Witness Protection Widow

WITNESS PROTECTION WIDOW (Winchester, Tennessee Book #5) by Debra Webb is the February 2020 Harlequin Intrigue romantic suspense second chance romance and since it is written by Debra Webb, I knew I would be getting a great story even in this shorter format. I was NOT disappointed. Though this book is part of the Winchester, Tennessee series, it can easily be read as a standalone.

Allison James Armone has been trapped for several years in an abusive marriage to the son of the head of the Armone crime family. She has been planning and waiting for her chance to escape. At the weekly meeting between father and son, Allison witnesses the father shoot the son and kill him.

She makes her escape and becomes the star witness in the case against her father-in-law. When the US Marshall guarding Allison (aka Alice Stewart) is involved in an accident, he calls on one of his best friends in the Marshalls to fill in. It is only a few days until the trial and Ali’s life is at stake.

US Marshall Jaxon Stevens cannot believe his assignment is his young foolish mistake in love. Can Jaxon convince Ali he wants and deserves a second chance even as he works to keep her alive to testify?

Ali is a great heroine. After everything she has been through, she refuses to back down and wants to testify no matter the danger to herself. She made a mistake that cost her, but she has come out on the other side and is strong and determined. I also liked that her main concern is for Jaxon’s safety and not her own. Jaxon is a strong alpha protective hero, but he also must come around to understand how Ali got caught up in her marriage and to understand his own feelings about wanting her back even though he left her before for his career. There are a lot of emotions and misunderstandings to get through in this book even as physical danger is just around the corner. My only concern is Ms. Webb never revealed who changed their travel plans and set them on the run from the bad guys. Other than that, this is a fast-paced story that intertwines the suspense and the romance perfectly.

I love sitting down with a Harlequin Intrigue and an author I enjoy because I know I can be entertained with a romantic suspense that engrosses me in the story and is a quicker read than a full-sized novel. I recommend this second chance romantic suspense.

Allison and Jaxson knew each other when they were young and in love. But life and decisions that Jaxson made separated them. He went on to pursue his career and she tried continuing her education while taking care of her father that was ill.

Circumstances both them back together and this is where they story begins!

If you love witness protection thrillers as much as I do, don’t miss this book. It has hitmen, a masculine U.S. Marshall, a cruel mob boss, and a worried widow.

Alison James was to testify in four days against a crime family. All she had to do was stay alive until then. U.S. Marshall Branch Holloway had Alison stashed in a remote cabin and was supposed to be with her for the final few days. But then Branch was injured in a car accident and called in U.S. Marshall Jaxson Stevens. Jaxson does not know it was Ali until Branch hands him the file. She is the one he let get away and is baffled why she married into a mob family. Alison isn’t sure of letting Jaxson be her protector because she does not want him hurt. She knows that Harrison Armone Sr. will do what it takes to see her dead before she can testify. Can Jaxon keep Alison alive to testify? Witness Protection Widow is a fast-paced novel. There is suspense, intrigue and romantic tension. I liked the fast pace of the story as Alison and Jaxson try to stay alive.

Alison was understandably terrified while waiting to testify. She was a bundle of nerves, and not just she was afraid for her life but seeing Jaxon again was hard for her. She had not seen him in years but the feelings were still there.

Debra Webb is truly a master at writing suspense mixed with a little romance. I loved how the characters were written. It’s almost as if this is how it actually happens in real life while living in witness protection. It is masterfully written. I really enjoyed each page I read. If you love mystery suspense with a little romance mixed in there somewhere in the story, you won’t be disappointed.

In Harlequin Intrigue’s Witness Protection Widow Allison James is a week out of the trial where she will testify against her mob boss father-in-law for the murder of her husband. The marshal who has been watching over her has a car accident so he calls in a friend he trusts to watch over her. Enter Jax Stevens, rising U.S. Marshal, and Ali’s ex-boyfriend and first love. Fate brings them back together but will they make it to the trial.

