On the day of her wedding, Gracie, with nothing more than the dress on her back and $5 to her name, flees with her five-year-old daughter, Hope. The pair land in west Texas, where Gracie takes a job caring for the two children of Lt. Michael Wayne. The two develop a relationship reminiscent of Captain and Maria Von Trapp as they disagree on the way to raise children, fight, and then subsequently embrace their attraction to each other. -VERDICT This third entry in the popular Lonestar series (after Lonestar Secrets), which feature single mothers fleeing the restraints or dangers in their lives, is a welcome addition with interesting characters and just enough suspense to keep readers on their toes. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

With only the clothes on their backs, Gracie Lister escaped San Diego with five-year-old Hope shortly before the wedding, after seeing her deceitful and corrupt Border Patrol fiancé and his drug-cartel allies murder two federal agents at her home. Army Lieutenant Michael Wayne, back in West Texas from Iraq after his ex-wife's death, needs a housekeeper and nanny for his two children, and tentatively the two arrange a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience. But Michael has a bounty on his head, and Gracie has several factions looking for her. The stakes grow ever higher when they find evidence that the cartels may also have blackmailed or paid off agents in the Texas Border Patrol office to turn a blind eye to their activities. Coble's suspenseful contemporary Christian romance vividly contrasts nonstop, fast-paced action with tenderer moments while portraying strong-willed, independent characters with unhappy pasts who must learn to compromise and trust in order to build a life together.--Welch, Lynne Copyright 2010 Booklist