Last Chance Hero - Hope Ramsay (Forever - July 2015)

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.

Last Chance Family - Hope Ramsay (Forever - Nov 2014)

Series: Last Chance (Book 8)

Mike Taggart has always been willing to take a gamble. But these stakes are just way too high - there's no way he's prepared to become a legal guardian to his five-year-old niece. His only option is to head from Las Vegas to Last Chance to sort things out as quickly as possible. Problem is, he arrives to find an inconsolable little girl, her sick cat, and a gorgeous veterinarian he can't get out of his mind.

Charlene Polk has two talents: healing sick critters and falling in love with the wrong men. Mike has trouble written all over him, but she can't leave him in the lurch. And the more time she spends with the sexy high roller, the more she sees that this ready-made family is the best stroke of luck they've ever had . . .

Very good story of redemption and second chances. Mike is a professional gambler in Las Vegas when he finds out that his younger sister has died, leaving him as guardian of his five year old niece, Rainbow. He feels completely unqualified for the job, so tracks down the half-brother he hasn't seen since he was five, and is now a preacher in Last Chance. He feels that Tim would be a better father figure, so he picks up his niece and her cat and heads to Last Chance.

Unfortunately for him, his niece, already traumatized by her mother's death, isn't taking to him very well, nor is her cat. As soon as they arrive in Last Chance he looks up a vet for the cat, and meets Charlene. He's floored by her beauty, but not too happy with her judgmental attitude about the way he's taking care of Rainbow. Then his half-brother, Tim, isn't sure he believes what Mike is telling him. All Mike wants to do is find someone more suitable than he is to raise Rainbow and get back to his life.

But the town of Last Chance isn't going to make it that easy for him. Tim needs time to verify what Mike has told him, so he convinces Mike to stay in town for a couple weeks. He even finds an apartment for them, which just happens to be next door to Charlene's. Mike figures that Tim is going to need a mother for Rainbow and has fixated on Charlene as the perfect candidate, a fixation that seems to be confirmed by the town matchmaker.

I really liked Mike. Even though he seems to be trying to dump Rainbow off on his brother, it's because he doesn't believe that he is a fit guardian for her. He carries a lot of guilt over what he sees as his failure to protect Rainbow's mother, his little sister, when she was younger. It was pretty amusing to see his efforts at pushing Tim and Charlene together, especially considering his own attraction to her. I also loved seeing how sweet he really was with little Rainbow. He didn't think he would be a good father, but he was doing everything right with her (except for the cat). 

I also liked Charlene. She was a bit judgmental at first, but once she got past that hurdle, she was wonderful. She, too, has some guilt dogging her from mistakes made when she was younger. She has had terrible luck in picking men, starting with her college boyfriend, who left her pregnant when her father offered to buy him off. Her biggest guilty feelings stem from that pregnancy and the pressure from her parents that she succumbed to. However, that same experience has made her much more empathetic with Rainbow, and I loved the way that she connected with the little girl. She's also very attracted to Mike, but sees him as just as disastrous a choice as the other men. 

I loved seeing the relationship develop between them. At first it was just as friends, as Charlene did her best to help Mike through various crises. But the more time they spent together, the more the attraction grew. Mike desperately tried to resist, as he was shoving her toward his brother, but it became harder for him to picture them together. I loved the way that things came to a head at the bachelor auction, though Mike was still resisting the obvious. It took some straight talk from the family lawyer and Tim for Mike to finally see the truth. I loved his big moment at the end, in the rain, cat and all.

As always, the small town of Last Chance plays a big role in the romance. Being from Las Vegas, Mike has no experience with the way that small town people are so deeply involved in each other's lives, and it takes him awhile to get used to it. I loved how everyone had an opinion on his plan to match Tim and Charlene. I also loved support he got during the trouble at the lake, including Sheriff Rhodes and his actions. The bachelor auction was a riot, with some interesting things resulting from it. But best of all was the way they all pulled together at the end.

Every small town has to have their bad apples, and in this case it was Charlene's parents. It's hard to believe two such terrible people could have produced someone like Charlene. I loved seeing her get stronger about standing up to them, especially that last scene at the hospital.