Cara Pax is normally a behind the scenes supporter of her family’s Bounty Hunting business doing research as she finishes getting her degree to be a kindergarten teacher. When her mom takes off which their house as collateral on her bounty, the sisters are forced to up their game taking on more dangerous jobs. Cara decides to go off on her own and try to bring in a possible murderer, Henry Kavinski. When she actually comes face to face with him and he doesn’t kill her? She decides he’s innocent and Henry will do everything he can to keep her safe.
This Bounty Hunters series is off to a great start! While Cara is more like a librarian than a bounty hunter she’s been trained in hand to hand combat and has plenty of backbone despite her quiet demeanor. When her kidnapping forces she and Henry together they don’t fight their attraction very long. Despite a predictable ending I did enjoy the sweetness of their love story.
The only thing that bothered me even a little bit was that I couldn’t get a very good picture of Henry in my mind other than that he was a big kind of quiet guy. Cara was vivid and bright, he just kind of paled in comparison. Despite that small thing, I still really liked this couple and this story. If you are in the mood for a quick paced romantic suspense novel pick this one up! Even though there’s an underlying series story I do think this novel could stand on it’s own. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
When Molly and her sisters find out their mom has skipped bail and used their home as collateral they need to find her before she leaves town and they lose their house. Fellow bounty hunter John Carmondy always seems to show up when Molly is about to arrest a skip. This time when he finds out Molly is on a dangerous quest he signs on as her partner so he’s there to watch her back. Molly’s always had to take care of her sisters and having someone take care of her quickly turns her feelings from annoyance to sizzling heat. Soon their feelings for each other put everything real on the line.
Molly and John had such amazingly, snarky dialog, it was so much fun to read! The way John just kept showing up displayed his obvious interest but Molly was absolutely clueless. I do remember thinking, come on Molly get a clue! But when they pair up to find their skip it allows her to see him in a better light and she realizes she can rely on him. That finally opens the doors to another type of relationship. John on the other hand was all in from the very beginning. Boy, he had a LOT of patience! LOL
Katie Ruggle writes very entertaining romantic suspense novels and In her Sights seems to be the start of a great series. This novel had a quick pace and it was very easy to get emotionally involved and I finished the novel in no time. As with her other series there’s an underlining plot thread that will run through all of the novels in the series so as this is the first novel, start here and enjoy the rest as they come! ❤️❤️❤️❤️
If you would like a chance to win a free copy of this novel please click the link below!
“Overall I thought this was a decent start to the series. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s in store for Molly’s sisters and what will happen to their mother. Readers who enjoy the trope of rivals to lovers will enjoy this one. I would also recommend it to readers who enjoy a small amount of suspense mixed into their romances.” Harlequin Junkie
“The romance was served on the side as Ruggle set up the overall series but also introduced us to key characters. She did this all while providing hunts for bond skippers, deadly encounters, attempted burglary, blackmail and more.” Caffeinated Reviewer
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I love to read. I know, I know, not a big shock since I also write reviews for a ton of the books that I read. Even more than my love for reading, I love it when I find an author who’s writing totally connects, and I can lose myself in the stories they’ve written. A couple of years ago a new romantic suspense author leaped onto my radar in a big way, her name is Katie Ruggle. I’m sure most of you have heard of her Search and Rescue and Rocky Mountain K9 Unit series as they both received a lot of buzz. When I was give the opportunity to interview her, I jumped at the chance. I had all of these questions! I hope you enjoy reading my interview with Katie Ruggle below. Her personality shines through. No wonder I love her books so much.
INTERVIEW
TRC: Hi Katie, thank you so much for agreeing to answer a few questions about your novels.
Katie: Thank you! I love your reviews and am so happy to get to chat with you.
TRC: If you don’t mind, I’d like to start at the beginning, with your Search and Rescue series. What struck me the most about that series was that most of your characters were flawed in some way. My favorite was Fan the Flames. Ian was gorgeous and deserving of being the cover model but Rory was sooo interesting! I’ve never read a book with her background, how did you create her character? What inspired you?
Katie: Thank you! Rory’s one of my favorites, too. I love her competence and prickly awkwardness. She’s the character I think of when I stock up on hundreds of rolls of toilet paper (after all, who wants to run out of toilet paper in the middle of the zombie apocalypse?), or when the anxious corner of my brain word-vomits animal facts in a cringe-worthy torrent of nerdiness after meeting someone new. I think it’s really important to write about flawed characters finding their happily-ever-afters, since these stories show that our wonderfully flawed selves are just as worthy of love as those who are a little closer to perfect.
It’s so hard to describe how I come up with characters, since they just seem to pop out of my brain fully formed. Although some of the inspiration for Rory came from my rather…interesting neighbors when I lived off-grid in the mountains, mostly she was just who she was. Of course she’s a socially awkward semi-hermit who owns a gun shop above her prepper-style bunker home. That’s just Rory.
