Why I read it: This is one from my personal library.
What it’s about: (from Goodreads) Lieutenant Alexander Colton and February Owens were high-school sweethearts. Everyone in their small town knew from the moment they met they were meant for each other. But something happened, and Feb broke Colt’s heart; then she turned wild, and tragedy struck. Colt meted out revenge against the man who brought Feb low, but even though Colt risked it all for her, Feb turned her back on him and left town.
Fifteen years later Feb comes back to help run the family bar. But there’s so much water under the bridge separating her and Colt, everyone knows they’ll never get back together – until someone starts hacking up people in Feb’s life. Colt is still Colt, and Feb is still Feb, so the town watches as Colt goes all out to find the murderer while trying to keep Feb safe. As the bodies pile up, the feds move in, and a twisting, turning story unravels, exposing a very sick man who has claimed numerous victims. Along the way Feb and Colt battle their enduring attraction and the beautiful but lost history that weaves them together.
What worked for me (and what didn’t): February Owens and Alexander “Colt” Colton grew up together – her older brother Morrie is Colt’s best friend – and they dated as teenagers. Something happened which split them up – something which Feb won’t talk about but which broke her and which Colt doesn’t understand even a little bit (although, I have to say I found his naivety in the circumstances a little surprising. Surely he at least had something of a clue.) While Colt continued his close relationship with Feb’s and Morrie’s parents and with Morrie, he and Feb had basically nothing to do with one another for 22 years. In between they both got married and divorced. In Feb’s case, she married an abusive asshole who beat her and after it became public knowledge, Feb left the ‘burg, only returning for special family occasions. Colt married Melanie and was happy with her for a while but she pulled away from him when they found out she was infertile and they divorced some years before the book begins.
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