The Librarian's Secret Scandal

The Coltons of Montana #3

by Jennifer Morey

"People are going to talk about us."

Fifteen years ago Lily Masterson was Honey Creek's bad girl - until she fled with a terrible secret. She's now a responsible librarian, but no one believes she's changed - except handsome sheriff Wes Colton. And though she's determined to keep her secret, she and the sheriff certainly give 'em all something to talk about....

Former navy SEAL Sheriff Wes Colton is all about truth and justice. He's convinced Lily got the short end of the stick. Gossipmongers be damned, she's got that type of earthy beauty that keeps him up at night. When threats become more sinister, it's the last straw - he won't rest until she's safe.

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Harlequin, Romantic Suspense

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Two-time RITA nominee and Golden Quill winner, Jennifer Morey writes single-title contemporary romance and page-turning romantic suspense. She has a geology degree and has managed export programs in compliance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for the aerospace industry. She lives at the feet of the Rocky Mountains in Denver, Colorado, and loves to hear from readers through her website, www.jennifermorey.com or Facebook.

Reviews

[Paula]

Lily Masterson returns home to Honey Creek, Montana, after 15 years. She was known as the town bad girl when she left. Now she's the town librarian, she's got a teenage daughter, and she's going to take care of her father who she's never been close to. Lily's also back to testify at her rapist's parole hearing. She meets Sheriff Wes Colton after a car accident with him in the prison parking lot. Wes, who is seven years younger than Lily, takes an instant liking to her and is very attracted to her but he can tell she's keeping secrets from him.

I really enjoyed this romantic suspense story a lot. There was much to keep me entertained including a very likable hero and heroine, the fleshed-out and interesting cast of secondary characters, a subplot involving Lily's teenage daughter, and the gossipy small-town atmosphere. The main storylines involving Lily and Wes and the threats to Lily are resolved by the ending. However, with this being book 3 of 6 in the continuing series The Colton's of Montana, there is still another mystery that remains to be solved in the upcoming books.

[Oliver Clarke]

Librarian with a bad reputation returns to her small town and hooks up with the ex-SEAL sheriff. In other words WINNER!
This has some good treatment of social themes and the romance was solid, but the suspense element felt a bit rushed.

[Mombo]

You really have to have read the previous titles in the Colton's series to enjoy this story. Wes, our hero sheriff, is still trying to solve the Walsh murder but there are so many red herrings it's hard to tell who did it. Unfortunately, Wes picks this time to fall in love with Lily, the bad-girl-turned-saint of a librarian who has one awful secret.

Luckily, Wes doesn't have his father's mean streak and is a good lover! That's pretty funny and eww at the same time since it's just too much information. Yes, the Sheriff's lovemaking ability isn't genetic and are any of those boys really Darius's sons after that juicy tidbit? They have all been class A studs so far.

There are many good things to like about this story: Wes's love for Lily seemed liked the real deal, the suspense in finding Lily's stalker was excellent since it threw me for a curve deciding who hated her most, and if that wasn't enough, having Lily deal with the problems of her daughter and teen bullying which along with having to live with her father who was judgemental and unforgiving would have had me jumping off the roof of that library long before Chapter 4.

Oh, two final things, we meet Finn, the doctor whose story is featured in the next book and Damien, the brother wrongly jailed, is back in town!

[Paige]

Lily Masterson wanted to believe that after 15 years, she and her 14 year old daughter, May, would be able to come back home to Honey Creek without causing an uproar. How wrong she was. 15 years ago, Lily was a wild child. Doing anything and everything to rebel against her parents' stick control. Lily is prepared to take the gulling talk from the town, however the difference now is that it's not only her that negative comments are being said towards, but May too. On top of that, she feels this deep connection with Sheriff Wes Colton. An attraction the town is none to happy about. When attacks on Lily's life become a problem, Wes makes it his mission to keep the woman who he believes has been wronged by the town people.

[Jennifer Morey]

Of course I love it, it's my book! ;o)

[Dallass]

Ergh. So overly dramatic and I soon got sick of all the drama.

