A Reno Wedding With Baggage . . . "No Holds Barred" by Jaydyn Chelcee

Rimrock—Home of the Montana men and the women who tame them.

Professional horse trainer Kaycee Spencer decides to relocate when she becomes the target of an insane stalker. She chooses remote Rimrock, Montana where no one can find her.

Jace Remington, co-owner of the Dancing Star Ranch, refuses to allow women around his thoroughbreds—females are nothing but trouble with a capital ‘T’—that is, until he meets Kaycee Spencer, a woman who crashes into his peaceful life with trouble close on her heels. 

Set against the backdrop of the rugged mountains of Montana, Kaycee and Jace discover that if they are going to survive the vicious serial killer stalking Kaycee, they will have to learn to trust each other.   No Holds Barred, a roller-coaster ride of murder, romance, and the discovery that love just might conquer all.

This second novel in the Montana Men series was first released in 2008 and has now been re-released by Secret Cravings Publishing and is a doozy.  There is a sick stalker/serial killer who wants Kaycee and will do and has done unspeakable things to get her just so he can abuse, molest, and ultimately kill her.  In the Arms of Danger began this series and told the story of Sheriff Danger Blackstone and his love relationship with Lacey Weston who eventually became his wife.  There story continues on here as part of the back story, but this is Kaycee and Jace's story, two strong people who have been overwhelmed by life in many ways and whose encounter in Duel Remington's casino in Reno, Nevada, ends up being hot, erotic, and capped off with a marriage license.  That's just the beginning of the "road to true love" that is loaded with potholes, not the least of which is Jace's stepmother, a woman who is perverted in her own special way, and with Kaycee's brother Taylor, a man who has been severely injured in an auto accident with Kaycee driving.  You can imagine the dynamic between that brother/sister combo.

This is a story that is filled with high emotion, sexual hijinks, old wounds from family abuse, a stalker/serial killer whose sickness seems to continually escalate, secondary figures who become more important as the story moves along, and the pain of hurting lovers and the loss of people who become more important in death than they did in life.  There is deep sadness here as well as hope and deep family loyalty.  This is a novel that may be set in the beauty of Montana, have the potential for being a wonderful love story, but which is tainted and colored with greed, distrust,  and anger.  The novel is intense in a gritty and edgy way, with the story moving from character to character, scene to scene, all of it in such a way that the reader wonders what else can happen and will the bad guy really manage to do harm to so many people.  It is a cliff hanger of sorts and is filled with suspense that will surely carry over into the following novels.  This writer was new to me before I found Book One but I have been enthralled with both the first two books and can't wait to read the next three.  It's a book that suspense romance fans will enjoy, but be prepared:  you will be hooked.  I give it a rating of 4.25 out of 5.