Crossing the Line

Daniels Brothers Romance, Book #3

By Sherri Hayes

ISBN #9781612132686

Author’s Website: www.sherrihayesauthor.com

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Jerjen

Megan Carson is working as a nanny for a five year old who has lost her mother in a tragic accident.  She loves her job and she loves Chloe. She feels like she is finally doing something important with her life. She has not always felt like this and realizes that she has made a lot of mistakes during her life.  She never had a good family life and was raised more by her sister than her parents.  She was a rebellious teen and traveled with the wrong crowd.  Her choice in men has never been good.  But all of that is behind her now and she has straightened out her life.  And she now knows what she wants her in life, and that includes Chloe and Chloe’s dad.

Paul Daniels is Chloe’s dad and he has been raising her alone for over four years, ever since a drunk driver took the life of his wife.  He and his wife were school sweethearts who married and started a family and were making things work. But that part of his life is now over and he is left to raise his daughter on his own.  He has hired Megan as a nanny and he has no plans to find a new wife and mother for his daughter.  A nanny works out perfectly, because with his job as a police detective, he has unpredictable hours and with Megan living with them, he does not have to worry about Chloe.

All of this changes when he is at the wedding of his brother, Chris.  The memory of his own wedding and the loss of his wife become too much for Paul to handle, so he gets drunk after the wedding.  Megan, who is also at the wedding, helps Paul into bed because he is so drunk he cannot handle that task by himself.  Before he passes out, he kisses Megan, buthas no memory of it in the morning.  But Megan remembers it all too well, and she realizes Paul is the one for her.  She sets into motion a plan to win Paul over and to become a family with him and Chloe.  But she keeps meeting resistance from Paul, because he knows he cannot give his heart to anyone else, it still belongs to his late wife. He is carrying around guilt because he argued with his wife right before the accident and he feels he is the reason for her death.  He feels like he is responsible for his daughter losing her mother.  He thinks that he does not deserve a second chance at happiness.  Paul also feels that he is too old for Megan and that he would be holding her back from finding someone that she deserves.   Can Megan make him realize that they would be perfect together and convince him to let go of the past and start a new life with her?

The characters are well developed and very human.  They experience a lot of the same emotions and concerns that everyone feels at some time in their lives.  They go through sorrow, longing, regrets, guilt, desire and frustration.  I feel like these characters could be someone that you know as a friend or a coworker.  They are characters that are really easy to begin to care about, worry about and cheer for.

The writing style flows smoothly and the book is a quick easy read.  I read it in less than two days and that is unheard of for me.  I found myself swiping page after page and thinking “I’ll read just a little more” because I had to see what would happen.  There is suspense in the book due to the fact that Paul is a detective working a serial killer case. Will he be able to solve the case before someone else is murdered? Will Megan be safe from the killer or will Paul lose someone else he loves.  The suspense and mystery were expertly woven into the storyline and I really enjoyed the fact that the book was a mystery as well as a romance.  I did not figure out who the killer was until it was revealed at the end of the book.  Once I knew who it was, the clues and twists and turns all made it a believable conclusion.  That is something I like when reading a mystery, that it is all tied up nicely and is feasible.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good romance filled with emotion. Also to anyone who likes a little suspense in their romance reading.  I have not read any other of Sherri Hayes books but I plan to read the rest of them so I can learn more about the Daniels clan.

*OBS would like to thank the author for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*