Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Romantic Suspense
Length: 398 pages
Author: K.A. Tucker
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: June 16th, 2026
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the USA Today and international bestselling author of the Simple Wild comes a sweeping second-chance, forbidden romance set against the rugged beauty of northern Canada.

Emery McAllister once dreamed of leaving Cold River with the boy next door, but one devastating night destroyed their future and left her heart carefully guarded. Twenty years later, she’s built a life of control: running the town’s police detachment, raising her daughter, and keeping a fragile peace with her ex-husband, the mayor.

She’s certain she has moved on until the day she has dreaded—and secretly hoped for—finally arrives.

Logan Landry is home.

After two decades behind bars for being in the wrong place at the wrong time—and the choices that haunted him ever since—Logan returns to his family’s bison ranch carrying the weight of everything he lost, but especially Emery. Friendship is all he dares hope for now, but seeing her ignites a fire he thought long extinguished.

When a teenage girl disappears and old wounds reopen, Logan becomes Cold River’s favorite suspect, despite his airtight alibi. As distrust closes in, Emery must choose between the life she’s built … and the love she can’t let go.

Thank you RB Media for the gifted audiobook.

PRETTY GOOD.

I haven’t read a K.A. Tucker release in a hot minute but this one was calling my name. I really liked the audiobook narrators and that it was dual POV. Definitely recommend that route!!

I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with this kind of premise and it was intriguing. I liked the way it added to the suspense and left me wondering what was going to be revealed next. The mystery was good and honestly left me grasping at straws. I could not pin down that correct suspect and that made much of this book fly by.

Logan’s arc and reconnection with this family and Emery was fantastic. I love that I also got his POV to better understand his story and decisions. I do wish the spice hadn’t been thrown in so quickly? But I was grateful to find that it was more of a slow burn after that and much of the focus was on solving the murder.

I loved a lot of the little pieces like Logan’s relationship with Emery’s daughter, Logan’s parents and more. The setting is immaculate and atmosphere was perfect. I’ve missed reading K.A. Tucker’s books and hope she has plans for more in this vein!

Overall audience notes:

• Romantic Suspense
• Language: moderate
• Romance: 3-4ish open door
• Violence: high
• Content warnings: murder, loss of life, loss of loved ones, cheating (not between main characters), grief depiction, weapons violence, adult/minor relationship, gun violence

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