BOOK REVIEW: Hers to Protect by Catherine Lanigan

On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Erica here: Guys! I’ve been horrible at sharing reviews for books this year! I haven’t signed up to review very many, and yet and still the reviews keep falling through the cracks in the surface of a BUSY first half of the year. But I’m committed to bringing you more reviews (ahem…ON TIME…ahem), and what better way to back up that promise than share my review of Hers to Protect, book #11 in the Shores of Indian Lake series by Catherine Lanigan? So let’s get to it, shall we? (Please note, I received an advance Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

I have a confession to make. Somehow, I’ve missed the first 10 books in this series. A surreptitious search of my Goodreads shelves says I haven’t read anything else by Ms. Lanigan. I know, the rule is every books in a romance line like Harlequin’s Heartwarming line can be read as a standalone, but every time I read about a couple in this book, I wondered what happened in THEIR book. This didn’t detract from the story for me, but I figured you should know and take my perceptions with a grain of salt if you’re a die-hard, start at the beginning of the series and go straight through kind of reader like me. There’s a handy dandy “other books in the series” graphic at the end of this post in case you want to go back and read the others.

In Hers to Protect, we’re following Indian Lake rookie cop Violet Hawkins in her quest to become a detective. Up to this point, she’s done little more than hand out the occasional parking ticket, but she knows she has the instincts and skills to be a Grade A detective. She’s secured her first “real” assignment-a stakeout. She’s tasked with finding a suspect in a drug trafficking gang. Instead, she pulls over famous race car driver Josh Stevens.

Josh Stevens is week’s away from an important race when he ends up in Violet’s path. He doesn’t need the bad publicity of a speeding ticket and arrest in the final lead up to the big race. Both his lawyer and his manager advise him to lay low and find a way to get in the tiny town’s good graces. Just when he’s winning over the town, and the pretty Officer Hawks, her investigation and his past seem to place him on Violet’s bad side. Will Violet end up placing Josh under arrest again, or will her heart be the one behind bars?

I really enjoyed this book! I read it in a couple days (work and life interrupted, unfortunately). The plot was engaging and Ms. Lanigan kept the conflict strong throughout the story. The author did a great job of balancing moving both the plot and Josh and Violet’s relationship forward.

I have to admit, I didn’t like the characters right away. They both jumped to conclusions and made assumptions about each other that were a bit extreme. This doesn’t usually bother me, but these came before I felt I had the opportunity to learn their true characters. It took me a while to sort them out and grow to like and care about them.

Another thing that threw me off about them is how quickly they went from dislike/distrust to having strong feelings for each other. I was little more than 50% in when I felt like they might have the conflict resolved and race toward the happily ever horizon. Luckily, Catherine through some hairpin turns in the road to force them to slow down. I don’t have a problem with strong feelings early and often if the writer can keep the conflict equally strong, and Ms. Lanigan managed to do so.

Other than the conflict and plot, I also loved the subplot. The project Violet and Josh work on together with other members of the Indian Lake community not only brought out a bit of the characters’ backstories, it showed their commonality, yet sharpened their conflict at the same time (I won’t say how. You’ll have to pick up the book to find out!).

I would recommend Hers to Protect to anyone looking for a clean read with a compelling conflict, a light enemies to lovers angle, and plenty of small town heart.

Hers to Protect
(Shores of Indian Lake #11)
By Catherine Lanigan
Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 384 Pages
April 1st 2019 by Harlequin Heartwarming

She’s sworn to protect…

But does that include a speeding celebrity?

Violet Hawks is a by-the-books police officer—so when she catches a man speeding, she arrests him. Only, the man is famous race car driver Josh Stevens. To make amends, Josh launches a charm campaign, and it works on the small town…and on Violet. But when Josh is connected to an investigation, Violet begins to wonder—can she trust her instincts when her heart is involved?

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Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of over forty-five published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into over twenty-four languages. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid foundation to pen a collection of compelling and informative true stories of teen addicts. Ms. Lanigan’s SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE series for HARLEQUIN HEARTWARMING includes LOVE SHADOWS, HEART’S DESIRE , A FINE YEAR FOR LOVE, KATIA’S PROMISE, FEAR OF FALLING, SOPHIE’S PATH, PROTECTING THE SINGLE MOM, FAMILY OF HIS OWN, HIS BABY DILEMMA, RESCUED BY THE FIREFIGHTER and HER TO PROTECT (2019).

Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs. She writes a monthly blog for Heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com.

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