A Dry Creek Bed by Avery Flynn-review

Blurb taken from Amazon:

"I do believe I can arrest you for looking at someone like that. You've got to be breaking some indecency laws."

Taking a deep breath, she recovered her bearings. Mostly. "You're out of your jurisdiction, sheriff."

Dry Creek County Sheriff Hank Layton is the stuff of dreams. Nasty, steamy, delicious fantasies that leave Beth Martinez weak-kneed and desperately wanting the man she can never have.

Hank can’t stop thinking about Beth to the point where he’s afraid of becoming permanently bowlegged. And even though the sexual tension between them is thick enough to trip over, she runs every time he chases.

But when a mysterious developer forces her neighbors off their land, Beth becomes the one person standing between the scoundrel and millions of dollars. Only Hank can help her uncover the truth. Together they risk their lives exposing decades-old secrets and learn that everything is not as it seems in their rural Nebraska town.

Review:

I just love Ms. Flynn.  She writes some of the best romantic suspense out there.  I know that A Dry Creek Bed is only her second book but its a dozy.  I loved Up a Dry Creek, too but for me, Hank and Beth were the bomb.

Beth was orphaned as a little girl and went to live with your beloved grandparents.  The Layton family were her adoptive family.  She and Claire Layton are best friends to the end.  Growing up together, Beth was always around the Layton boys.  Quietly falling in love with Hank as a teenager, she knew that she could never have him.  She never thought that she would ever need his protection from a sadistic killer or that he would feel the same way about her.  While she would love to pursue a relationship with Hank, she can't give him something that he wants desperately.

Hank is one hot, sexy Sheriff.  When things start happening to Beth and her grandmother's house, he knows that by law he can't help her.  But when they see each other on a plane bound for Las Vegas, the chemistry between them heats up as the killer raises the stakes just as high.  Hank has had a thing for Beth since she was a teenager and has always backed off because she was Claire's friend.  As adults, his relentless pursuit of her seems to just scare her off.  Not anymore.  He will have her and help her unravel the mystery if its the last thing he does.

I can not empathize how much Hank and Beth scorched the pages.  Between their dialogue, sizzling sex and familial interactions, I really needed a drink after I read it.  The suspense plot was deftly woven in the story not as filler but as the springboard to their romance and why Beth runs from Hank every time they get close.  The other three Layton brothers make an appearance or two in the book and I can not wait for Sam's story. 

Overall, Ms. Flynn brings the whole package in romantic suspense.   A villain and their reasoning are so intricate that it wasn't into the end of the book that I realized just how far deep the secret went.  Great job!  The romance in the book was off the charts and hot.  You can tell that Hank & Beth really did love each other.  It just took an almost death to get both of them to realize it.  The plot, pacing, dialogue and the use of secondary characters are great, too.  Run, don't walk to pick up A Dry Creek Bed.  You will not be disappointed.

5 Harlie's and a recommended read

Given to me by the author for an honest review...