The Ranger

After buying Rhonda Nelson's The Ranger, I did what I always do -- snuggled into bed with it at the end of the day to both relax and savor what I've come to expect to be a great, fun, romantic read. By 2 AM I was done. Yep. Stayed up all night reading this one and that right there should tell anyone reading this review whether this book was good or not. *grin* In The Ranger, Nelson revisits the idea of the investigative agency Ranger Services run by Brian Payne (The Specialist), Jamie Flanagan (The Player) and Guy McCann (The Maverick) by bringing Will Forrester into the fold. Will has left the service following a botched mission that -- like the rest of the heroes who wind up at Ranger Services -- left someone dead. Filled with grief and shame and doubt, Will is a soldier who can't do his job, who is tired of war, and looking for a place he can fit in. He finds it in Ranger Services and, true to form in Nelson's previous books, his first case is a bit more complicated than he expects. Enter "bull-headed, mouthy, flat out sexy" Rhiannon Palmer. Not only does she get Will's motor racing, she won't take no for an answer. After all, his case involves an old man she thinks of as her own father, and now that the treasure-seeking old man has skedaddled off to find it, leaving Rhiannon worried and the old man's son sensing the perfect opportunity to shove him into a nursing home and make a grab for the family's historic acreage to sell off to developers. It takes some convincing on Rhiannon's part, but soon she and Will are off on old man's trail, hunting him AND a (possible) treasure. Ah, but there's another unforseen complication for the poor always-likes-to-be-in-control Will. Rhiannon's hot. He wants her. She wants him. And she's not exactly shy about her feelings once she knows he feels the same way. Nelson ramps up the sexual tension big time in this story and it's oh so satisfying when the two finally tumble into bed. The Ranger is just a fun-filled, sexy romp o' reading pleasure, and for the first time it feels like Nelson doesn't tie up Will's grief so neatly. It'll be something he has to live with for the rest of his life and that Rhiannon will be right there with him to help him get through it. And unlike some romances, there's no doubt with The Ranger that Will and Rhiannon are perfect for each other. There's no doubt, as you close this book, that they'll truly have that Happily Ever After. It was fun being introduced to 2 new characters in the next installment of Nelson's "Men Out of Uniform" series, and getting to revisit the men of the previous books (and learn the fate of the men who followed them but were Will's predecessors) was a hoot. The Ranger is definitely a book to pick up soon as you can an indulge in some guilt-free summer reading of the most awesome kind.