This Time It's Forever

Timing Is Everything #4

by Christine Miles

Christine Miles delivers more racing hearts with this swoony, thrilling mystery! Perfect for reading as a standalone or binged with the rest of her Timing is Everything series, This Time It's Forever is a police officer romantic suspense you'll want to devour in one sitting.
Felicity Mayhew has built a career as a planner for fairy tale weddings. But the long hours and demanding clients have started to take a toll. She's also acquired an enemy who's leaving her menacing notes. Unable to ignore the threat, she turns to the one person who can help her.
Rookie Detective Ian Stafford's move to Denver had never been part of the plan. Running away isn't his usual go-to move, but after experiencing betrayal from the two people closest to him, living and working in his hometown became too painful.
Working nonstop to find her stalker will take Ian and Felicity down a twist-filled path, and leave question marks over people Felicity trusts. Despite the darkness surrounding them, they find themselves connecting in a way neither expected. But who is writing Felicity's threatening notes? And how far is the perpetrator willing to go?
This Time It's Forever is the perfect next read for fans of bestselling romantic suspense novels like Anna Hackett's Norcross Security and Toni Anderson's Cold Justice series.

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 28, 2023

About the author

Christine Miles is a full-time writer living in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

An avid reader and writer since elementary school, her passion for literature inspired her to pursue a BA in English and an MA in Creative Writing. She writes YA and Adult Contemporary Romances with sassy, independent heroines and swoony heroes who love them for their strength.

When not writing romances, she loves traveling, binge-watching shows on streaming apps, reading mysteries and thrillers, listening to music, and spending quality time with her family, friends, and dog.

Reviews

[Heather Adores Books]

3.75⭐
Genre ~ contemporary romance
Series ~ Timing is Everything #4
Others in the series ~ books 1-4
Setting ~ Colorado
Publication date ~ February 27, 2023
Page Count ~ 274 (25 chapters +e)
POV ~ dual 3rd
Featuring ~ characters in their late 30's, wedding planner, detective, stalker, brother's best friend, best friends's sister, slow burn, very minimal steamage

Felicity & Ian
Felicity has had small appearances in each book of the series, so I'm glad she got her own story. She's the most sought after wedding planner in Denver, a real workaholic. She has been receiving threatening notes and is finally ready to get the police involved after the 3rd one. She calls up her brother's best friend, Detective Ian Stafford, to help track down her stalker.

Ian is not new to being a cop, but new on the Denver force after just moving to the area, and he stepped into the position with ease. I found him to be a great detective. He not only had the mystery of Felicity's case to work on, but a couple others sprinkled in that made for an interesting story.

This one was a very slow burn as the romance took a back seat to the mystery side of the story. For that reason it took a while for them to figure out their feelings for each other. I wish the romance was more prominent, but I did enjoy trying to help solve the mystery of who the stalker was.

Since our characters are mature the brothers best friend/best friend's sister trope wasn't like the usual where the brother is super protective. It wasn't a big deal at all, so if you normally enjoy the drama that comes along with that you won't find it here.

Overall, I enjoyed this one and the series as a whole. I like that all previous characters story lines progressed in each installment just as expected. Looking forward to what Christine writes next, which is already on my kindle.

Small side bar ~ the title makes me think this is a second chance romance between these two, but that's not the case.

Series notes:
I think this one would work fine as a standalone. Scott and Campbell from book 3 make some appearances, but not enough that hinder reading this book first. However, of course the series is most enjoyable when read from the beginning.

*Thanks to the author for sending me a copy. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*

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[Kait]

Decent but I didn’t really feel the connection between the MCs. Lots of drama/mystery that kept me engaged but even that was just alright.

~Felicity plans fairytale weddings for a very specific clientele. Finding threatening notes isn’t something she knows how to handle. Going to her younger brothers friend, who happens to be a detective, is the only solution she sees. Ian may be a rookie but he knows how to deal with a stalker.~

I had such high hopes for this after LOVING ‘The Time We Met’ but this fell flat for me. There’s a lot more focus on the stalking than their relationship which would be okay if their connection didn’t seem forced and out of nowhere. I mean, they were seeing others in the beginning and then suddenly they have a thing for the other after not even being near each other. Idk.

*I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review with my honest opinion.*

[Stacie Moseley (Stacie.moreads)]

I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the characters and the fact they they kept me guessing. But, the ending is what I really enjoyed. This was my first book my this author but it won’t be my last.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Brenda Moser]

This is a well written book with strong characters and an interesting storyline. The author brings an intriguing story filled with twists and turns and paints her scenes perfectly, delivering a great read.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and freely given.

[Elise Larson]

An exciting blend of mystery, suspense, and slow-burn romance. Five thrilling stars!

Wow! If you're looking for a clever, suspenseful plot that's loaded with unstoppable twists and turns, you've found it this time! Just when I'd almost given up on sappy, cookie-cutter romance novels, this gem landed in my Kindle, hooked me on page 6, and never let go. I'm so glad I discovered this very talented author.

Like hundreds of other books in the romantic suspense genre, this story's hunky hero (Ian) struggles to save a beautiful woman (Felicity) from the evil intentions of a crazy stalker. I can usually identify a stalker fairly early in a book, but not this time. The plot's numerous red herrings and plausible motives kept me guessing through every surprising twist.

