The Lone Star Lawman

Start From Where You Stand

Lily Jones is angry. Very angry. All she wants is the truth and justice. She may just discover that truth is a two-edged sword.

Ducking encounters with Lily has become a habit for Chief Shane Highwater. His patience is wearing thin, but he can take whatever Lily dishes out. He just can’t tell her the truth.

As character driven novels go, The Lone Star Lawman by Justine Davis was really pretty good one. I liked the writing style, the world building, the characters and the story. Usually I dislike too much internal thoughts and dialogue, but in this case it was well defined and did help with each character’s development.

Content 411: In addition to some very mild swearing, there is some passionate kissing and one moderately described sexually intimate scene.

ustine Davis has long been one of my favorite go-to authors because she always delivers a great story with a lot of heart, and in The Lone Star Lawman, an enemies-to-lovers novel, as well as the beginning of a new, multi-author series, Texas Justice, she does just that, and this novel gets 4 stars from this reader.

The lawman in question is Shane Highwater, the police chief in Last Stand, Texas, and he’s everything you’d want a romance hero to be–handsome, strong, protective, honest, caring, courageous and committed to keeping his town and the people in it safe and secure. The small town of Last Stand is beyond proud of him with one notable exception, local reporter, Liliana (Lily) Jones.

Five months earlier, Shane was trying to arrest Chad Crittendon, arrest warrant in hand, but Chad saw him and ran–a fast car chase ensued, Chad crashed into a brick wall, his car burst into flames and Shane was unable to save him. Chad was Liliana (Lily) Jones’ fiancé at the time, and ever since that day, a day that broke her heart, she’s blamed Shane for Chad’s death, and she’s gone out of her way to find some dirt on him, antagonize him, harass him, embarrass him, all with a vengeance. She’s convinced that he willingly let Chad die, and her anger has led to some sketchy and rude behavior on her part, since all she wants is vengeance. Shane, however, has too much integrity to get into a sparring match with her, verbal or otherwise, all complicated by the fact that he finds himself attracted to the feisty, determined woman. What Lily didn’t know about her fiancé was a lot, and Shane has taken her verbal jabs for months, avoiding her yet unwilling to show her the proof of Chad’s true nature and criminal record.

It’s not until a horrible accident at the birthday celebration for the town’s 102-year-old matriarch that Lily’s eyes begin to open and to objectively see Shane in action, and what she sees him do as he springs into action is his heroism, and his willingness to put his own life in danger to rescue a stranger trapped in a burning vehicle, just as she soon learns he did when he tried to rescue her now dead fiancé. To say that she’s embarrassed and ashamed of her behavior is putting it mildly, but how to make amends to this brave, hardworking and heroic lawman and apologize to him, is one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do–even though she still hangs on to her belief that Chad was wrongly accused. Shane has proof of Chad’s crimes but it’s confidential, and he really doesn’t want to hurt her and destroy Lily’s misconceptions about who Chad really was, but when he finally does tell her, her reaction is not at all what he expected.

We are also given a peek at Shane’s past, and his relationships with his younger siblings, his sister, Sage, a barrel racer, his brothers Sean and Slater, a detective and bartender, respectively, and their missing brother, Kane, who, at age 16, disappeared and hasn’t been heard from since the day their father, the former police chief, died. I’m guessing that each of these siblings will be featured in upcoming books in this series, and it’s a series I’ll be following.

The Lone Star Lawman was a darn good read from the get-go, I’d expect nothing less from Ms. Davis. It has two strong and determined lead characters with real depth, deeply felt emotions, and the gradual build up of their enemies-to-lovers relationship, and I am happy to recommend it.

I voluntarily read an advance reader copy of this novel. The opinions expressed are my own.

“The Lone Star Lawman” by Justine Davis is book one in Texas Justice and is also the third book taking place in Last Stand, Texas (see publisher website for more titles!).

The “lawman” is Shane Highwater, the police chief of Last Stand. He is a near-perfect hero, even having overcome traumas in his life.
Liliana Jones is a local reporter and blames Shane for the death of her fiancé.
The two start as enemies and end as lovers, with mutual respect and understanding.

I will say, I was confused with the first couple chapters. I understand the need for an author to hint at secrets to keep the reader reading, but there were too many at once and they were too vague. The story did pick up around the thirty-five percent mark.

Overall, I did enjoy “The Lone Star Lawman” and I’m curious which Highwater sibling we’ll meet next.

I fell in love with the character of Last Stand, Texas Police Chief Shane Highwater. A man and officer that we would all admire. Shane is always fair, even to reporter Liliana Jones who believes he is at fault for her fiancé’s death. Lily is determined to learn the facts that caused the accident that took his life. Although Shane is attracted to Lily, he has never acted on that attraction as he admires her loyalty to her fiancé and understands her pain. Shane has two brothers and a sister that live in Last Stand – Slater runs the town bar, Sean is a detective on the force and Sage runs their ranch. Shane is still searching for clues in to the untimely death of their father and the disappearance of their brother, Kane. When a violent accident happens in town, Lily’s eyes are finally opened and she sees that Shane is a truly honorable man. Will she realize in time that her distrust of Shane has been tied to other feelings that she would not admit? I so enjoyed this book and my visit to Last Stand, Texas, and I really look forward to the rest of this series. Ms. Davis has such a way of making her story fit her believable and genuine characters. I received an advance review copy at no cost and without obligation for an honest review. (by paytonpuppy)

Excellent start to the new series. Shane is Chief of Police in Last Stand, Texas, continuing a long family tradition of service. He was well-suited to the job, as he always maintained a calm attitude, and was well-known for his courage, integrity, and self-sacrifice. The only one who didn’t agree with the rest of the town was Lily Jones. She believed that Shane was responsible for her fiancé’s death and was determined to prove it.

