HIS RISK by Shelley Shepard Gray

Publisher:     Avon

Published:    March 6, 2018

ISBN:        978-0062469151

Genre:      Amish, Romantic Suspense

Format:     Print

Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

FIVE HEARTS

Calvin Fisher got out of Horse Cave in Hart County as soon as he could and started a life he wasn’t really all that proud of.  At least at first.  After getting himself into a crime family way too deep he found a way out, but at a price.  That price was to turn informant for the DEA—by becoming a part of the very gang he owed and they want to bring down.  Things move along okay…being under cover and always having to watch his back couldn’t exactly be good.  He’s felt as long as he’s stayed away from Horse Cave his family would be okay.  But the he receives word his brother, Mark, has cancer and needs an operation to remove the affected kidney.  There is no question in his mind that he has to go help Mark and his wife, Waneta.  When he arrives he meets Mark’s neighbor’s sister—Alice Yoder.

Alice Yoder has led a sheltered life.  Her joy in life comes from her family and he pre-school class—the students who she refers to as her little scholars.  Between her parents and her brothers she hasn’t seen much of the world and her parents intend to keep it that way.   Her brothers, however, know that every now and then she needs a little freedom.   When her brother Edward and his wife leave a vacation they ask Alice to watch their house.  She eagerly agrees and shortly after her arrival she sees a strange man at the Fisher’s house.  When he walks over she meets Calvin Fisher for the first time. 

Calvin is drawn to Alice…intensely so.  Despite his best intentions, he cannot stay away from her.  Nor can Alice keep her mind off the “bad boy” living across the street.  And then trouble follows Calvin to Horse Cave.  Can he do the job DEA demands and keep his family and new found love safe?

I’ve said before, I am really enjoying Shelley Shepard Gray’s Amish of Hart County series.  I have to say that her latest, HIS RISK, is the best so far.  What a super story.  While the earlier books were completely stand alone with only passing mention of earlier stories, this one brings readers back around to book two, HIS GUILT.  I loved Mark and Waneta’s story in HIS GUILT and having the chance to where they are, how their marriage has moved along, was a great revisit while getting to know Calvin and Alice.  Calvin and Alice are complex characters with several layers.  As they move through the story there are both subtle and obvious changes in how they view their world.  They grow at a realistic pace through the story. 

The secondary characters, Irene and West, add strength to the story.  While I was sad at how the issues with West were resolved, Gray does it with compassion and style.  How the other characters frame it gave him a good conclusion. 

What a super series.  One you do not want to miss. 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=regatayl-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0062469150&asins=0062469150&linkId=8378e6b1fdfeacecd5d9a04e00731d81&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>