TRC: I love how each of your series has an underlining mysterious plot that continues to build to a conclusion in the final novel. Yet each novel has its own mystery that runs parallel to that underlying plot. In Search and Rescue it was the body found under the ice, the K9 Unit Series was why all of the girls were hiding their identity, and Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters the mystery surrounds the girls mother. Would you share your method of how you remember all of these details? (If you have a picture board, post it note board, etc. a screen shot/picture would be awesome!)
Katie: My technique for recording details is pretty sad: A battered little notebook with scribbles everywhere. I’ve tried to switch to using a notes app on my phone, or even a Word doc on my laptop, but I haven’t been able to wean myself off of that dog-eared notebook. Since a goldfish has a better memory than me, I write down everything. Plot notes are interspersed with grocery lists and to-do items and vet appointment times and… Well, you get the picture. I’m very, very grateful that I have good editors. They’ve saved me from humiliation and continuity tragedies so many times. Editors are angels in human form.
TRC: I’ll admit that I LOVED your novella Rocky Mountain Cowboy Christmas. Steve’s kids were so fun and unusual! Zoe the inventor, Micah the hermit artist, Will the joyful oldest son, and Maya the youngest but oh so sweet! Will these kids ever have their own stories in a possible young adult series? I’m sure I’m not the only reader that hopes to see more of them!
Katie: It’s like you’re psychic! It’s not for certain yet, so I can’t say much, but there is a high likelihood that Will might get his own story (shh…it’s our secret).
TRC: OK, let’s talk a little bit about your new series Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters. I really enjoyed In Her Sights. I liked the set-up of Molly and her sisters needing to run a bounty hunter business in order to make a living a pay the bills. Each of these sisters seems so different! Do you have a favorite sister, and why is she your favorite? If you don’t have a favorite, would you share one thing about each of the sisters that has helped you develop their character?
Katie: Thank you! I have five sisters of my own (and a brother), so this series is very close to my heart. I love the affectionate and aggravating chaos a big family creates.
As far as favorites go, I’m so fickle! As I develop each book, that sister becomes my current favorite. Right now, I’m in the process of writing the third Bounty Hunter book, which features Norah and her MMA instructor, Dashiell. In the previous books, Norah was overshadowed by her bolder sisters, but now she’s developing into quite the badass! It’s also fun because Dash is a decidedly grumpy guy, which is a hoot to write. I do adore a cranky hero!
TRC: Your next book in the Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunter series releases at the end of December. Can you give us a hint about Cara and Henry’s relationship that we don’t read in the synopsis (included below)?
Katie: Well, Cara and Henry get to live out one of my favorite romance tropes: The Oh no! We’re two people who desperately but secretly want each other, and we’re stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and there’s (you guessed it) ONLY ONE BED! trope. I love it.
TRC: Final question! I love that your background in law enforcement, your ice rescue certification, and your love of Colorado is written into your novels. I can’t help but hope that your training in boxing, Krav Maga, or gymnastics could get written into a future novel! Would you be able to give us a hint of a future novel or hero(ine) that might have some kick ass surprises in store for us?
Katie: Shockingly enough, shy Norah is the one who gets to don the boxing gloves in the third Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters book. Some Krav Maga moves sneak in there, too—nothing like a palm-heel strike to take down a creepy treasure-hunting burglar. I also have a plan for a future black-belt girly-girl gymnast bodyguard who dreams of being a hair stylist, but that won’t be until the next series. She needs to wait until the bounty-hunting sisters all get their happy endings!
Thank you for letting me blab about my books!
TRC: Thank you so much for spending time answering these questions. I can’t wait for your next novel Risk It All to come out in December!
Synopsis: Risk It All by Katie Ruggle
RISK IT ALL (Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters Book #2)
When bounty hunter falls for bounty,
they’ll risk it all to save the one they love.
Cara Pax never wanted to be a bounty hunter—she’s happy to leave chasing criminals to her more adventurous sisters. But if she wants her dream of escaping the family business to come true, she’s got one last job to finish.
Too bad she doesn’t think her latest bounty is actually guilty.
Henry Kavenski is a man with innocence to prove. But when his enemies target Cara in an attempt to force his hand, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Deep in the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by danger on all sides, Henry and Cara will have to learn to trust their unexpected partnership if they want to make it out together—and alive.
AUTHOR BIO
A graduate of the Police Academy, Katie Ruggle is a self-proclaimed forensics nerd. A fan of anything that makes her feel like a bad-ass, she has trained in Krav Maga, boxing, and gymnastics, has lived in an off-grid, solar- and wind-powered house in the Rocky Mountains, rides horses, trains her three dogs, and travels to warm places to scuba dive. She has received multiple Amazon Best Books of the Month and an Amazon Best Book of the Year.
