In the fourth The Raines of Wind Canyon book, photographer Maggie O’Connell has a stalker, but the cops refuse to help her. So she hires a private investigator.
PI and owner of Atlas Security, Trace Rawlins has a penchant for redheads, and Maggie is as red as they come. He finds it hard to trust her, though, after she lies to him and omits certain truths that hinder the investigation.
I really liked Trace. After what he went through with his ex-wife, I totally understand his trust issues and the way he feels stuck when his ex keeps hounding him. He’s calm and protective, but Maggie brings out his temper in ways he can scarcely comprehend.
I liked Maggie at first. She’s tough and independent, and the sudden appearance of her half-sister gives her someone to care about. She’s not in touch with her emotions, and she always runs when things get too personal. After a while, her refusal to give Trace a real chance really started to bother me. They had great sex, but they refused to talk about what they wanted or their future together. They’re both at fault for that, but she didn’t care when she made him angry or when she hurt him. She would laugh and use sex to calm him down while Trace was dying on the inside.
The mystery around the stalker and the arsonist were very interesting. I had no idea who was doing it, and I loved all the clues and possible ideas the characters were coming up with.
The side characters were great—Annie, Ben, Jake, Rex, Alex, etc. I’ve only read a few books in this series and I read them out of order. I read book 8 first, Ben’s story, so it was fun to see him still in his playboy glory.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and the characters.
4 Stars
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Redheads like Maggie O'Connell are nothing but trouble. But Trace Rawlins, a former army ranger turned private investigator, takes the case anyway. After all, he knows a thing or two about women.
Trace can sense that something is wrong—Maggie isn't telling him everything. If these menacing calls and messages are real, why won't the police help her? And if they aren't real, what is she hiding?
As Trace digs deeper to find the source of Maggie's threats, he discovers a secret that no one was meant to uncover. And the only puzzle left to be solved is whether the danger comes from an unknown stalker… or from the woman he's trying his hardest not to fall for.
Kat Martin writes powerful stories that sweep the reader along for a fast paced ride. Trace and Maggie both have issues from their past that help shape who they are now. Their love story has twists and turns but it's well worth the journey.
What follows is a suspenseful, wildly romantic story, which will have you turning the pages to find the outcome. Ms. Martin is very good at delivering a suspenseful mystery interlaced with the right amount of romance. Even the side story of Maggie's sister is a great addition.
I recommend Against the Storm to anyone who enjoys suspenseful mysteries and spicy romances. It is a quick, easy, and delightful read. I am looking forward to the next book in the series entitled, Against the Night which is being released February 28th. ( )

Good book that kept me intrigued from the beginning. Maggie has been getting creepy notes and calls, but the police are no help at all. When a friend suggests she hire a private investigator, she calls on Trace. He takes the case against his better judgment. He has a weakness for redheads and he senses that this one isn't being completely honest with him.

Both Maggie and Trace had their issues. Trace has a bad marriage, to a redhead, in his past. In spite of that, he still has a weakness for a redheaded woman, he's just made the decision to avoid anything that looks like commitment. Maggie has commitment problems of her own, thanks to a mother that never stuck with a marriage once things stopped being easy.

Maggie is a successful photographer who is having problems with a stalker. She goes to Trace for help because she gets no satisfaction from the cops. She had made a false accusation while she was in high school and as a result they don't take her seriously. Trace is willing to take her case (that redhead thing, y'know) as long as she listens to him and is honest with him. Right there is where they start running into problems, because when he asks her about certain people in her past, she leaves things out because she doesn't think they're important. Trace is rightfully angry when he finds out because some of that information could be important. She also has a tendency to go off on her own, even though he's told her not to, because she feels she has to be free to do her work. It takes several times of these idiotic moves for her to get it into her head just how dumb she's being. Another thing contributing to her issues is that she is really attracted to him. She doesn't want to be because she can see herself falling for him, which would be bad all around. Even once she gives into the attraction she really doesn't expect it to last past the solving of the mystery.

