Review: Here With Me by Samantha Young

Here With Me by Samantha Young
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC from the author, all opinions expressed are my own.

This was a nice change of pace from Samantha Young. She hasn't really delved into Romantic Suspense and I really liked what she did here. This has all of the things I love about her contemporary romance books, great characters, wonderful "world building" (I really felt like I was in Scotland), wonderful dialogue, and emotional exchanges amongst all the players. In this case we also have a bit of a mystery on our hands, and our main heroine Robyn is attempting to work through who is stalking our hero. I had my suspicions as to who was behind the events, but Sam did a great job leading me down other paths until the very end. At every turn there was some reason why whoever you were suspecting at the time couldn't be the culprit, they had an alibi, the suspect had a different description, they weren't on the property at the time, etc. She did a great job misleading the reader until the very end when you find out who really was the mastermind behind the entire thing. I had several different suspects on my list throughout.

Samantha descriptions of Scotland in this book as well as her others, is such that you feel like you are there. I've always wanted to go there, but now I'm desperate to get there after reading this. I could picture Ardnoch and the surrounding areas through her words. She did an amazing job describing the setting, especially when it came to the pictures Robyn was taking and the landscapes. ANother thing that she has always done so well is the banter between characters. Robyn is a spitfire, she quit her job as Boston police officer reconnect with her estranged father. Her dad works as head of security at a luxurious and private club for the rich and famous and it is run by Lachlan Adair. Robyn and Lachlan do not hit it off at first, but their verbal exchanges go from hostile to business to playful over the course of the book. Lachlan has lots of responsibilities, and he likes to keep things under control, so when a stalker starts leaving him messages and "gifts" at his club, things start to get uncomfortable for him. Robyn arriving doesn't help matters, especially as Mac, her father, is attacked. Robyn is now determined to see that her dad is safe and the stalker is put away. This forces her to face her past emotions and current feelings about Mac and Lachlan.

I really enjoyed this. I love thrillers, and while this doesn't have the dark and ominous aspect you expect from a thriller, it does have that suspenseful undercurrent. I was always wondering what was going to happen next or when the next suspense aspect was going to happen. I also loved the character development in all of this. Robyn was such a dynamic character. She is fierce and able to fight off an assailant, but she also wasn't afraid to be vulnerable on her own terms. She may have avoided having difficult conversations until she was ready to have them, but she always knew she would have them on her terms and when she was ready. She never pushed them off and pretended they would go away. Lachlan was interesting as well, he puts up a good front, but as we get to know him there is so much more to the man behind the curtain. I also loved the side characters. There are so many of them with great stories that I can't list them all, but I hope that we get to see more of them as the series progresses. I can't wait for the next book!

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