Trail of Kisses

Hot on the Trail, Book 1

By: Merry Farmer

Narrated by: Dawnya Clarine

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Someone is trying to kill Lynne Tremaine. After her father sentences two members of The Briscoe Boys gang to death, Judge Tremaine feels he has no choice but to send Lynne to Denver City along the Oregon Trail to live with her Uncle George, against her will. For Lynne, the only thing worse than being sent away to the Wild West is making the journey with the handsome, arrogant, wicked man her uncle has hired to escort her. Especially when the anger she feels toward him begins to turn to something hotter.

Cade Lawson is determined to prove himself to his employer, George Tremaine, after letting him down months earlier. But what he thought would be his second chance may, in fact, be a harsh punishment for his past mistakes. Lynne is headstrong, fiery, and determined to show him she is fearless. She is also beautiful and tempting, and when Cade sees just how afraid she really is underneath her brave act, he may be in danger of losing his heart to her forever. When her would-be killer attacks, it's all he can do to keep Lynne safe.

He swore to protect her, but who will protect him from her?

©2015 Meredith Farmer (P)2016 Meredith Farmer

Loved it

I found this book to be a delightful read full of suspense, a few twist to keep the book interesting. At first I thought Lynne was going to be a spoiled girl who just wants her way. What I found was a delightful young woman that used her ways to hide her fears. She is stubborn and bullheaded no doubt but caring and loving who just wants to go home to her father. After losing so much she just wants to be with her family so she can take care of them. To live home with danger at every turn is hard to deal with, someone wanting you dead just because justice was served which you had nothing to do with is hard to understand. I thought Lynne did a wonderful job dealing with her fears, overcoming the issues as they came along.

I thought this was well written giving just enough suspense to keep the story interesting. As I read this trying to work out who the person was trying to kill her I found only one person but I thought no way. As the story developed I still kept going back to this one person thinking it has to be. It does seem my thoughts were correct, the author gives you all the hints you need to work it out. Even with me being sure I still found I was surprised when the person showed their self with a wonderful scene as they bring justice.

Ms. Clarine does a wonderful job of narration she really pulls you g, and her female ones are very soft and rich. You have no trouble hearing what emotions each are feeling into the story with her wonderful character voices. Her male voices are smooth, rich and strong or who is talking. There are not any background noises or any places in the audio where the beginning of the chapter the voice is higher or lower than the last chapter. Just a smooth, clean rich listen that really pulls you in. The narrator really puts a lot into the listen you can hear the sadness or excitement in her voice. I enjoyed this story and narration so much I found things I could do so I could listen longer. She really painted the picture in my mind of how things go on a trail ride. She made me understand that Emma really loved her mother and over looked a lot of her nonsense due to the love she has for her. I am not sure I would have gotten this sense if I had read the book. I have not listened to anything by this narrator but am really looking forward to listen to more of her work.

The author gives you a few heart stopping moments as she spins a wonderful tale of suspense. She gives you a few passionate scenes to get your blood pumping as she takes you a trail ride on Oregon Trail with the handsome Cade Lawson who is driving Lynne up a wall with his demands of keeping her safe. He is dashing, hot, stubborn and bullhead too. The trouble these cause on the trail will keep you laughing as they butt head time and time again. This read is just a hot mess that will hook you and hold you as you smile your way through the dangers of an open trail on the race to find out who is trying to kill Lynne. The author puts all the ingredients to make this a wonderful read as she gives you wonderful characters you can relate to along with danger, suspense, romance, a few twist and turns. I found it hard to put this book down, I just had to find out the ending….what an ending….This is the first time I have read anything by this author but it sure will not be the last.

I really wanted to like this book ... but I didn't

The narrator was pretty bad. I think I might send a recording to Audible to see if they'll hire me. If this book is any indication of the competition out there, I think I might stand a chance of landing a narration gig too. But, the story wasn't much better either. Like another reviewer lamented, the phrase 'she was her papa's brave girl' had me rolling eyes. And it didn't take much of a sleuth to identify the sinister character at the heart of the story's mystery. It was pretty obvious to me by the time I had finished the 2nd or 3rd chapter.