You'll find one semi-steamy sex scene at 80% in, very limited profanity (no f-bombs), two lovable dogs, and a happily ever after ending. This thrilling story easily earns five stars and my enthusiastic recommendation!

[Sarah Cudlipp]

I really loved this book. It's the first one I've read by Christine Miles but after getting through the first two chapters, I took a pause and went to get the other three books in this series. I didn't feel as if I was missing anything by jumping into this fourth book in the series, so I think anyone else would be fine if they were reading it as a standalone as I did. I'm actually surprised that I hadn't come across Christine Miles before as her tone of writing is right up my alley! I'm always a sucker for romantic suspense.

There were a lot of ways I felt like I related to Felicity and I really loved her character. She is independent and not really into the dating scene, just fine with living on her own and loving her dog. Plus, she is a wedding planner, which I used to think about as a kid all the time! But Felicity took a lot of pride in her work and really cared about what she was doing, even when the bridezillas or demanding families were driving her crazy. And Felicity is clearly very good at her job and it's why she's so successful. But with that job comes some threatening notes.

Enter Ian! As a detective, he sees a lot of gruesome and terrible things. So he could really use some sunshine in his life. And I just knew it was going to be Felicity. The sparks between them were electric, mostly in anger and agitation at the beginning. But that quickly changed. I loved the way being with one another evolved the characters. There was a definite pull between them that neither of them could continue denying.

I was also pretty sure I knew who the culprit of it all was. And then thought it might be someone else. So the author really takes you on an adventure trying to figure out who is sending these threatening notes to Felicity and why. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I'm excited to go back and read the other three in the series and for what Christine Miles has coming next! I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Jean]

This is book four in The Timing is Everything series and it is Felicity and Ian’s story. Felicity is a wedding planner and she has built a career on making wishes come true for a fairy tale wedding and because she is always so busy it is starting to take it’s toll on her but when she starts getting threatening messages she realised that she needs help to find out who is doing this and why. Ian is a detective and has moved to Denver after being betrayed by the two people who were closest to him so moving away was his only option. When his friend’s sister asks for his help he will do everything possible to help protect her and keep her safe until they find and eliminate the threat but Ian realised that it will not be as easy as he thought because Felicity is so stubborn but he is determined to some how keep her safe regardless of the situation. The more time that Ian and Felicity spend together the stronger there connection and chemistry grows but will they get a chance to explore how they feel as danger is just around the corner watching and waiting for the right time to strike. This is a really great and enjoyable story that had you turning the pages and had you wondering what the outcome would be for them all. I can’t wait to read more books by this author in the future.

[Sharon Grow]

Let me start by saying I had not read anything by this author, but I will be checking out her other books, especially the rest of this series. Felicity Mayhew has made an enormous success of her wedding planning business as the wealthy seek her services. Life has been good until she begins receiving threatening cards left at her home. She hates feeling afraid and decides to contact the police. Detective Ian Stafford transferred to the Denver Police Department after his personal life imploded. A plus to his move is that his good friend, Scott Mayhew, lives in Denver. He meets Scott’s sister at the department where she explains that she has a stalker. At first, they strike sparks off of each other, but eventually she accepts his protection as he searches for her stalker. He and his partner are also investigating the death of an elderly couple, was it suicide, accidental or murder? Felicity survived her first betrayal by her ex-husband, but will she survive another one? As she and Ian grow closer, can he keep her safe, is she the one? I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (paytonpuppy)

[Mg Meredith]

I found Felicity and Ian's story to be a well orchestrated artfully crafted plot with well developed characters that keeps you engrossed in this suspenseful plot throughout all the twist and turns as this author reveals each new piece of the puzzle a great conclusion to this series as she ties all the lose ends up on characters from previous books . I look forward to exploring more stories by this author.I received a advance reader copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Serenechaosnyc]

This is the first time I’ve read a book by Christina Miles and it won’t be the last. Well written and though I thought that there should have been a bit more build between the characters, Felicity and Ian, to show how their relationship developed (it went from enemies to lovers without too much clear emotional development), I loved how generally fast moving the story was. A great mix of romance and suspense. I want to go now read other books in the series. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an early read.

[Susan in Perthshire]

I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This a romantic suspense/thriller novel, but I’m sorry - there was nothing exciting, suspenseful or emotionally engaging about either the plot or the characters.

All of the characters, including the ‘ villains’ were so underdeveloped that I had no interest in them. The plot felt unreal. Sorry but whilst this author clearly has fans who enjoy her books - I’m not one of them. Just not my cup of tea!

[Christine Galletly]

I thought that this book had a good storyline and some well-developed and personable characters.

The author has a great writing style, and the story had a nice natural flow to it.

There were twists and turns that held my attention and I thought that it was a sexy and intriguing whodunnit

It is 4 stars from me for this one – highly recommended!

[Jenn O'Leary]

Felicity is a workaholic Wedding Planner who goes to her brothers friend Ian when she keeps getting threatening notes.
Ian is new to town, and a Rookie Detective.
These two got off on the wrong foot, but can they work together to find out who is after Felicity?
This was a good romantic suspense, that focused more on the stalker.

[C bond]

Liked the flow of this book. Felicity was a strong character as was Ian. I liked them together, good chemistry.