Guilty as Sin by Jami Alden

Fourteen years ago, Kate Beckett was a teenager more interested in summer romance than babysitting. Then the unthinkable happened: her younger brother was kidnapped and murdered on her watch. Now she is an advocate for missing children, and her newest case brings her back to the small town where she lost her brother-and where she left behind the first boy she ever loved.

Tommy Ibarra's world fell apart after Kate broke his heart, and he's spent his adult life making sure that he'll never be vulnerable again. When a teenage girl vanishes, he offers his expertise as a high tech security expert to help find her. Although he's determined to keep his distance from Kate, it isn't long before he's falling under her spell all over again.

As they race against the clock, their investigation leads to a brutal killer with a shocking connection to Kate's tragic past. And this time, the killer has Kate firmly in his sights.

Type: Romantic Suspense
Heat: 3 out of 5
Rating: 4 out of 5

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From page one Alden had me hook and for the next 400 some pages I hardly could put Guilty as Sin down. It was just an exciting read all around. From the rekindled romance and the drama it brought to to the race against time and danger involved in a missing child case. I just couldn't look away until I knew how everything would come together.

One of my favorite themes is second chances at love and seeing characters overcome all the odds. And Kate and Tommy definitely had huge hurdles to overcome after a tragedy when they were young ripped them apart for over a decade. I really liked both Tommy and Kate--they're just good people who are doing the best they can-- and loved the romance of the story. It's not overdone or too heavy for the plot and left a wistful smile on my face.

The steamy scenes were nice and steamy. Whew. Yeah, these two might have a lot of hurt and anger to get past but there are no problems between these two when it comes to sheet time. Now, on occasion I had one of those 'eh, really? now? you're getting all worked up here?!' moments but then I'd remind myself it's romantic suspense. They always go at it at improbable times, right?

The mystery and suspense aspect was great. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering how it would all play out. I was able to guess the villain behind it all fairly early on but I still enjoyed seeing it all pieced together and getting the occasional small surprise.

Overall, I really loved Alden's voice. She put together a group of interesting characters that won me over and had me rooting for them and she held me completely captive with a story that flowed easily and dragged my emotions all over the place. I'll be going back to read the rest of her backlist as soon as I can. She's definitely one to check out if you enjoy light romantic suspense.

Have you read Alden? Have one I should try out next?

What's your favorite romantic suspense out there?