I loved the development of the relationship between Shane and Lily, though it certainly got off to a rocky start. The story opened as Shane tried his best to avoid encountering Lily. She has made his life miserable for the last several months, continually cornering him and haranguing him about the circumstances of her fiancé’s death. There were things about her late fiancé that she didn’t know, and he couldn’t tell her because of the investigation. Shane understood her feelings, which was why he tried to keep his cool around her. But it was very wearing on him, especially since he’d been drawn to her since the first time he met her. Lily was a reporter for the town paper and was very good at her job. Unfortunately, she had a blind spot where it came to her late fiancé, and her anger at Shane affected her objectivity when it came to him. Though she kept her antipathy out of her stories, she was determined to find some kind of dirt on Shane that would show that he wasn’t the paragon everyone thought he was.

The confrontations between Lily and Shane happened regularly and always went the same way. She sniped at him, making snarky comments about his perfection before launching into another diatribe about how wrong he was about Chad. Shane would stand there and take it, even though he knew the truth because he knew she was hurting. Even Lily’s friends couldn’t convince her to give up her quest. I ached for Shane, who was innocent of her accusations and was attracted to a woman who detested him. Or did she? Lily was certainly voluble with her opinions, but she also couldn’t deny that he had an effect on her, one that she did her best to ignore.

Then a town tragedy opened Lily’s eyes and showed her that he was precisely the man everyone said he was. I have to admit that I was impressed by Lily’s ability to accept the truth, apologize sincerely, and apply her words to her actions. It was fun to see Shane’s reaction, first of disbelief, then wariness as he waited for her to resume her old ways. But the change was real, and as they worked together the attraction between them continued to grow. However, the issue of Chad’s innocence stayed between them and made it difficult for Lily to move on. Lily’s life was turned upside down when Shane arranged for her to see the full report. I loved Shane’s protectiveness as he dealt with the consequences of her shock, and had to laugh as he fought with himself. I ached for Lily as everything she learned made her question who she was, and sent her running.

Both Shane and Lily have issues caused by events in their childhoods that have affected who they are as adults. Shane’s have made him the ultra-responsible man that he is, while Lily’s affected the way she handled what she saw as her failures. She had an eye-opening conversation with her mom, who gave her new insight into the things that Lily saw but hadn’t understood while growing up. I loved the way that Shane went looking for Lily. His encounter with her dad and stepmother explained a lot about her. But my favorite was when he showed up at the diner where Lily was having breakfast with her mom. I laughed out loud through most of that encounter and loved the promise that Shane extracted from Elizabeth. I ached for Lily and the way that she still beat herself up over what happened, and loved how Shane was patient enough to give her the time she needed. Lily’s “aha” moment came at the hands of her mother, who also stunned Lily by taking Shane’s advice (which was another giggle-producing moment). Lily’s big moment at the end was excellent. I loved how her arrival surprised Shane and how they (eventually) talked through everything in some very emotional moments.

I look forward to reading more in this series. The Highwater family is fascinating. Shane’s brother Sean is intense in his work as a detective on the force but seems to be pretty laid back otherwise. I like the good relationship he has with Shane, both as a boss and family. I liked the support he gives Shane in everything having to do with Lily, especially the advice he provided about the investigation. Their other brother, Slater, is very different. From the time they were kids, he and Shane butted heads, and it has continued into adulthood, though I feel like it mostly comes from Slater. I suspect that he has a very interesting backstory. He did come through with one positive action the night that Lily got drunk at his bar. I liked their sister, Sage, a lot. She is very protective of Shane and had a couple of interesting clashes with Lily because of it. There is another brother, Kane, who disappeared in suspicious circumstances when he was sixteen. Shane and Sean haven’t given up looking for him. I fully expect that he will have his own story and I’m sure it will be an interesting one.

There are also other books that take place in Last Stand that were written by other authors that I want to investigate.

I often refer to the two main characters in a romance novel as the hero and heroine. In the case of Justine Davis’ The Lone Star Lawman the main male character, Police Chief Shane Highwater is truly a bonafide hero. After his acts of heroism he responds by saying he is just doing his job. I felt deep admiration for this character especially because he is an all-around good guy. The main female character, reporter liliana Jones is very antagonistic towards Shane at the beginning of the story. Her fiance, Chad Crittendon is accused of embezzelment and an arrest warrent has been placed. She believes that the death of her fiance during a high-sped police chase with Shane Highwater at the wheel of the police car pursuing Crittendon made Shane responsible for Crittendon’s death. Will her attitude chance when she finds out the truth? I leave the reader to discover the truth of the matter when they read this very entertaining story.