Hope White: Covert Christmas

By Kelly Bridgewater

Back Cover Copy:

DIAGNOSIS: AMNESIA 

A man has been shot and left for dead on Echo Mountain, and Search and Rescue K-9 handler Breanna McBride wants answers. With no memory, all the injured man can recall is that his first name is Scott, and that someone wants him silenced. Scott knows better than to depend on strangers, yet he finds himself falling for his captivating protector. And although Breanna won't rest until she helps him piece together the rest of his past, she vows to ignore the attraction between them. But as they close in on the truth, she becomes the killer's next target. Now the pursuers will stop at nothing to ensure the pair is six feet under by Christmas. 

My Review:

Covert Christmas has everything a good short romantic suspense should have. A loving hero, a thoughtful heroine, a great setting, and tons of mystery and adventure. Covert Christmas gripped me from the first scene where Scott ran through the woods and fell down with Breanna watching from a tree.

I truly enjoyed spending time at the Echo Mountain Resort. I love places in the middle of the nowhere with no neighbors. This story took place during Christmas, so it sparked an interest in me. Plus, I love the image of the lodge wrapped in Christmas lights on the cover with the ground covered in snow. It was inviting. While the image showed a cold winter scene, the story never felt like it was the middle of winter. Scott even gathered samples of the water in a stream nearby. If it was the middle of winter, wouldn’t the water be a little hard to find. Might have frozen over. None of the characters really complained about the cold as they traveled around in the outdoors.

Scott and Breanna had to learn the hard lesson of allowing others to help them in the hard challenges of life. Luckily, White created Scott and Breanna to fall in love and lean on each other during the struggles in the fight for their lives. The romance was slow going but that is the way I like my romantic suspense to be. It makes the ending where everything seems happy a lot more believable. If the couple starts feeling emotions for each other on their first encounter, I don’t trust the romantic journey through the story. Yes, emotions can be question, but I hate when characters start planning their futures together on page one.

Overall, Hope White’s Covert Christmas is an interesting adventure story set at a resort, filled with bullets and sparks flying across the page. I would recommend this short read to fans of Lynette Eason, Irene Hannon, Colleen Coble, and other writers of the romantic suspense genre.

Hope White’s Writing Bio:

Accused of being an eternal optimist, Hope began spinning tales of intrigue and adventure when she was in grade school. She wrote her first book when she was eleven -- a thriller that ended with a mysterious phone call the reader never heard!

Hope is an RT Reviewer's Choice nominee for Christmas Haven (2011), and she received the Cataromance Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Love Inspired Suspense two years in a row for Safe Harbor (2013) and Small Town Protector (2012).

When not dreaming up inspirational tales, she's usually hiking in the Cascade Mountains, enjoying a fine cup of tea with friends, or hiding out in a movie theatre.

How to connect with Hope White:

Author’s Personal Webpage

Facebook

Goodreads

Where to purchase Covert Christmas:

Amazon

Barnesand Nobles

Christianbook

What is the ratio between romance and suspense do you like to see in a romantic suspense novel?