CHANCE OF A LIFETIME

Librarian Emily Tomlinson, attorney Rick Matheson and country singer/songwriter Beau Yates share more than just a zip code in Harmony, Texas; they each have secret aspirations they’re not even sure of, but their dreams just may come true if they can shake off the past and embrace uncertain but promising futures.

Emily loves her library, and she’ll do everything she can to help it thrive and keep it safe from budget cuts. Starting a writing group is meant to help increase traffic, but it also opens the door to an old friendship and a life she’d thought lost forever. When it becomes clear someone is trying to kill attorney Rick Matheson, it’s his own personal wake-up call. Being threatened brings out the best in him, and vowing to live a more purposeful life might be just what he needs to win the respect of, and a future with, U.S. Marshal Trace Adams. Young musician Beau Yates has his sights on Nashville, but as he watches small-town life flow by him, he realizes that every person has a story, and it doesn’t take a big city to offer drama and redemption. In her newest addition to the Harmony series, Thomas introduces us to romance and intrigue in the small Texas town, past and present. While the overall arc of the story makes sense and will satisfy many fans, more discerning readers might be annoyed by some of the details that don’t quite add up: like how such vicious attacks seem decidedly “big city” yet don’t seem to have a more potent impact on the small town; how they can happen in the middle of the day with no one noticing; the rather weak motivation for the ones that are ultimately explained; or the creaky “we’re just friends, s/he can’t really want me” motif that is extended far beyond any reasonable adult’s suspension of disbelief.

Thomas keeps the pace moving along in a decent story, and if romance readers and Thomas fans don’t ask too many questions, they won’t be disappointed.