2 stars

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: The Coltons of Montana

[Heydee Garcia]

Really easy read not too complicated and plot is relatively simple. Easy to foreshadow but still leaving some room to question your suspicions. Romance started straight away which I liked , get right to it! The pace gave a real world feel of how things are normally paced for starting relationships. Attraction, curiosity, thinking about them constantly, cautious but still willing to enter the dating aspect. I loved the purity of the kind of love the characters had , more on the love side than just lusting. As a female reader I’m biased to a man being gentle with a women’s heart and taking time to earn her trust rather than straight wanting to jump her bones. Some good mystery and cop genere aspect to the book. Overall a good read for beginners looking for an average real life experience of a story. The last chapter felt a bit rushed but would still recommend this book. I would give it a”it’s a cute story” to pass time. Cozy read.

[Tara Lewis]

This was fine. I'm a sucker for any book involving librarians. It was an easy story, great for beach reading.

[Bathsheba]

Needed an easy read and it delivered, not interested enough to seek out the series though.

[Liz Little]

It was a good read because I cried in the end when Lily's dad was ready to have a relationship with his daughter.

[Sourkeys]

This book is a quick and easy read. It started with so much meat and back story that you found yourself wanting to read the other books in the series, and I think I just might. I loved the romance, but it did feel a little...dry. Like it was an after thought. And the conclusion seemed lacking. Everything else in the book was treated with more "oomph", but the quick tie up with the dad, with the towns people, with the finalizing of the HEA was ...I just wasn't with it. I know these books have a formula, but that formula should really lend itself to a 2-3 chapter flexible window. This book could have used that, the very least it would have been a little more realistic. And it definietly could have used an epilogue, the promblems the heroine and hero face couldn't be adequetly addressed in the treatment it recived.

[Harriet]

Another book I read on and off during the past semester, and one I bought solely because of the cheesy title. Librarian romances are awesome! Pretty enjoyable and a quick read, as everything moves fairly quickly. I really liked Wes, because he was sweet, comfortable, and secure--a nice balance between alpha and beta.

Note that this is a part of a series, so some character references were obviously from past - or forthcoming - installments. This annoyed me at first but eventually I was interested enough to want to read some of their stories someday.

"Stationary" was consistently misused for "stationery." Argh.

[Karen]

Meh. For a suspense, the action moved incredibly slowly, and there wasn't a great deal of buildup beyond the initial tension of the heroine's situation. I had thought the Silhouette Romantic Suspense titles could pretty much be read as standalones, but this one definitely relied on the reader following the rest of the "Coltons of Montana" series-- most of the ongoing investigation throughout the book didn't involve the heroine's situation at all, but the hero's imprisoned-but-innocent brother (who, I assume, is the focus of another book).

[Ana]

This is the first book I’ve read by Morey and it’s clear the author can tell a story. The plotting is solid, the characters relatable and the attraction between the hero and heroine felt real. What gave me pause was the ease with which the heroine achieves redemption with her hometown. It didn’t feel real to me as memories linger and I had to suspend disbelief to accept such a tidy and unrealistic ending. ~ Renee, www.ireadromance.com

[Jenni]

A decent enough read to pass an hour or so but what knocked this down to a two star read for me was the actions of the victim support officer. I don't know if victim support officers are bound by any sort of confidentiality agreement but there is just no way that I can see one revealing the nature of a crime or any details at all to someone they don't know, who doesn't already know the truth and is in no professinal need to know, especially this type of crime.

[Whittney]

I don't like the implication that Lily has to lead a goody-two-shoes life now to make up for being very sexually active when she was younger. I hate the way most of the town judges her. It's way over the top, and I can't help feeling like the message is- she got what she deserved.

[Richelle]

I can't belive how much I didn't hate this book. Read it ironically, but allowed myself to be pulled into the improbable plot and overembellished love story. Definitely a Snowed-in-on-a-Saturday-what-do-I-do? book.

[Kate]

oh yeah!!!!!

[Jessica Wilhoite]

I've never read a romance novel before this. The book wasn't bad, but a little on the cheesy side.

[Cindy]

I just love ths whole book even the other books. I like the plot and the characters. its always go to read other stories on romance other than ur own so it dont get boring.