Out of Circulation, Book 1 in the Hemlock Creek Suspense Series, releases individually for KINDLE today (it’s still also in the Smoke and Mirrors boxed set). So you can pick it up here for only 99c/Kindle!
Heather Day Gilbert is a good writer, and I thoroughly enjoyed her A Murder in the Mountains Series (Miranda Warning and Trial by Twelve). This novella begins her Hemlock Creek Suspense Series and starts with the somewhat handicapped daughter, due to a foot injury, flaming redhead Katie McClure who once thought she'd like to follow in her father's footsteps and become an FBI agent. Now she's a librarian in need of a bodyguard - or so it seems. And as armed masked men invade her small hometown library, there just happens to be an attractive bodyguard on site.
Through an odd set of circumstances, Katie's deceased father is implicated in an unsolved heist. Since his partner is also dead, someone is trying to find the money since it's not where this someone left it. Through threats and a sophisticated cover-up, the bodyguard is trying to solve the case while avoiding his attraction to Katie. Meanwhile, the rest of the McClure family - Molly, the femme fatale sister, and Brandon the estranged brother, plus Katie's mom - are all equally worried about Katie's safety when more threatening actions take place.
Heather writes female characters who pack guns and aren't afraid to use them - even if their character isn't particularly brave and daring which Katie McClure learns she isn't. Throughout this story, the heroine discovers herself not as she'd originally hoped to be but instead how God designed her to be. That discovery enables her to shed her latent bitterness and reinvigorate her life as she truly is.
Although not my generally preferred reading - and that's nothing against the novel - Out of Circulation is a kind of sweet little romantic suspense that takes no time to read for the waning days of summer at the beach or wherever you prefer. It has a clever ending to solve the mystery, and if romantic suspense with a certain innocence is your genre of choice, you won't be disappointed in Out of Circulation.
Father, you know Heather inside and out. Please continue to bless her life and continue to inspire those stories you have just for her to tell. Please provide what she needs to do what you have for her and protect her all along the way. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.