The Hero by Robyn Carr Series: Thunder Point #3
Published by Harlequin MIRA on August 27, 2013
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: the publisher through NetGalley
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Also in this series: The Wanderer, The Newcomer, The Chance, The Promise, The Homecoming, One Wish, A New Hope, Wildest Dreams
Also by this author: My Kind of Christmas, The Wanderer, The Newcomer, The Chance, The Promise, The Homecoming, 'Tis the Season, One Wish, Never Too Late, A New Hope, Wildest Dreams, What We Find, The Life She Wants, Any Day Now
In a moment of desperation, Devon McAllister takes her daughter and flees a place where they should have been safe and secure. She has no idea what is around the next bend, but she is pretty certain it can't be worse than what they've left behind. Her plan is to escape to somewhere she can be invisible. Instead, an unexpected offer of assistance leads her to Thunder Point, a tiny Oregon town with a willingness to help someone in need.
As the widowed father of a vulnerable young boy, Spencer Lawson knows something about needing friendship. But he's not looking for anything else. Instead, he's thrown his energy into his new role as Thunder Point's high school football coach. Tough and demanding to his team, off the field he's gentle and kind...just the kind of man who could heal Devon's wounded heart.
Devon thought she wanted to hide from the world. But in Thunder Point, you find bravery where you least expect it...and sometimes, you find a hero.
I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.
Review:
The Hero is probably the best book in the Thunder Point series so far. Devon is a wonderful character, courageous and fierce in the way only a mother can be, but at the same time vulnerable and understandably cautious, even fearful. Her flight from a bad situation lends the novel more urgency and suspense than either of the previous books. As for Spencer, we met him in The Newcomer: he is the father who raised Cooper’s biological son, believing for many years for many years that the boy was his own. Now Spencer has moved to Thunder Point to coach the high school football team, and Spence and Cooper are sharing fathering duties.
Spencer doesn’t think he’s ready for another relationship so soon after his wife’s death, particularly with a young woman with as many secrets as Devon is hiding. But he can’t deny his attraction to Devon. It’s a familiar theme in romance, but Carr makes it fresh simply by making the characters and their feelings so real. For her part, Devon is reluctant to trust her heart to any man, since her last choice was so disastrous. Spencer’s obvious attraction, care, and respect gradually win her over — until he abruptly gets cold feet.
The blurb is a bit misleading. Spencer isn’t the titular hero; that title belongs to Rawley, Cooper’s Vietnam-veteran friend and employee. There have been hints in the previous books that there is more to Rawley than meets the eye, and in this book, he finally comes into his own, playing the role of hero in both the beginning and end of the book. I was a little disappointed that he figures so little in the middle of the book, but the ending more than made up for that. Rawley proves himself an truly admirable man: honorable, caring, and more than capable of heroics when the need arises — and boy, does it arise!
As the Thunder Point series progresses, it becomes more and more “fiction with romance” as opposed to strictly romance. Devon and Spencer’s relationship is important, particularly to the two of them, but the central focus of the book is really Devon’s story. I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s obvious fairly early on that she is escaping from some sort of cult. That there is more to it than that also becomes evident, and provides much of the tension in the novel.
All in all, I really enjoyed The Hero, and I’m looking forward to the sequel. The Chance will be released Feb. 25, 2014, and features a former convict and an FBI agent. Knowing Carr, she can make even that unlikely pairing both compelling and believable. I can hardly wait!
The Thunder Point series in order:
- The Wanderer (review)
- The Newcomer (review)
- The Hero (review)
- The Chance (review)
- The Promise (review)
- The Homecoming (review)
- One Wish (review)
- A New Hope (forthcoming)
- Wildest Dreams (forthcoming)
About Robyn Carr
Robyn Carr is the RITA award-winning author of over 40 books. Set in small towns, her Virgin River, Grace Valley and Thunder Point series blend romance and women’s fiction, and often deal sensitively with issues including war-related injuries, PTSD, alcoholism, bullying, rape, and single parenthood. In 2010, she won RT’s Career Achievement Best Author Award for Contemporary Romance.
Susan
I’ve only read the first book in this series so far, but I know I’ll love this one, too. Robyn Carr is the only romance writer I read — maybe it’s because, like you said, her books are more “fiction with romance” not just “romance with more romance.” Glad you’re enjoying the series!
Lark @ The Bookwyrm's Hoard
There are only a few contemporary romance authors I read, and fewer of those who are on my auto-buy list; Robyn Carr was the first and is still my favorite of those.