4.5/5⭐️

Sixty seconds. Twenty breaths. That was all it took for Everly's life to forever be turned upside down when she walks into the station to report her father's crime. Post which Everly had to leave town in order to survive.

Now 15 years later, Everly has returned to Wolf Gap to start over and to feel close to her mother again. Her family isn't happy with her return and makes it known that she isn't welcome. However, the person who hates her return more than her family is the person whose family was the victim of her father's crime.

Hayes is the town sheriff who has spent the last fifteen years living with the guilt of what happened to his sister all those years ago and has dedicated his life to protecting his family from ever being in such a situation again. When he realizes that Everly is back, he snaps and asks her to leave town so his family doesn't have to see her and remember everything they've suffered through.

But as time goes by, he sees Everly's struggles and the consequences of her actions from when she'd decided to help his family by coming forward. And when someone in town starts targeting her, his resolve to keep her safe only grows.


Hayes still deals with a lot of guilt from the time his sister was taken when he was young. That guilt has turned into him working himself to the bone in order to keep his family safe. His family is no longer the same after that incident and there is a lot of strain between everyone and he tries his best to keep everyone together. Which is why when he first sees Everly after fifteen years, he is stunned and immediately reacts harshly, asking her to leave town. But once he cools down he realizes how he messed up and let his own emotions get the better of him, post which he apologizes to her and tries to make up for his rude behavior by deciding to help her get settled.

Everly was such a brave character and was truly admirable right from the time she was 11. She knew what her father was doing was wrong and even knowing what the consequences might be, she still reports him and saves Shiloh. This causes her to get punished by her uncle and brother post which she had to leave town to stay safe. But she made sure to train and get stronger so she was never in that vulnerable position again. Given how she'd led her life after that incident, she finds it hard to trust people or rely on them, but as the story progresses, we see her slowly leaning on Hayes for support and trusting him.

I loved how Everly bonded with Shiloh and had this way of knowing what she needed and how to be around her without spooking her. Everly fit in with the Eastons so effortlessly and they took her in and treated her like she was their own. This meant so much to Ever knowing how her own family treated her and how she still felt responsible for her father's actions.

Hayes and Everly slowly formed a friendship as he helped her work on getting her place ready and they slowly got together like they had always fit. The shift in their relationship felt so natural and easy. Hayes knew that the bond he had formed and feelings he felt for Everly were long term and he expressed them as such and patiently waited for her to catch up. Everly feared that the past and what she represents would make Hayes walk away from her one day so she keeps herself guarded, but they eventually work through it all.

The suspense aspect throughout the book kept me on edge which is always the case for any Catherine Cowles book, and this was the first time I was able to guess who could be behind the attacks... well, not entirely (she still managed to take me by surprise) but I was kinda close.

Eager to Read Calder and Hadley's book next.