Katie Ruggle’s publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, will be giving away three copies of Katie Ruggle’s novel In Her Sights. Click on the link above for your chance to win a copy! US and Canada residents ONLY!
Katie Ruggle excels at building fun characters who live on the edge of society. Those oddball characters that are slightly dorky and immediately endear you to them. Camille Brandt has always had trouble talking to people. She second guesses what she should say and do in social situations so tries to avoid them as much as possible. When Steve Springfield moves back to town with his four kids, Camille’s crush from high school immediately blooms again. Watching her face her struggles trying to speak normally made Camille so identifiable. Who hasn’t felt like that at one point in their life? I rooted for her so hard!
You may recognize Steve Springfield from the Search and Rescue series. He’s a firefighter and was always in the story but on the peripheral. It was so nice to get to know him and all of his kids! I know the Rocky Mountain Cowboy series will probably be about all of Steve’s brothers, but I want some YA books about Steve’s kids. They were so fun and unusual. Zoe is an inventor- blowing things up occasionally, Micah is the hermit artist, Will the adopted joyful oldest son, and Maya the youngest and sweetest little thing. Seriously these kids rocked and need their own stories!
Rocky Mountain Cowboy Christmas was a great start to this series. Katie Ruggle has proven herself again with some great characters, a solid love story, and of course she throws in just a hint of danger adding that tension that works so well in her novels. This was my first Christmas novel of the year and even though we are only approaching October, I was in the Christmas spirit right away.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️
I was given an ARC of this novel for my honest review and it was honest!
Kit Jernigan is the newest member of the K9 Unit having arrived in town after the unit’s police department was blown to bits by the previous novel’s bad guy. Needless to say, her male counterparts are a little gun shy to trust the new girl in town. The day she arrives she is called to the scene of a fire with her bloodhound Justice to track a potential killer. When that trail points to a seemingly innocent person, Kit is the only one to believe that her story may not be true. Until Wes comes along. Wes, the local fire-spotter who works for the National Park, did his job and spotted the fire. When Kit goes to interview him, their chemistry sizzles and as they get to know each other, Wes is on hand to help her investigate her suspect.
This is the final book in the Rock Mountain K9 Unit series and it wraps up the series story arc very nicely. It was refreshing to have Kit’s perspective as the only female officer in town. Don’t let that book cover fool you, that should be Kit next to the dog not Wes, since she is the officer in the unit. (The guy on the cover is handsome, but Wes was described as a huge mountain man with a lot of hair and I’m not seeing it at all on that cover!) Kit was smart, and her inner dialog made me like her even more. I also liked how she was attracted to Wes’s personality. It is obvious that he is borderline autistic or at least severely uncomfortable with person to person contact of any sorts. Katie Ruggle wrote his character as if that was totally normal and didn’t explain his peculiarities at all, which was really refreshing in an age where “diverse” characters are celebrated. She didn’t draw attention to it, it was just who he was.
Wes was completely charming! He was a hot mountain man with a brain. He was also willing to face his fears of being around people socially to be a part of Kit’s life. That is romance! My only critique is that she wrote him a little too well? I liked his personality with Kit, but because of his awkwardness the reader may have had to work a little harder to connect with him.
If I had to classify this book’s genre, I would classify it as romantic suspense or an action novel. There was a lot going on and the mystery definitely took center stage. However, I really liked Kit and Wes and was happy with the romance sub plot. This series started off flat but slowly built up steam and I liked Through the Fire the best of the four novels. You definitely must read the other books before reading this one since there is an overlying plot that runs through all four novels, sorry! Reading a Katie Ruggle book isn’t a hardship so even with the slow start I’d recommend reading this series. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.
Survive the Night is the third installment in the Rocky Mountain K9 Unit series and Sarah is my favorite heroine of the three. Sister to a wanna be mob boss she has been locked behind doors and abused for her whole life. That may sound like Sarah would be a victim but she has a bit of steel in her spine. After escaping her brother she moves in with Jules and Grace (heroines from books one and two)and starts to practice what she has been internally preaching…she wants to live a normal life. When she sets eyes on K9 cop Otto she isn’t scared by his size, she is captured by his sweetness watching as he rescues animals and rehabilitates them with a soft touch.
Of course, this is a Katie Ruggle novel so you know trouble is coming and Sarah needs to gear up for a fight. Sure enough, when her brother tracks her down it affects Grace too as their reasons for being in Monroe are tied together. There are some great action scenes that really drive the story. Sarah, separated from her friends when the trouble starts does not hide until its all over. She takes the bull by the horns and seeks out her friends showing she has spunk and is a fighter even after being beaten down for years.
