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Carolina Justice #1
Danger in a Small Town
Someone had broken into Tess Graver's home and trashed the place. But this was no random robbery. The intruder was looking for something specific--but what? With her own secrets to keep hidden, Tess reluctantly turned to neighbor Ethan Rogers for help. The been-there, seen-that former DEA agent wanted nothing to do with the big-city crime from his old life. But Ethan wasn't about to let the dangerous thugs take over his small town. Or scare strong, sweet Tess into running away--not when he'd just found her.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 22, 2012
19 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Ginny Aiken
51 books97 followersGinny Aiken, a former newspaper reporter, lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and their three younger sons--the oldest is married, has flown the coop, and made her a doting grandmother. Born in Havana, Cuba, and raised in Valencia and Caracas Venezuela, Ginny discovered books at an early age. She wrote her first novel at age fifteen while she trained with the Ballets de Caracas, later to be known as the Venezuelan National Ballet. She burned that tome when she turned a "mature" sixteen. An ecletic list of jobs--including stints as reporter, paralegal, choreographer, language teacher, retail salesperson, wife, mother of four boys, and herder of their numerous and assorted friends, including the 135 members of first the Crossmen and then the Bluecoats Drum & Bugle Corps--brought her back to books in search of her sanity. She is now the author of twenty-seven published works, but she hasn't caught up with that elusive sanity yet.
http://ginnyaikenwrites.com/About_Me....
http://ginnyaikenwrites.com/About_Me....
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 1, 2018
This is the 3rd book I read by Ginny Aiken. I'm sorry read 20% of this story & stopped because it didn't hold my interest.
September 22, 2021
Did I smell an insta-love??
Yes. Yes I did. This book nearly got me putting it down not even 20 pages in. Tess goes back to her home town to help her great uncle recover after losing her job. On a jog (cause apparently every love Inspired I am reading this month has a main gal who jogs) through a wood area she used to run through as a teenager Tess stumbles onto an overdose victim. Okay, not exactly. She gets shoved from behind and falls, then hears a noise in the bush from where this person shoved her from and thinks "puppy!" It's not a puppy. It's a woman in the middle of having a seizure from what looks to be a drug overdose.
Tess doesn't immediately call for help, instead opting for trying to help the woman herself. When the woman quickly dies, Tessa regains rational thought and calls the police. The police are quite thorough in questioning her. This cop, though, decides to take it upon herself to call in her cousin, former DEA agent Ethan Rogers.
And this is where the book pretty much lost me. There was absolutely nothing subtle about the insta-love.
"He wanted nothing to do with another crime scene or another overdose, but the runner tugged at something deep inside him." (p.17-18)
"Tess clasped his fingers. Hers trembled, and he felt an unexpected urge to comfort her." (p. 18)
"She shuddered, then started to fall.
He reached out and caught her in his arms.
...(skip a sentence long paragraph)
Ethan felt a sudden awareness, a strange sense of pieces falling into place, a warmth that didn't make any sense. His urge to comfort Tess took over, and he held her upright.
How could a stranger feel so right in his arms?" (p.19)
Tess stared up into intense blue eyes, only too aware of Ethan Rogers's strength. She couldn't help feeling comforted, protected, supported.
Very odd since he was a stranger." (pg. 20)
It is 4 pages splattered with insta-love gag fest. Seriously? Followed up by:
"And too nice, too good-looking, too intriguing for her own good. Even if he was a stranger.
Lord? What's goin on? I'm not ready for this." (p. 26)
I may not be god, but I can tell you exactly what happened. You author lazed out and insta-loved your a$$. That's what happened.
Anyhow, after that we don't get anything too clear on an investigation. Maggie calls out her cousin Ethan to her crime scene, Ethan oogles the only witness and Maggie up and leaves. Does Ethan investigate unattended (remember, he doesn't work for the DEA anymore and certainly isn't local law enforcement)? No idea. The book doesn't really cover that part...
and then I started speed reading because this book doesn't do much to keep you invested in the characters. I personally found the characters to be a bit flat, the insta-love more annoying than I could fully take (these people don't even know each other!!), and the god stuff to be hovering on the line of palatable and unpalatable. I mean...were there pages missing? You know, the ones where she gets to know him well enough, after finding a dying person in the bush no less, to invite him into the house to help her care for her ailing great uncle???
Anyhow, this one wasn't my personal cup of tea. 1.5 stars at best.
