When Livy O’Brien spies a young boy jostling a man walking along the boardwalk, she recognizes the act for what it is. After all, she used to be known as Light-Fingered Livy. But that was before she put her past behind her and moved to the growing town of Chestnut, Illinois, where she’s helping to run an orphanage. Now she’ll do almost anything to protect the street kids like herself.
Sheriff’s deputy Jake Russell had no idea what he was in for when he ran into Livy—literally while chasing down a pickpocket. With a rash of robberies and a growing number of street kids in town—as well as a loan on the family farm that needs to be paid off—Jake doesn’t have time to pursue a girl. Still, he can’t seem to get Livy out of his mind. He wants to get to know her better . . . but Livy isn’t willing to trust any man, especially not a lawman.
As one of the books on my Top Ten Must Read Historical Romance Novels for 2017 list, this book has been patiently waiting for me for months. While I won’t say this book was perfect (there were a couple brief moments I had to swallow some implausibility), I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book. It was one of those where you can’t quite put your finger on what you loved about it – the pacing? the characters? the plot twists? – but you don’t want to put it down and when you’re done, you’re smiling and eagerly looking forward to more by the author.
My Rating:
3 out of 5 stars