by Sandra Brown
First published 2023
Elle Portman takes her two-year-old son Charlie to a Texas county fair for a rare evening of fun. They walk among the carousels and carnival games, ready to head home after their night out. Then a gunman opens fire on the crowd. Panic spreads through the midway as people run for cover. Corporate consultant Calder Hudson also gets caught in the shooting. He wakes up in a hospital bed after emergency surgery on his gunshot wound to his arm. The doctor tells him he survived better than most victims. Others died that night. Calder feels angry and wants justice for what happened. Elle shares his drive to find the shooter. The two meet by chance at the police station during the investigation. They feel drawn to each other despite the circumstances. Their attraction grows stronger, but both question whether a relationship born from such violence can work. The shooter remains free, and the trauma connects them in ways that might prove too heavy to bear.
Genres: crime, action, mystery-thriller, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: Texas
Period: 21st-century
416 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: graphic-violence, violence