She Can Run by Melinda Leigh

Romantic Suspense

“Amazon cuts publishers out of book cycle” was the title of the lead article in the Business/Technology section of my Sunday paper.  In smaller print was “It lets authors offer works directly to site’s customers.”  What does this have to do with She Can Run you are asking?  She Can Run appears to be is one of the 122 books Amazon’s fledging publishing program will release this fall.

I received an ARC of She Can Run from Amazon Vine.  One of the first things I noticed was the thanks to the Amazon Publishing team.  I had just read the article and everything clicked.  So how was the book that cut publishers out of the book cycle?  It was OK.

Beth Baker is on the run after discovering a dangerous secret about her politician husband.  She has been aided by James, her almost uncle and has just gotten a position as caretaker at an out of the way estate in Pennsylvania.  When she arrives she finds that her new employer has died and his nephew, Jack O’Malley, has inherited the estate. 

Jack O’Malley is a policeman who was injured in the line of duty.  He and Beth are immediately attracted to each other.  He knows Beth is hiding something but decides to let her stay as his caretaker.  Jack wants to help but Beth must learn to trust him with her secret.

I said She Can Run was only OK for several reasons.  The story tries to be too many things while including too many story lines.  It is romance (which happened with out any buildup only immediate attraction), suspense (there is more than one bad guy after Beth and there are times when it leads to confusion), and a little paranormal (the paranormal shows up with a side character that does not have much of a role and is in only a few scattered scenes).  I don’t think She Can Run cut out a publisher as much as it found one willing to publish and promote.

While there is no publisher listed on the front pages of the book on the back there is the following:

“Montlake Romance connects reader with fresh, innovative, and swoon-worthy love stories across a broad range of categories – from historical to contemporary, romantic suspense to paranormal fantasy.”

Montlake Romance published She Can Run by Melinda Leigh in 2011.