Yes. Yes I did. This book nearly got me putting it down not even 20 pages in. Tess goes back to her home town to help her great uncle recover after losing her job. On a jog (cause apparently every love Inspired I am reading this month has a main gal who jogs) through a wood area she used to run through as a teenager Tess stumbles onto an overdose victim. Okay, not exactly. She gets shoved from behind and falls, then hears a noise in the bush from where this person shoved her from and thinks "puppy!" It's not a puppy. It's a woman in the middle of having a seizure from what looks to be a drug overdose.
Tess doesn't immediately call for help, instead opting for trying to help the woman herself. When the woman quickly dies, Tessa regains rational thought and calls the police. The police are quite thorough in questioning her. This cop, though, decides to take it upon herself to call in her cousin, former DEA agent Ethan Rogers.
And this is where the book pretty much lost me. There was absolutely nothing subtle about the insta-love.
"He wanted nothing to do with another crime scene or another overdose, but the runner tugged at something deep inside him." (p.17-18)
"Tess clasped his fingers. Hers trembled, and he felt an unexpected urge to comfort her." (p. 18)
"She shuddered, then started to fall.
He reached out and caught her in his arms.
...(skip a sentence long paragraph)
Ethan felt a sudden awareness, a strange sense of pieces falling into place, a warmth that didn't make any sense. His urge to comfort Tess took over, and he held her upright.
How could a stranger feel so right in his arms?" (p.19)
Tess stared up into intense blue eyes, only too aware of Ethan Rogers's strength. She couldn't help feeling comforted, protected, supported.
Very odd since he was a stranger." (pg. 20)
It is 4 pages splattered with insta-love gag fest. Seriously? Followed up by:
"And too nice, too good-looking, too intriguing for her own good. Even if he was a stranger.
Lord? What's goin on? I'm not ready for this." (p. 26)
I may not be god, but I can tell you exactly what happened. You author lazed out and insta-loved your a$$. That's what happened.
Anyhow, after that we don't get anything too clear on an investigation. Maggie calls out her cousin Ethan to her crime scene, Ethan oogles the only witness and Maggie up and leaves. Does Ethan investigate unattended (remember, he doesn't work for the DEA anymore and certainly isn't local law enforcement)? No idea. The book doesn't really cover that part...
and then I started speed reading because this book doesn't do much to keep you invested in the characters. I personally found the characters to be a bit flat, the insta-love more annoying than I could fully take (these people don't even know each other!!), and the god stuff to be hovering on the line of palatable and unpalatable. I mean...were there pages missing? You know, the ones where she gets to know him well enough, after finding a dying person in the bush no less, to invite him into the house to help her care for her ailing great uncle???
Anyhow, this one wasn't my personal cup of tea. 1.5 stars at best.
August 15, 2013
Tess comes back home to help her uncle who has an injured leg. She was ready to leave her job anyway because her co-workers were still treating her with suspicion, even though she was cleared of being a thief. Little does she know that an innocent desire for a job will set in motion a series of events that might mean her life.
Ethan is in town to recover. He recently retired from being a DEA agent. His last case has left internal scars that are proving difficult to get over. When his cousin asks for his help solving a murder, he is reluctant but jumps in to see what he can do.
I like the flow of the story and how the author was able to blend the faith aspect into the story without destroying the mystery. There are 3 books in this series and this is the first one.
Ethan is in town to recover. He recently retired from being a DEA agent. His last case has left internal scars that are proving difficult to get over. When his cousin asks for his help solving a murder, he is reluctant but jumps in to see what he can do.
I like the flow of the story and how the author was able to blend the faith aspect into the story without destroying the mystery. There are 3 books in this series and this is the first one.
April 16, 2013
When Tess Graver's home is robbed, she enlists the aid of her neighbor, former DEA agent Ethan Rogers, to find out what the robber was looking for. Soon, they both discover that a meth lab is setting up shop in this small Carolina town. Both Tess and Ethan left their previous jobs under suspicious circumstances, and I liked how the author used their backgrounds to draw them closer to each other. The book is more suspenseful than some others in this series, and it's a decent hour's read.
June 10, 2011
Girl moves back to a small town, and bad things start happening. Next door neighbor, former DEA, jumps into the fray to find out what's going on.
This was not one of my favorites. It was very clean, Christian, and kept the action moving. Just not "spellbinding". Some things were a little disconnected, but I thought it was OK.
This was not one of my favorites. It was very clean, Christian, and kept the action moving. Just not "spellbinding". Some things were a little disconnected, but I thought it was OK.
September 30, 2012
Both Tess and Ethan left their jobs for different reasons.. but at the say time the reason were the same.. they has lost hope, wanted to return to something familiar to feel safe, But yo their surprise, it is anything but safe. The twist and turns, keep bringing them closer to each other and they help each other back to having Hope
February 18, 2016
short suspense
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews