Tanner Layne and Raquel Merrick fell in love young, hard and fast and both of them knew a beautiful life they thought would be forever.Until Rocky left Layne, no explanation, no going back.Layne escapes the ’burg only to come back years later because his ex-wife has hooked herself to the town jerk and Layne needs to make sure his sons get raised right. Layne manages to avoid Rocky. But when Layne … Rocky. But when Layne gets three bullets drilled into him while investigating a dirty cop, he can’t do that because Rocky stops avoiding Layne. They make a deal to work together to expose the dirty cop but they have no idea the strength of their enduring attraction or the sheer evil at work in the ’burg.
As Tanner Layne and Raquel Merrick play their game and dance around the pull that draws them together, Layne has to discover the dark secrets buried so deep in Rocky’s heart she doesn’t even know they’re there at the same time untangle a sinister web of crime so abhorrent it has to be stopped…at all costs.
And to do it, Layne has to enlist everyone, including his ex-CIA mentor, Rocky’s detective brother, the town’s unpredictable informant and Layne’s two teenage sons. All the while stopping Rocky from doing something crazy and keeping their game secret so Layne won’t get himself dead.
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Kristen Ashley did it again. A second chance love. This was a powerful read and so full of love !!!
While I hate long seperations between couples, Rocky, Layne, and the kids really made up for it. I adored this family. Even though things weren’t exactly as they seem in the beginning, to see a couple working together is what I love to read. Add in two teenage mini alpha’s, Layne’s sons, and you’ve got a winner.
Drama outside of the relationship is much preferable to me as a reader. Not that they didn’t have drama in the relationship because they still had to work through what happened 18 years prior. However, I still felt like they were in it together and that’s what made the difference.
This one had a lot of great side characters that also added to my overall enjoyment of the book. There were a few minor things that I didn’t like, but all the good outweighed the little irritations.
I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it. This author has a knack for picking out great narrators.
4.95 Stars
Genres; Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Romance, Suspense.
Negatives & Positives
I found one typo.
Both main characters, Tanner Layne and Raquel Merrick, were amazing. Very complex and in depth personality build.
At one point I was sure I had figured out why Raquel (Rocky) had left Tanner in their earlier relationship. I was wrong!
This story is jammed full of adult romance, mystery and suspense.
All the characters are well developed. The intrigue is top notch. I was constantly and pleasantly surprised. Twist and turns everywhere. The flow was spot on.
Loved it and want more of it.
Can’t wait to read book 4 in this series.
bookshelves: romance, contemporary, adult, suspense, mystery
2 notes & 2 highlights (All visible)
I love anything I’ve ever read from Kristin Ashley
As always, Kristen Ashley scores a perfect 5 stars from me. I liked that this book was entirely from Layne’s POV. Completely unique from nearly all of this author’s other books. Hot, sexy, and above all, romantic. Beautiful!
I liked Layne and Rocky. They had great chemistry, emotional zing, and understood what made the other tick…most of the time at least. They had a tumultuous history that made their reuniting quite touching. I wouldn’t call them passionate (although there’s no doubting the physical attraction) instead they felt…comfortable.
The one thing I found interesting was the story being told completely from Layne’s POV. Rocky’s perception would have been awesome, but alas…no luck. Maybe it’s because he was a guy and I couldn’t relate, but Layne’s focus took some adjusting. I think that’s why I didn’t really click with him until he started to inadvertently fine-tune his relationships with his sons and Rocky. The more the feels came across the happier I was as a reader!
With plenty of action, a plethora of characters, and lots of charged emotions, this was a good read. By the end, however, I was with Layne and Rocky…craving quiet and normal:)
Golden Trail was an excellent story to get lost in! Amazing characters, lots of drama and emotion, and a ton of suspense. Loved it!