3.5 stars

I’ve been meaning to get to this one for a while. I have the book Turn the Tide on my Kindle already and knew it had an introductory story to this series included in the four-author compilation. (I did read the Katie Ruggle contribution, Any Means Necessary, but haven’t gotten to the others so haven’t reviewed the book yet.) Let me tell you, that really quick intro is fun and did its job of making me want to hop into this first full-length book of the series.

John Carmondy is a peach who also happens to be a huge slab of granite. And Molly is so oblivious and doesn’t even realize he’s not tormenting her, he’s flirting. I love how all of Molly’s sisters tease her and see what these interactions truly are but Molly is such a focused person she still doesn’t get that the chemistry she’s feeling (and trying to deny) goes both ways.

Of course, once Molly’s mom puts her and her sisters in a terrible position, Molly eventually comes to realize she not only needs John’s help, but also likes working with him. As for Molly’s mom…I cannot stand her. Whether she’s as guilty as she looks in this story or not, her first appearance on the page and the way she interacts with Molly was enough for me to know she’s a selfish waste of a human. It’s a testament to Molly’s grit and determination, the oldest of five sisters, that all of the girls have turned out to be morally upstanding citizens.

While this is Molly’s and John’s story, we get to know the other sisters a little. There is the storyline of their mom that I believe will run throughout the series (it wasn’t resolved at the end of this book), but I wouldn’t consider this story any type of cliffhanger as the Molly/John story is resolved.

I had a lot of fun reading this story. There’s a great connection with John and Molly as well as Molly with all of her sisters. There are definitely people in the town that look down on the sisters because of their mom, but they also have a pretty good support system with others. And while all the women are bounty hunters, they all have different strengths and roles in their company. I’m looking forward to delving deeper into this family and this town.

I had some flow problems with the story here and there, but nothing major and nothing that kept me from picking the book back up when I could. And, being there are a lot of characters to introduce in the first of a series, I’m thinking things will only pick up from here.

You can read more of my reviews at All In Good Time.