It's In His Arms by Shelly Alexander Series: Red River Valley #4
Published by Montlake Romance
Publication Date: January 3rd 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 318
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC
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Disclaimer: I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book. All opinions stated are solely mine.
Lorenda Lawson has built a safe, sheltered life for her two young sons since their father was KIA several years ago. She has a beautiful cottage and a support network of family and friends. No one in Red River suspects that her marriage to Cam was ever less than perfect. Nobody, that is, except the gorgeous ex-SEAL who’s shown up after a long absence: Cam’s notorious twin brother, Mitchell.
Mitchell Lawson was a teenage rebel who fled Red River after the local watering hole burned down, choosing the military over jail. Now he has a new mission: making amends with the town and his sheriff father for his hell-raising days, while resisting the woman he’s always wanted. Between Lorenda’s warmth and sensuality and her boys’ mischievous matchmaking ploys, it won’t be easy.
When a string of fires breaks out, suspicious eyes turn toward Mitchell. Lorenda risks her reputation for his sake—but she’ll need to risk her heart, too, to bring this onetime bad boy home for good.
Review
Lorenda Lawson is Red River Valley’s darling. Good girl, married the town’s golden boy who went to war and came back in a box and she has struggled to raise his sons and build a good life form them all by herself, much to the admiration of everyone.
Mitch Lawson. Teenage hell-raiser and delinquent, who the town was glad to see the back of when he left to join the military. After staying away for so many years, he’s back to repair his damaged relationship with his father and make amends to the town, as well as get to know his brother’s family. But not everyone is pleased that he’s back and someone is determined to drive him back out by sabotaging his efforts even before he begins.
Lorenda has had it with being left behind emotionally and physically and her growing feelings for her late husband’s twin need to be nipped in the bud because he won’t stay, too and she can’t let her boys get attached to someone who will abandon them when the urge to wander hits him. Mitch always liked Lorenda but he stepped back when his brother staked a claim. How can he convince her to open her heart up to him when he’s torn between leaving to avoid the hostility from the town and staying to keep Lorenda and the boys safe from the trouble that his return has brought them?
Right from the beginning of this book, the author found my hot button issues with small towns and then pushed them. Hard! And what could these issues be, you ask? Well, labels and close-mindedness. Good, bad, troublesome, trash, I could go on and on. Labels that define young people even after they grow beyond that stage and oftentimes, labels that are hard to get past because most people can’t be bothered to expand their thinking.
Lorenda’s late husband, Cameron was the good twin and he worked that label hard but a lot of the revelations show a young man who was obsessed with what people thought about him and dedicated himself to living up to those impressions, even at a cost to his twin. Mitch was branded as troublesome, which he no doubt was, but everything that went wrong became his fault and the town made no effort to see that there was more to the story because it was easier to blame him. For Lorenda, being the town sweetheart meant she was blindsided by the backlash when she stuck up for him.
In spite of my rant above, IT’S IN HIS ARMS was a very enjoyable, sweet story with romance, humor and a bit of mystery and their supportive friends were the second best part of the story for me, after Lorenda, Mitch and the boys. It’s pretty obvious my sympathies lay with Mitch all the way and I liked that as the secrets came out, the town stepped up to make things right with Mitch.
This is the fourth book in the series and it would interesting to catch up on the previous books.
About Shelly Alexander
A 2014 Golden Heart® finalist, Shelly Alexander grew up traveling the world, earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing, and worked in the business world for twenty-five years. With four older brothers, she watched every Star Trek episode ever made, joined the softball team instead of ballet class, and played with G.I. Joes while the Barbie Corvette stayed tucked in the closet. When she had three sons of her own, she decided to escape her male-dominated world by reading romance novels and has been hooked ever since. Now, she spends her days writing steamy contemporary romances while tending to an obstinate English bulldog named Lola.
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