crosshairs of the
investigation. I loved seeing the support they both got from the people who
know and care for them. The arson investigation ended up being more convoluted
than anyone expected. The final confrontation was really intense, with a bad
guy I suspected all along, though there was an unexpected revelation during
that confrontation.
For the most part I liked Ross and Sabina. I did want to
shake her a few times and tell her that she was going way overboard on the
guilt about her sister. I loved seeing how perfect she was for Ross, and how
much they had in common. She was wonderful with Ross's dog, and their work
together on the house he bought was great. She fought her feelings for him
because of his relationship with her sister, even though at heart she knew they
weren't right for each other. Ross was a really sweet Southern guy. He'd been
burned once before, so he's been fine with taking his relationship with Lucy
slow. He treats her well, and has gone along with all her demands for their
relationship, to the point you had to wonder if he had a backbone around her. I
was glad to see it show up when he was given the dog and he stood up to her
demands to get rid of it. Sparky was adorable and ended up saving ross's life.
His slow realization that he was engaged to the wrong sister was hard for him
to face. I loved those moments when their true feelings got the best of them.
Uncomplicating their relationship at the end was interesting, and I loved
seeing it happen.
For most of the book I really didn't like Lucy. I thought
she was a spoiled brat who took advantage of her parents and Sabina. Her
premarriage requirements should have been a clue to both her and ross that their relationship wasn't meant to be. I did
like her interactions with the federal agent, some of which were pretty
amusing. She did finally redeem herself at the end.
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