Trace runs a successful security company. He is at heart a true Texas gentleman who is very protective of women who find themselves in trouble. His weakness for redheads has gotten him in trouble before, especially when he married one of them. She is a plague to him that he still hasn't quite managed to shake loose. He feels that getting involved with Maggie is a bad idea from the beginning, but he does feel that she is telling the truth about the notes and calls she is receiving. He is intent on finding out who is terrorizing her, but is continually frustrated by her lack of cooperation. He's glad when she finally starts taking him seriously, and then their attraction adds a new layer to their relationship.

Neither Trace nor Maggie was looking for any kind of long term relationship. As a matter of fact, they fought the idea of it every step of the way, thanks to their individual issues with trust. But the more time they spent together, the more their hearts started to over rule their heads. Even so, their fears still managed to nearly drive them permanently apart, except for the danger that had them looking at what was really important.

The suspense part of the book was well done. The stalker's actions show a steady escalation that emphasizes the danger that Maggie is in. I enjoyed seeing the way that Trace and Maggie worked together to try to uncover the culprit. I have to say that the stalker was not who I thought it was, which was kind of nice because I don't like it when I figure things out too soon. There was a secondary problem that we knew the who, but not the why. That also was brought out at the end and made a satisfying finish to that puzzle.

I also enjoyed the secondary storyline that involved Maggie's sister and another client of Trace's. It was great to see Maggie connect with her sister, giving her a healthy relationship with a member of her family. Her sister was pretty sweet, and as independent as Maggie. I loved seeing her get involved with a nice guy like Jason. I liked the respect that Jason had for her, and the way he actually listened to what she really wanted. ( )

Against the Storm by Kat Martin
Maggie had a man take her camera away from her. She had photographed a woman leaving her lawyers office. She was a celebrity.
Maggie now needs his help-Trace Rollins, he used to be in the service and now runs a security office.
She has been threatened with the notes left on her car.
He is highly attracted to her and he should turn it over to another associate...
She agrees to tell her all about her past so he can find whoever it is that is threatening her..
Someone has been in her house and the cops have to be told. Problem is Trace doesn't know she has a past with the cops....Lots of hot steamy sex.
Scary that she is being stalked and there are clues. Love the talk of her work in the photography field and her events to promote her works..Just when they think they have solved the mystery they go back to their regular life and stop paying attention to clues.
Maggie's sister also has a chance at love, with her baby and a man..
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). ( )

A solid addition to the Raines of Wind Canyon books, Against the Storm was an enjoyable read but not my favorite in the series. It had all the elements of the first three--strong alpha hero, a heroine who is in distress yet not helpless, an intriguing mystery to solve and a developing relationship--yet it just didn't pack the same punch as the first three. The main reason, I think, is in the hero and heroine themselves. Trace has a weakness for redheads and a disasterous marriage that has caused him to have trust issues. Maggie has a past that she's ashamed of and a history of hiding from it, often omitting the details (which, since it happened when she was a minor, she is well within her rights to do) when questions are asked. In and of themselves, these traits were not a problem. However, Trace seemed just a bit too quick to form snap judgements about Maggie the second he found out that she might not have told him the whole truth about something but once he confronts her he just as quickly forgives her and moves on to...other things. It was just such a quick turnaround that it got to be a bit much at times. Maggie's neglecting to learn from the first three times that Trace is going to expect total honesty from her stretched credibility as well. Either bite the bullet and tell him everything or tell him it's none of his darn business, I say. However...then they had the big misunderstanding, broke up, went their separate ways, and then wham! all was good again in the blink of an eye. I guess I was just looking for less mercurial characters here, with a bit more of the gray areas in between the extremes--it was almost as if the easy way out were being taken over true character and plot development in that aspect. Overall, though, I did enjoy the book and will eagerly look forward to the next installment in the series...and hope to actually see a Raine or two in it, not just the mention of them. ;-) ( )