This is my first Harlequin Intrigue and my first Debra Webb and I have to say that I was more than happy with the book. Told in both Ali and Jax’s POVs, this is a second chance romance wrapped nicely around suspense. With a good balance between the characters reconnecting and the danger to Ali with the upcoming trial, the story moves along at a brisk pace. Ali is a woman who fell for the bad guy hidden in sheep’s clothing but who refused to be a victim for long. Jaded by her nightmare 5-year marriage, Ali manages to maintain hope for her future. Jax is the man who let ambition cost him. Leaving Ali behind to move his career along, he allowed what he thought he knew to become his truth, forgoing what he felt.

Ms. Webb’s story has great characters set on a stage of mob ties, abuse, recovery and what can come to be when presented with a chance to get it right the second time around.

Allison has no idea she has married into a crime family. She thinks she has finally found the love of her life. The abuse and horror she begins to face every day becomes overwhelming. Then her father-in-law kills her husband and threatens to take her as his own. She finally finds the strength to run!
Allison has agreed to be the star witness against this crime family. She is being protected at a secure location. But, her handler has been injured in an accident. Enter, Jaxson Stevens. Allison and Jaxson have a past. (Now how convenient is that!).
These two have a rough go at first. It is awkward and just a tad stiff between Allison and Jaxson. But, as the suspense and danger builds, so does their relationship.
As most of you know, romantic suspense is one of my guilty pleasures. I can get so lost in a good romance when the hot guy sweeps in a saves the damsel in distress. And trust me….this one is a good one! This is a very quick read. It moves like lightening plus…I adored Jaxson. He is my favorite type….strong and silent.
Grab your copy today! You will not be disappointed!

I received this book from the publisher for a honest review.

4.5 stars
In this thriller from Debra Webb, Allison James is days away from testifying against her husband’s crime family. Under witness protection for months, things get pretty tense as the trial date looms. There’s another complication when her new marshal happens to be her ex!

I really enjoyed this. I love the action and I found myself glued to my ereader, caught up in it all. It was just what I like in an suspense. Ali and Jaxson had some misunderstandings to unravel and old wounds to heal and they manage to do that over the four days this story spans.

The book works great as a standalone. While there aren’t many surprises, the characters and sense of suspense carried me through the story. It was just the right size. If you are looking for a quick read that will hold your interest from start to finish, you might like Witness Protection Widow.

If you’re an avid Harlequin reader like myself and my mother, and my grandmother, you’re probably acquainted with the name Debra Webb. I don’t even remember a Harlequin without her stories, my favourites were the Colby Agency ones when I pilfered them from my grandmother’s collection. So I was excited to be able to sign up for this tour with Harlequin featuring Debra Webb’s latest, Witness Protection Widow. What I’m trying to say here, folks is, I got a copy of this book from the publisher so I could read it and tell you in an honest review if I liked it or if I hated it, what I did or didn’t like about it, and whether or not I’d buy it for myself or somebody else. And the FTC (‘The Man’) requires that I inform my readers of all of this. Because the FTC thinks I’m a sell-out easily swayed by these things.

Ali and US Marshal Jaxson ‘Jax’ Stevens were once each other’s one true love but then life got in the way of happily ever after. Jax went to Seattle and Ali to Atlanta. But sometimes The Fates bring things back together again. Jax is assigned to get Ali through the last four days leading up to her former father-in-law’s trial after her in-place US Marshal is injured in a car accident. What a coinkydink that Jax was in Tennessee at the same time WitSec placed Ali there for pre-trial security. I’m so bitter, y’all.

