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| Jubilee, Kentucky – Present Day Forensic accountant Harley Banks recently completed an assignment auditing a company’s books that turned into something she never expected to find. The operation was a cover for a human trafficking ring. Unfortunately, the big players in the operation were not identified and arrested, but that isn’t Harley’s problem. She gets a call from a hotel owner in Jubilee asking her to come there to discover whether his manager is stealing from his hotel. She agrees, and heads to Kentucky. Shortly after arriving, Harley gets a call and learns from the FBI that an agent and the culprit they had arrested to turn evidence on the case had both been killed. Word on the street is that there is a hitman after Harley. Luckily for her, she has someone to help protect her in Jubilee. Brendan Pope is the head pastry chef at the hotel’s restaurant and is as protective as the rest of his brothers. The hotel owner’s daughter asks him to keep an eye on Harley, and he obliges by giving her his phone number. Of course, there is an instant attraction between them, and he can’t help but give her little dessert treats. After Harley tells him that there is a hitman after her, he sticks closer to her. Thank God his stalker is out of the picture, or he’d be battling trouble from all sides. The more Brenden is around Harley, the deeper he’s falling for her. Can he keep her safe—and convince her there is a future for them? BAD SEED has several plotlines, but the main one is about keeping Harley safe from being killed by the hitman. Brendan’s stalker is the hotel manager’s daughter but after she is arrested for disorderly conduct and assault, she is whisked out of town. But that isn’t the last we see of her in this book. Readers will also know right from the start that the hotel manager is skimming off the top of the books. We also get to read about the hitman’s path to finally finding Harley. What happens when he does? Meanwhile, the one person who isn’t revealed until later in the book is the head person of the human trafficking operation. I figured it out, but red herrings are left to make readers think. One thing is for certain: the bad people will go down. In BAD SEED, we meet (again) the Pope family. While this book is part of the Jubilee series about the Pope men, this tale can be read as a standalone. Along with two other families, they own Pope Mountain—and unknown to those outside the family—the town of Jubilee. The four brothers are big and handsome. When Brendan sees Harley for the first time, he is struck by her beauty. She feels the same about him. The brothers pop up here and there in this tale as two of the brothers are in law enforcement. They get lots to do in BAD SEED. Readers get the point of view of numerous characters, which means it hops around a lot. There is also plenty of action to keep readers glued to this tale. I’m probably a late-in-life fan of Sharon Sala but now she is a must-read author for me. She knows how to keep us entertained and provide us with plenty of action and happily ever afters. Harley and Brendan’s story is complicated, but it is one that I highly recommend. Don’t miss BAD SEED. Patti Fischer |
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BAD SEED – Sharon Sala