Title: Saving Justice Genre: Contemporary Romance Author: Tasman Gibb
Synopsis:
Marlo Croft, canine behaviorist at the Dog Haven Sanctuary in Halo Peak, Washington, has her life neatly organized. The trauma of her past is well buried, her emotions tamped down, and rehabilitating and rehoming damaged and unwanted dogs gives her the focused, contained life that makes her feel secure. The arrival of a new rescue dog, Justice, also brings the unwelcome distraction of a handsome stranger who is to shadow Marlo and Justice through the dog’s rehabilitation. Suffering guilt over the death of his wife, New Zealander Adam Guildford’s short contract in the US to research dog fighting is what he hopes will pull him out of the limbo he has floundered in for the past four years. He arrives prepared to tackle the emotional and behavioral needs of the rescued dogs, but completely unprepared for the way his presence unnerves Marlo and awakens his own dormant feelings. As they start to gain Justice’s trust, Marlo loosens her grip on her inner fears and the simmering attraction between her and Adam heats up. Adam works carefully to dismantle the emotional barricades Marlo erected, until one day he unwittingly delivers the horror from Marlo’s past straight to her doorstep, an action that tears the three of them apart.
About the Author:
New Zealand-born, Tasman Gibb loves to write contemporary romance that very often features emotionally flawed heroines and heroes. She lives in Auckland, New Zealand, but spends as much time as possible on the Coromandel Peninsula. She shares a home with Mr Scott and rescue dog Skipper. She battles an obsession with collecting antique dog photos and drooling over Victorian taxidermy, but refuses to admit that she’s losing that battle!
You can find Tasman here:
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My Thoughts
Typically, when it comes to romance heroines, I am generally not a fan. You can say that I am all about the men in the romance genre. Mrs. Gibb changed my mind. Marlo is the type of woman who masquerades as if she has everything under control, when in fact she is a broken woman. The thing that the author did right in this book is not to pretend as if Marlo is stronger than she appears. We, the reader, can see that there’s something gone awry in Marlo’s past. We just don’t know what it is.
Now to my favorite part of the story, the man. The thing I like most about Adam is the fact that he is not your typical hero. It seems that the romance genre is saturated with overly masculine men, the type that are so strong, so domineering that they drown out their female counterparts. Adam is a reasonable man. He is the type of man that you could meet on the street and not want to instantly punch in the face, which seems to be a thing in romance. However, his ability to be reasonable does not distract from his ability to be masculine. I have no doubt whatsoever that Adam is an alpha male, he just isn’t the type of alpha that is only good on paper, but not entirely practical in real life. While I understand fiction is primarily for escapism, I do like the fact that Adam is more representative of real men in the fact that his masculinity does not squeeze out Marlo’s existence.
The story of Marlo and Adam’s romance is a sweet one made complicated by Marlo’s tragic past. Things are not made any less complicated by Adam’s past, but Marlo is the one who is most reluctant to change. Overall I like this story. It was sweet, the sex came at the right time and had the right amount of sizzle. Gibb made sure that there was more story than sex. If you are looking for a romance, this is it.
This novel was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.
My rating:
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