First in a series about five sisters who run their own bounty hunter business, In Her Sights starts off with a bang, with Molly Pax chasing down a bail-jumper and bringing him in. Molly’s your archetypal tough cookie; the oldest of her sisters, she was forced to grow up much too soon to take care of them because her mother, Jane, is not only useless but actively criminal. And now Jane’s landed the entire family in hot water.
Molly needs help, more than what her (equally competent) sisters can provide, and the only volunteer is rival bounty hunter John Carmondy. He and Molly have been at daggers drawn for quite a while, though John seems more amused by the rivalry than anything else. Molly’s sisters just think it’s funny that Molly can’t figure out John’s carrying a torch for Molly despite his being completely blatant and upfront about it.
The thing I found really interesting here - apart from the gritty realism of being a female bounty hunter with a criminally-minded parent - was that Molly did known about John’s interest. And she never outright rejects it, she just makes it clear that she’s not in an emotional state to be receptive to it, until finally she is. And John does that best of all things in the situation, he doesn’t push. He puts his cards on the table, never leaves Molly wondering, makes it clear he’s going to support her no matter what her decision, but he never pushes her to make one or attempts to guilt her into it.
I mean, honestly, I’d fall in love with him too.
Katie Ruggle is one of my favourite romantic suspense authors. A police academy graduate, she knows her topic intimately, and there’s never anything jarringly unbelievable to make the reader curl their lip at the story. Except maybe for an artist owning a multi-million dollar necklace. All the artists I know of are starving, lol!
Honestly, I can’t wait for more in this series. A cracking, fast-paced read with a gorgeous hero and a stubborn, strong heroine, this one deserves every bit of its five stars!
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.