A review by robin_is_me
Cold Light of Day by Elizabeth Goddard

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

When this book came up for review, I didn’t even read the synopsis. Just the word “Alaska” and the author’s name were enough for me to know I wanted to read it. I’ve loved all of the author’s books that I’ve read so far, and lately I’ve been drawn to anything set in Alaska. 

Autumn Long is the police chief in the small town of Shadow Gap, following in her father’s footsteps. Currently, the city council members are considering relieving her of her position, driving by Wally, who is pushing for his nephew to take over as police chief. On top of that, she’s suddenly faced with a small crime wave in her town, the likes of which Shadow Gap has never experienced before. So she’s got her hands full and plenty of stress on her plate. 

Grier Brenner is an outsider who showed up in Shadow Gap to do some fishing, and then stuck around. That’s all Autumn knows about him, other than the fact that she finds him attractive and is drawn to him, feelings she does her best to ignore. I loved Autumn, but Grier was definitely the bigger draw for me. We know nothing about his past and can only speculate along with Autumn, who decides he must be former military at the least. But when the narrative is focused on him, we do start getting hints along the way. He’s a mysterious stranger, and we know he’s in hiding, as he keeps trying to remind himself he’s not in Shadow Gap to make friends and needs to keep to himself. But he’s also human, and with the townsfolk being so open and friendly, he can’t keep himself from visiting the Lively Moose every morning to eat breakfast with his new buddies. Whatever is going on in Shadow Gap, with two bodies, found near each other but seemingly unrelated, it’s nothing to do with him and he needs to keep a low profile. And yet he finds it hard to not get involved… 

Memories that felt like they were from another life chased him. And here he was, running after danger again. For all the right reasons – again. 

As the happenings in Autumn’s life and Grier’s life began to converge, the plot got a little convoluted, but the tenseness and suspense kept it moving at a brisk pace. Autumn and Grier are both being hunted, and find themselves thrown together in investigating, with Autumn offering to hire Grier since he obviously has skills, and Grier refusing the offers, because a background check might give her too much information about him, but then sticking close and working with her unofficially because he feels a need to protect her. 

As I seem to say about every title I read from Revell’s romantic suspense line, the author’s writing is wonderful. I loved the detail about the Alaskan wilderness, and Autumn’s feelings about Shadow Gap and how much she loves her town and her work. The supporting characters aren’t fleshed out much, with Grier’s new friends being interchangeable to me, but this is about Grier and Autumn, and they were very real and believable and I was wholly invested in their story. 

All in all, a great start to the author’s newest series. I’m eagerly looking forward to the next book. 

*received from the publisher and voluntarily reviewed*