#Review: Lone Rider by B.J. Daniels - 5 Wine Glasses

Title: Lone Rider
Series: The Montana Hamiltons #2
Author: B.J. Daniels
Format: eBook/Paperback, 336 pages
Published: July 28th 2015 by HQN Books
ISBN: 037378841X
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Reviewer: Linda
Source: Author
Rating: 5 out of 5 Wine Glasses

When danger claims her, rescue comes from the one man she least expects... 
A cowgirl at heart, Bo Hamilton does her best thinking in wide-open spaces. So when money goes missing from the family foundation she runs—meaning one of her trusted, ragtag employees is a thief—Bo rides into the Crazy Mountains to figure things out. But a killer hiding among the sawtooth ridges takes her captive…and isn't planning on ever letting her go.

Bo's disappearance gets folks thinking she's the guilty one run off with the money, but Jace Calder would bet his ranch that she's innocent. Not that he has any reason to trust the beautiful, spoiled senator's daughter. But she also gave his troubled sister a job when no one else would. For his sibling's sake, Jace is going after Bo and bringing her home to face the truth. But in the wild, rugged Crazy Mountains, he finds Bo at the mercy of a suspected murderer. As her only hope, Jace is about to find out what they're both made of. 

Linda's Thoughts:
The moment Jace Calder saw his sister's face, he feared the worst. His heart sank. Emily, his troubled little sister, had been doing so well since she'd gotten the job at the Sarah Hamilton Foundation in Big Timber, Montana.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he removed his Stetson, pulled up a chair at the Big Timber Java coffee shop and sat down across from her. Tossing his hat on the seat of an adjacent chair, he braced himself for bad news.

Emily blinked her big blue eyes. Even though she was closing in on twenty-five, he often caught glimpses of the girl she'd been. Her pixie cut, once a dark brown like his own hair, was dyed black. From thirteen on, she'd been piercing anything she could. At sixteen she'd begun getting tattoos and drinking. It wasn't until she'd turned seventeen that she'd run away, taken up with a thirty-year-old biker drug-dealer thief and ended up in jail for the first time.

But while Emily still had the tattoos and the piercings, she'd changed after the birth of her daughter, and after snagging this job with Bo Hamilton.

"What's wrong is Bo," his sister said. Bo had insisted her employees at the foundation call her by her first name. "Pretty cool for a boss, huh?" his sister had said at the time. He'd been surprised. That didn't sound like the woman he knew.

But who knew what was in Bo's head lately. Four months ago her mother, Sarah, who everyone believed dead the past twenty-two years, had suddenly shown up out of nowhere. According to what he'd read in the papers, Sarah had no memory of the past twenty-two years.

He'd been worried it would hurt the foundation named for her. Not to mention what a shock it must have been for Bo.

Emily leaned toward him and whispered, "Bo's… She's gone."

LONE RIDER by B.J. Daniels is a fantastic read! It has it all: sexy cowboys, mind-blowing scenery, gripping suspense, fast-paced action, and sweet and hot romance. The intertwining lives of the characters and the complex storyline teeming with tension kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I did not want to put it down!

This is the second book in the author's Montana Hamiltons series that focuses on the embattled family headed up by Senator Buckmaster Hamilton whose ranch is at the foot of the picturesque, temperamental and oftentimes dangerous Crazies Mountain range in Big Timber, Montana. I loved WILD HORSES, the first book in this series. This series is a spin off from B.J.'s Beartooth Montana Series which is where I became enamored with B.J.'s writing. .For maximum enjoyment, I would recommend reading the series in order as there are interconnected characters and plot lines that have carried forward from the first book. However, LONE RIDER can be enjoyed as a standalone if that is your druthers as the development of the danger plot and the major romantic relationship are fully contained within this novel.

This is the story of Bo Hamilton, one of Buckmaster's daughters, and Jace Calder. They share a past. Bo runs the family foundation named after her mother. When money comes up missing at the foundation, Bo heads to her favorite mountains, the Crazies, to clear her head before facing the auditor. On her way back to face the music, Bo runs into a desperate escaped convict who has other plans for Bo.

Jace Calder loved Bo Hamilton years ago but Bo wasn't ready to commit to him and broke off their relationship. Jace was hurt badly and Bo is the last person he wants to see again. However, Jace's little sister is a single mother to a beautiful little girl and she works for Bo. When she tells him that Bo is missing, Jace offers to go looking for Bo as his sister is just getting her life together and needs her job. What he finds in the Crazies is terror personified.

I find it very easy to connect to B.J.s characters. I really liked both Bo and Jace. Jace made my heart beat a little faster as he was smokin' hot. I enjoyed the updates on other favorite characters from both the Beartooth series and the previous book in this series. LOL! But I missed any mention of Sheriff Frank's crows and truly hope they return in the next book. I cannot look at a crow now without thinking of B.J.'s books :-)

Following please find a few of my favorite quotes from this engrossing read:

Jace watched as the moon rose over the pines and scattered the mountainside with fool's gold. He rested against a large tree trunk as he leaned back into the dark shadow of the boughs and kicked himself mentally for thinking this was going to be easy. He should have known finding someone as complicated as Bo Hamilton wouldn't be easy.
---

The snow in the mountains had changed everything. Frank swore as he listened on the phone to the head of search and rescue describing the conditions they'd run into on the other side of the Crazies.
"The terrain is too dangerous," Jim Martin said. "Even experienced ground crews found many areas too difficult to traverse with the snow."
---

"Hell, I've always like the man," he said now. "Until he became involved with my wife."
---

"Are we ever getting out of these mountains?" she asked without turning to look at him.
He moved up behind her and put his arms around her. 
She leaned back against him. Her hair glistened with melting snow. She felt small in his arms.
"We're going to get out of here," he whispered as he slowly turned her to face him. "Do you trust me?"
She raised her head to meet his eyes and held his gaze for a long moment. "With my life."

LONE RIDER will keep the reader guessing until the very end. As with all of B.J.'s books, there's multiple plots that seamlessly mesh together into a brilliant tapestry and while the main one resolves happily, there are others that aren't concluded... So it's not over yet! Now I'm dying for the next one! The good news on that front is that we don't have to wait long! LUCKY SHOT, Montana Hamiltons #3, will be released December 1st and I can't wait! B.J. Daniels certainly writes western suspense like no other! I highly recommend LONE RIDER to anyone who enjoys romantic suspense and hot cowboys with a hometown feeling!


Suggested Reading Order:
Wild Horses (The Montana Hamiltons, #1) - Review | Purchase

Lone Rider (The Montana Hamiltons, #2) - Purchase

Lucky Shot (The Montana Hamiltons, #3) - Purchase