If there was one thing missing for me it was with Otto. He was a big sweet lug who loved animals and took in strays. He was pretty one dimensional and I would’ve liked to have made more of a connection with him. After all he was in the previous two novels, unlike Sarah so I should’ve felt more for him than I did. His purpose was to be there to help save the day and win his girl. He got to do both in a very satisfying way. I enjoyed reading this book on an overcast Saturday afternoon and it hit the spot. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
I was given a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.
I fell in serious like with Hugh Murdoch in Run to Ground, the first novel in the Rocky Mountain K9 Unit series. Hugh was the seriously needed comic relief from a rather brooding hero, Theo, so I was totally jazzed to read his story. His love interest Kaylee, see’s a crime that she may not survive witnessing. Using a familiar mysterious benefactor, she ends up the new roommate to Jules and her siblings in Hugh’s hometown. After Jules’ brush with danger the K9 unit that both Theo and Hugh belong are immediately suspicious of Kaylee, now renamed Grace. She and Hugh butt heads while he tries to figure out her story. Then as with all of Katie Ruggles books, hi-jinks ensue.
I was thrilled with Grace and Hugh’s chemistry, energy and witty repartee, something I thought Run to Ground had lacked. Hugh, the king of one liners was always good for a quick smile, but now we get to see the man behind the mask and I really liked what I saw. Hugh hides his emotions by cracking those jokes, yet that mask drops when his new lady looks to be in danger. Grace had what Jules lacked, a spine. Although to cut Jules a little slack, Grace is only looking out for herself and didn’t have to worry about any younger siblings. Grace has sass, and even though seriously scared about what she ran from, she never lacked a quick comeback and managed to keep her head on straight.
The two of them together were a fun read, and the energetic plot helped move those pages along. I was worried after Run to Ground’s lackluster start but I think Ms. Ruggle has found her romantic suspense legs again.
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest review and it was honest.
Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites
I have been eagerly anticipating this new novel by Katie Ruggle. In her previous Search and Rescue series I really enjoyed her unique characters and thrilling storylines. Run to Ground, the first in her new K-9 Unit series did not disappoint. Our heroine Jules Jackson, rescued her siblings from an abusive step parent and skipped town. She’s understandably nervous, expecting cops to break down her door at any minute. So, when Theo, a cop, shows an interest in her she tries to avoid catching his eye. Theo is slightly suspicious of her twitchiness but his inner demons are calmed when she’s around and so he ignores his instincts and doesn’t investigate her too deeply. Theo’s been very depressed since his previous partner committed suicide. He inherits his deceased partner’s K-9, Viggy, who has also been extremely depressed since his death. The two of them are a sad pair but when Viggy meets Jules’s brothers and sisters he starts acting like a normal dog and Theo is drawn even more into Jules’ orbit.
For a girl who had the balls to steal her siblings away from a bad situation I was a little disappointed that Jules was so timid. It was a little annoying, but the fact that she liked Theo despite those fears, and didn’t try too hard to avoid him helped me get over that annoyance pretty quickly. Her brothers and sister were charming and their interaction with Viggy was so sweet it helped balance Theo’s rather anti social personality. When Jules’ life is in danger, we see both Theo and Viggy in a heroic light, overcoming their fears.
This novel was a little different than her previous books, but I still enjoyed the connection these characters made with each other. If I was disappointed at all it was because it took me a little longer to identify with these characters. However, the book was still filled with action and suspense and made for an enjoyable weekend read. I look forward to her next novel which will continue with Jules’ runaway family storyline as a subplot to our next romantic duo.
❤️❤️❤️❤️
I received an ARC of this book for my honest review, and I was honest.
Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved
I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
In Safe Hands is the fourth and final book in Katie Ruggle’s Search and Rescue series. Chris Jennings is a deputy in the Field County Sheriff’s department. We’ve met Chris earlier in this series, investigating the various murders and crimes committed in this small burg. His childhood friend Daisy, in the middle of the night through the window of her home, see’s what she thinks is a dead body being carted out of the vacant house across the street. She calls in her friend Chris and the investigation begins. Continue reading “This Chick Read: In Safe Hands (Search and Rescue #4) by Katie Ruggle”→
Gone Too Deep continues the underlying storyline about who killed the headless man found in the first book, Hold Your Breath. Baxter Price, Ellie’s father, calls his daughter out of the blue rambling about people being after him. Her father has a history of mental illness, and Ellie is concerned that he may become lost or hurt in the Colorado wilderness, unable to take care of himself. She leaves work in Chicago and travels to Simpson, Colorado to try to find him. She enlists the aid of George Holloway, a member of Search and Rescue to take her on a three day hike through the wilderness to her grandfathers cabin. Continue reading “This Chick Read: Gone Too Deep (Search and Rescue #3) by Katie Ruggle”→
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Copyright 2018 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved.
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