One night Rylee receives a call for help from her estranged sister. Upon arriving to Eden, she finds a grieving and secretive sister and Colton, an infuriating man who she is instantly drawn to. 

I devoured this book. This is a story about the love of your town, for your people, for the community. There were so many twist, turns, and reveals. The ending felt rushed, but it definitely stabbed me in the heart. 

I loved the found family angle of this book. All of the characters were interesting and so dynamic. They had such a strong bond that you can't help but root for them all. I am interested to learn more about their backgrounds and stories. 

Rylee has had it rough. Her mother passed away and she was abandoned by her father and sister. She is a fighter and despite the odds she is incredibly persistent and driven to succeed. She is incredibly compassionate and empathetic, she drops everything to help her sister and is incredibly driven to help the town. 

Upon arriving to Eden, Rylee finds a town shattered. There had been a mining accident that killed hundreds of people and the town has never really recovered. The town itself serves as its own character and adds so much to the suspense if the book. It is a grimy and broken town filled with equally broken and distrustful town folk. 

She discovers that her sisters husband was a part of the Jackles, a secretive club in town. Since we only get one POV, we are made to wait along with Rylee to find out the secret of who they really are.

This book is a Robinhood telling, so it was obvious that they were stealing from the rich to help out their town. But the motivation wasn't clear at first. We eventually find out that the "mine accident" wasn't an accident at all and that there was one company who was responsible for mining deaths all over the world, Rylee's ex's family company. Now the Jackles are out for revenge.

Colton is mysterious and closed off, but as we learn about his past and what happened to his parents, his distrust and apprehension is completely understandable. As he opens up to Rylee, we see that is such a compassionate and protective man. He will do anything for his family. The build up between him and Rylee is TENSE and electric. I ate it up. I love that he chose a nickname for her that represented how strong and fierce she is. 

We also find out that

Rylee's father left because he was the head of the Vipers, an illegal mafia style gang who were once the Jackles rivals. They run all sorts of illegal activities. His involvement put their family at risk and her mother forced him to leave. We also find out that her sister, who is preggers, is also a Viper.

The end did feel rushed and because of that I feel like

Logan was not built up enough as the villain. But, it was so smart how everything was tied together. Logan sought Rylee out and kept a tracker on her in order to find her sister so that he could exact revenge for her stealing company secrets.

I cannot wait fo book 2

Tropes:  contemporary romance,  enemies to lovers, small-town, found family tropes, Robin Hood retelling, "secret" club, slow burn,