Hour of Need

While fighting in Afghanistan, Major Grant Barrett receives devastating news: his brother and sister-in-law have been murdered in Scarlet Falls, the sleepy suburb of Grant’s youth. Emotionally scarred from war, the career soldier returns home on emergency leave to temporarily care for his orphaned nephew and niece. But when someone tries to kidnap the kids and their teenage babysitter, Grant knows it’s not a random act…and neither were the murders.
Already devastated by her neighbors’ violent deaths, Ellie Ross is shattered by the attempted abduction of her teenage daughter so she desperately turns to Grant for help. As they navigate a deadly search for the truth, they struggle with growing feelings for each other and Grant’s impending return to deployment.
But time is running out. The killer is growing bolder by the hour, and Ellie and Grant must find him before the children become his next victims.

I’m glad to be back in my Romantic Suspense era this year (2024) and glad to be back reading one of my favorite author’s books, Melinda Leigh. I first read Hour of Need back in 2015 and had a hard time putting it down. I decided I needed to revisit Scarlet Falls since this was one of my favorite series from Melinda. 

Storyline: Melinda has you on the case to find out what happened to Grant Barrett’s brother and sister-in-law, who were murdered unexpectedly, leaving behind two young children. Grant’s serving in the military overseas when he gets the call to return home, and he never expected his little brother to be unalived, let alone someone murder him and his wife. When someone attempts to kidnap his niece, nephew, and their babysitter, he knows what happened to his brother; Lee wasn’t random. The FMC, Ellie Ross, knew Lee Barrett and their wife and was devasted by the news of what happened to them, especially since she lived next to them and her daughter used to babysit their kids. She ends up needing Grant’s help because someone is after her, and it has everything to do with Grant’s brother and a case he was working on at the law firm. 

Thoughts: This was my second time reading this book, and it still gives me goosebumps after rereading it. It touches on some hard topics, and not just solving who murdered Grant’s family. The case that Grant’s brother was working on was a tough one. As a mother of two daughters, this was a tough one to read, especially when it came to the bullying and what happened to a young teenage girl. When it came to the main storyline and figuring out what truly happened to Lee Barrett and his wife, it was a shocker to see everything weave together and find out who was truly behind everything. It’s definitely a story that had me thinking and may have me up at night. 

The characters she writes are always different, unique, and sometimes even relatable. I connected instantly with Ellie because she’s a mother who is very protective of her family. I understood her hesitation in not asking for help when she obviously needed it. Grant was a character I related to when it came to the military and having to make hard decisions when it came to serving or taking care of the children. (The military chain of command sometimes doesn’t care if children are involved.) 

I love that Melinda gives us several POVs in the third person, where you are solving the story with the characters but also feeling what the characters are going through. I’m used to reading the first POV in Contemporary Romances, but I also enjoy the third POV, especially when it’s a Romantic Suspense. Melinda also gives you the antagonist POV, which you don’t figure out later who it is, and sometimes she doesn’t give you a POV for a reason because she wants to leave it as a surprise. 

I gave this book five stars back in 2015, and after rereading it, it still gets five stars. I wish I could give it more. I’m onto Hannah Barrett’s story next, who was introduced in this book. 

Would I recommend this book/series? Yes. If you are looking for a Romantic Suspense story that takes you on a rollercoaster of a ride, then this book/series is for you. 

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About Melinda Leigh

#1 Wall Street Journal and #1 Amazon bestselling author Melinda Leigh is a fully recovered banker who learned that writing books is way more fun than analyzing financial statements. Melinda’s debut novel, SHE CAN RUN, was nominated for Best First Novel by the International Thriller Writers. Since then, she has garnered numerous writing accolades, including two RITA® Award nominations and an induction into the NJ Romance Writers Hall of Fame. Her novels have sold more than 7.5 million copies across the world. Melinda loves martial arts, rescue dogs, and sea turtles.

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FranJessca

Owner/Reviewer at A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog

I guess I should type a bio here. I'm FranJessca, or Fran for short. I'm the owner/reviewer behind A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog. I've been reading and reviewing books on my blog since leaving the Navy in 2011, and I will keep doing it as long as possible. My favorite genres will always be Romance & Fantasy, and I read every subgenre underneath those two genres. (Sorry, not a fan of nonfiction, so don't try to convince me to read it.)
My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)

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