Witness Protection Widow was a quick read for me, I’d run the dogs one last time before sending them to bed and then I’d settle in for a nice read with a sleeve of Thin Mints. I have no regrets. This wasn’t a story that sucked me and ensnared for the next week and I forgot that I have an entire household to maintain some semblance of order over because I’ve done that before. But it kept me interested waiting for the Big Bad Thing to happen where everyone realises they love each other and they can’t go on living without them (fainting couch needed, stat!). And that’s kinda where it lost me. That was a let down! I can’t go on a rant about it because I maintain a spoiler-free standard in my reviews (minus the content warnings, obviously) but I am bereft and there are loose ends that I am dangling from whilst screaming in frustration. I need closure!
I am not a real big fan of Jax. He’s a lot like some of my past relationships. Assuming a woman (anyone) is going to wait around for you to come back to her weeks, months, years later even though you’re not together anymore. It’s not an attractive quality. I kept hoping some goon from her former father-in-law would shoot him in the derriere every time he stuck his big foot in his big mouth. He was a butt (totally censoring myself here for politeness) to Ali repeatedly and grr!
I know that I won’t buy a copy of this one for myself, but I’m also going out to buy a copy for my grandmother to read because I know she’s a fan of second chance romances, especially the ones where someone’s acting like a butt. I don’t judge.
Now, as per usual, I have content warnings for you! If you feel that forewarned is forearmed, all you need to do is click the reveal button and you have the content and trigger warnings. As always, please practise care in your readings if any of these might be problematic for you, and if you have any questions about them, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about them, I’ll try my best to remember the details if I can’t look them up! Please note that these warnings do contain some spoiler material.

*CONTENT WARNINGS*
This book contains graphic retelling of domestic violence perpetrated against the heroine, spousal abuse, gun violence, murder, injured animal/pet, there is a snake, death of a sibling/child (sibling as a child) (past event) but it’s talked about and y’all should know, death of parents (not on the page but a driving force behind choices made by the heroine), crime family content, car accident (non-fatal, not on the page)
*END WARNNINGS*

Overall, I’m going to be giving Witness Protection Widow an even 3 stars and 1 flame for heat because I enjoy Debra Webb’s stories, I fangirl hard over them ometimes, but this one was relatively blah for me. It felt more like a novella add-on to her other books than anything else.

This has been a review from Once Upon a Time, I Read a Book. I hope y’all enjoyed this and come visit me on my site! Have a happily ever after!

Favorite Quotes:

It was hard to believe now that she hadn’t recognized her fairy-tale life was too good to be true. The trouble was, she had needed it to be true. Sometimes a need was so powerful that it overrode good sense.

She’d expected to possibly end up in a funeral home before this was over. She just hadn’t expected to be alive.

My Review:

Despite her prolific body of work, I had not sampled Debra Webb’s storytelling skills until recently stumbling into several books in her highly engaging series of The Undertaker’s Daughter, and I was an instant fan. Lucky me, this installment had an all too brief drop-in visit with my beloved characters from the previously mentioned series, which brought a delighted smile to my face. Ignore the cheesy cover and unimaginative book title as this was a quick, intriguing, active, satisfying, and well-paced hybrid tale of romantic suspense and second chance romance for first loves with likable and admirable characters, a hauntingly realistic storyline, and a pervasive sense of tension and peril.

When you unwittingly marry into the Mob, even the death of your husband isn’t an escape, as Allison James discovers. Fleeing for her life, her only hope is to take down those who would destroy her… by going to the FBI and testifying against them. Sent into witness protection, as the trial draws closer and the danger increases, when the marshal protecting her is seriously injured in a car crash, the last thing she needs is for his replacement to turn out to be Jax Stevens, her long-lost childhood sweetheart.

The chemistry between Jax and Ali is off the charts, even though he starts off resenting her because he thinks she knew what she was getting into when she married a mobster. She’s scared to let him get close because she’s well aware the target on her back is big enough to cover them both. Everything is intensified by the tight timeframe – the whole book takes place in under a week – and the fact that her enemy is getting desperate.

Honestly I did think it was a bit TOO tight; everything seemed very rushed and Jax and Ali barely got to have a conversation. Things seemed to jump from zero to a hundred pretty much instantly in the intimacy department too; the book is non-stop action in every department. Frankly, I think it could have done with being about 50% longer, and then they’d have had time to have some conversations and really talk, catch up on more than just the trauma Ali had been through.

A rollercoaster thrillride of a romantic suspense, the only thing I can really find wrong with this is that it’s not long enough. I wanted more of the story of this couple and their relationship. Four stars.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.