Book Review: The Second Shot by Bethany Maines

The Deveraux Legacy Book 0.5

A Pacific Northwest Writers' Association 2019 Literary Contest Award Winner

The Deveraux family is wealthy, powerful and in a lot of trouble.

A drunken mistake in college cost U.S. Marshal Maxwell Ames the love of Dominique Deveraux and six years later, he’s determined to fix the slip-up. But there’s just one tiny problem—someone wants the Deveraux family dead. Dominque Deveraux never expected Max to reappear in her life, let alone apologize, but as Dominque investigates the mysterious attacks on her wealthy family Max quickly becomes far more than her one time college classmate. Now, Max and Dominque must dodge mercenaries and bullets as they try to make sure that they’re the only ones who get a second shot.

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My Review:

Wow. I’m crushing pretty hard on this book right now. There’s not much I love more than romantic suspense that dips into rom-com territory. This story does that with a flair that reminds me of Knight and Day or Mr. & Mrs. Smith. I adored Max. He’s strong enough to admit to his mistakes and even apologize for them. Dominique wears a lot of different masks to protect herself. So do her brother and cousins. A big portion of the story is devoted to digging the Deveraux family out from behind those masks and letting us see some of their quirky vulnerabilities. I loved that we got to live in the heads of not only our romantic leads, but also the rest of the younger generation of Deveraux. What I think I liked least, is where this book stops. To me, it didn’t feel like enough of this story line wrapped up to be the right ending place for this story. It’s obvious this book is part of a series because there’re a lot of unanswered questions that I’m left pondering now that I’ve finished reading it. However, it’s a guaranteed way to keep me hooked, waiting for the next one in line.

I received a complimentary copy of this book through Hidden Gems Books.