Title: Her Sanctuary

Author: Toni Anderson

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Page Length: 322 pages

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Blurb

Running for her life, ex-FBI agent Elizabeth Ward escapes to Montana with a new identity. She craves peace and solitude, but instead finds handsome rancher, Nat Sullivan. Nat is trying to hold his ailing family together, while struggling to keep the ranch from bankruptcy. The last thing he needs is a beautiful stranger reminding him there is more to life than work. But Elizabeth isn't what she seems. And when a murderer and rapist track her down to the remote ranch, they all find out about the power of revenge. Revenge or Redemption. Which would you choose?

Review

Elizabeth Ward, Special Agent with the FBI’s Forgery and Fine Arts Division, was in trouble.  This was not her normal run-of-the-mill trouble either.  This was deep, dark, and life-threatening trouble.  It was usually something, as one of the top agents in the FBI, she dealt with rather easily.  However, this time the trouble was very different, for this time she was the target of a deadly betrayal.  The agents she worked with in Forgery and Fine Arts always protected her, however she was on loan to the FBI’s Organized Crime Unit, and apparently they, or some of their members didn’t feel the same way.  Now they had hung her out to dry, and the only thing she could do was run.  She didn’t know where to go, how far or how deeply she has to hide, but she did have contingency plans, and even though she wasn’t due to show up just yet, she would hope there was room for her now.

As she traveled the rough country roads, her heart pounded, her brain spun, and sh could only hope her friend and erstwhile conspirator was also safely tucked away at her house in New England.  Few if any knew of that place, and that she owned it, but she knew she wouldn’t chance being caught there.  Josie, her friend and sometimes double, was street-wise and canny, and should be safe there because the the OCU didn’t know about the place, and Marsh Hayes, her mentor and boss at the FBI wouldn’t tell them anything.  He’d been against Elizabeth going on loan to them in the first place.  Andrew DeLattio, however, was another story.  He was on her personal “hit list” and slated to reap his reward.  Witness protection or not, she was going to make certain he never subjected another to what he had done to her.  Yes, if Eliza had her way, he would definitely die.  She carefully set her trap, and with any luck, DeLattio would end up on a slab.  She wished for slow and painful, but one expert shot would do.

He’d done the only thing he could, accepted the woman early, a couple of weeks early, but that was ok since she was willing to pay the extra costs.  Nat Sullivan was hard, caloused, and every inch a hard working cowboy who was fighting to save the Triple H Ranch, to save his home from the grasps of a greedy and quite malicious neighbor.  That story went way back, when Nat refused to bed Troy Strange’s wife.  She was a real piece of work, claiming Nat was her lover after he had turned away her advances.  Her lies and machinations caused Troy to seek petty revenge and vengeance by cutting fences, killing cattle, and other petty acts of vandalism to Nat’s property.  Now here, on his doorstep was another mystery.  A woman who was a crack shot, slept with a glock under her pillow, and jumped at shadows.  There was also the fact she greatly resembled Nina, and that alone was enough to pull heartstrings.

She wasn’t helpless, this woman of mystery, but she was running from something or someone.  He saw the signs, knew the symptoms by heart because he had seen them often enough, and even experienced them himself from time to time.  All the adventure ended for him when he came back to the ranch after his father died.  Now he had all the responsibility because sometimes his brother just wasn’t of much help.  This was a paying guest, and he really shouldn’t care as long as she paid her bill.  He shouldn’t get involved, but there was a certain aura, a strange vulnerability about Eliza that Nat couldn’t ignore.  Something was troubling her badly, and she needed a place to hide.  Nat only hoped she didn’t bring her troubles to his family’s front door, but then protectiveness rose up inside him, and he knew he would kill anyone who posed a danger or a threat to Eliza…

If I had to rate this book, for me it would be a FIVE ROSE READ at least.  It had all the elements of a great book:

Strong Characters

Great Plot

Excellent Writing

Wonderful Pacing

Vivid Detail

Plenty of Romance and Suspense

Her Sanctuary by Toni Anderson is everything one could wish for in a Romantic Suspense.  Nat is strong, ruggedly handsome, talented and hurting in inexplicable ways.  Eliza is beautiful, skilled, strong, but due to circumstances she has become vulnerable, and scared in ways she never was before, and that was not at all like her true self.  This unique blending of characters lends itself to two very unlikely disparate people shoring up each other’s weak places, shortcomings, and emotions, and allowing them to partner up in unexpected ways.  With a cruel and vicious mobster on her trail, Eliza can only hope no one at the Triple H will get hurt.  She can only hope her luck will hold until DeLattio is dealt with, but she needs to stay low and out if his crosshairs if possible.  As for Nat, he can use the help on the ranch, and the extra income, small as it is, badly needed.  The excitement mounts when both Nat and Eliza find they have unexpected support and aid from allies neither would have thought to look toward.  Friends like the Sherriff, who may be a small town yokel, but who can’t be bought or threatened, and like Cal Landon, former convicted killer.  Cal owes Nat a debt for saving his life by giving him the chance with the job, but more than that, he has gained respect for Nat, and as he comes to know Eliza better, the same grows for her.  Neither Nat nor Eliza can foretell the future, but between them sparks will fly, and when the end comes, there is only one thing left to do...fight.

Eliza truly finds Her Sanctuary in the Triple H and in Nat’s arms, and with Marsh hot on her trail, trying to get to her and assure her safety before DeLattio, things get hot and heavy.  There are so many question posed in the text, and not surprisingly, the plot answers them all piece by piece until, at the end, all the answers are there tied in gold ribbon.  The results are very clearly cut, and you are surprised at some of them and the results stemming from decisions made by the ancillary characters.  It is truly a delightfully deep and yet exciting read for lovers of all genres, not just romance.  Her Sanctuary is definitely a book I shall keep and read again, and again.  It has depths that only many reading will uncover, and as of this writing, I have read it three times, each time I’m still discovering things I missed the first time through.  Toni Anderson had definitely given us a great book in the footsteps of Christine Feehan, J.D. Robb, Nina Bruhns, Brenda Joyce, and others of that ilk.  The characters and story speak for themselves and draw the reader into the story immediately.  This is one book that once started, I couldn’t put down, and before I knew it, I was done!  Kudos must go to Toni, and to The Wild Rose Press for publishing her tale and putting it out for the rest of us to enjoy.  Her Sanctuary is a book I can easily and highly recommend for all readers and lovers of great books.  It is truly worth every minute it takes to read, so head over to The Wild Rose Press and pick up a copy today.

Yours in Good Reading,

Rose!

WRDF Review