This is the continuing story of Lacey, Evie, Cora and Naomi, who have come to the wilderness to start up the town of Hope Falls. The mine collapse has left Lacey's brother, who is also Cora's fiance, a broken man, both physically and emotionally. Evie has found love, but the other women are slow to give their approval of the marriage. All marriages are to have a vote and Jake hasn't quite passed the test since he has not been especially forthcoming about who he is.
Chase has come to town trying to find out what happened at the mine. The collapse has left his sister's husband dead and left her destitute. He's after the truth of what happened and suspects that everything is not what it seems in Hope Falls. He suspects that the women are involved and that they have an impostor in the house recovering. If he's not an impostor, it must mean that Braden was somehow involved in the collapse of the mine. Not wanting to believe that they are capable of it, he keeps finding evidence that seems to point to his theories.
Lacey is a major hurdle to his investigations. She always seems to find a way to get under his skin and they spend more time fighting than getting along. Lacey feels betrayed by her friends when they go behind her back and hire Chase on to keep an eye on the town while Jake takes the man who killed his brother back to Maine.
The two are barely able to find common ground and most conversations end up in arguments. Assumptions and misunderstandings are abundant. Lacey is frustrated that using her womanly wiles on Chase doesn't work and Chase's blunt statements of truth are sometimes hard to take. The more he believes his absurd theories, the reader knows that it's all going to go badly when he reveals them to the others. I found myself cringing once or twice.
I did enjoy the book, but I have to admit to getting a little annoyed with Lacey on more than one occasion. In fact, there were a lot of times that she was showing just how naive she was or speaking her mind without really thinking about what she was saying, even to her friends. If she didn't get her way, it was more of a 'woe is me' attitude. Once she kind of got her act together, I wasn't as irritated.
In the end, I did like this book. The continuing story of the reason for the mine collapse is the reason that I recommend that these books be read in order. A lot of the important issues from the first book are included as flashbacks in this book, but I would still recommend reading Rugged and Relentless first. The third book in the series, Strong and Stubborn, is available November 1 and is on my watch list. It's the story of Naomi, the oldest of the women, finding love. I look forward to reading it. Good Book!
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