Kismet: Small Town Police Romance

April Canavan

Birch County Blue Book 1 · April Canavan

About this ebook

What doesn’t kill you… 

In the wake of an attack leaving her beaten and devastated, Maya Daniels becomes someone new. No longer meek and gentle, she’s forced to live her life in a world that has repeatedly tried to tear her down. Faced with her new reality, Maya learns to fight for the life she wants, with the man who still sees beneath her scars. 

Makes you stronger… 

Brian will never forgive himself for the pain Maya went through when he wasn’t there to protect her. His choices, his life, everything he believes in are all called into question when her attacker escapes justice. He finds himself struggling to prove that he deserves her forgiveness… and that he’ll never let her go.

Unless something worse than death finds you.

Ratings and reviews

I have read several of this author’s books through different ARC programs and I like her style and the realistic characters. They feel like everyday people not billionaires with special military training or equipment. Unfortunately, I have not read them in order, and I would recommend doing that or at least reading this one first. The books in the series revolve around the police and dispatch departments of Birch, Maine. This is the story of Maya, who is a dispatcher and trying to rebuild her life after the end of her abusive marriage. She has made some good friends through work and one that helped her quite a bit was Brian. He is a sheriff deputy, and they work together, but when Maya confesses her feelings for him, Brian is not receptive and that puts some stress on their work relationship and friendship. Unfortunately, at this time, Maya seems to have acquired a stalker and is attacked in her home. Her recovery and the fallout from the assault actually help bring Brian to his senses and they build a relationship. Although the attack and the stalker storyline kept me reading there were definitely parts of the book that made me question some of the characters. There were times I did not like Brian at all. It was hard to see what Maya saw in him. Yet there were other times that I could not understand Maya’s choices. She was getting out of a toxic relationship and tried to quickly jump into a new relationship with Brian, who not only has an ex-wife and kids but a current girlfriend. Some of the characters acted juvenile and as if they were in high school, not adult, first responders who are responsible for people’s lives. ***I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.**

I liked the suspense in this and the tension between Maya and Brian and the danger she was in. I normally like the back and forth between characters and the angst between them as they figure out their place in each other's lives. I had a hard time with this one because of Brian and his previous relationship and the things he does, even when he says he wants Maya. I found myself cringing at times. Just go in at your own risk as some of these thing may be hard limits for some.

Warning this story has some sensitive topics involving rape and some torture. The men in blue are out to protect one of their own, Maya a dispatcher for the local PD, is being stalked by an unknown obsessed man. Brian wants to do everything he can to protect her and help her heal from her first attack when she nearly loses her life. Maya tries to learn to find herself again until the stalker returns and takes her. Brian and the PD family race to find her in time before any more harm can come to her. Love the three perspectives of both hero, heroine, and madman!

About the author

USA Today Bestselling author by day and superhero by night, April spends her time split between real and fantasy worlds. While she writes across genres, her heart lives with Contemporary Romance that will tear her readers apart. She lives on the rocky coast of Maine, in the perfect place to visit the ocean but still live surrounded by the woods. Her son inspires her to write, demanding stories that he’s not allowed to read. As long as she has coffee, April can conquer the world… but she hates talking about herself in third person.