#amandastevens – Avonna Loves Genres

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Harlequin Winter 2022 Investigator Blog Tour for LITTLE GIRL GONE (Procedural Crime Book #1) by Amanda Stevens.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the purchase links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

Nothing matters more to her when a child’s life is at stake.

Special agent Thea Lamb returns to her hometown to search for a child whose disappearance echoes a twenty-eight-year-old cold case—her twin sister’s abduction. Working with her former partner, Jake Stillwell, Thea must overcome the pain, doubt and guilt that have tormented her for years and denied her a meaningful relationship. For both Thea and Jake, the job always came first…until now.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58402336-little-girl-gone?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=8HO7exwHiK&rank=1

Discover more action-packed stories in the A Procedural Crime Story series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order:

Book 1: Little Girl Gone
Book 2: John Doe Cold Case

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

LITTLE GIRL GONE (Procedural Crime Book #1) by Amanda Stevens is the first romantic suspense book in the new Procedural Crime series from Harlequin Intrigue.

Cold Case Agent Thea Lamb who specializes in crimes against children and has returned to her hometown where a young girl has been abducted from her childhood home. She is there for answers from her mother who was letting mother and child live with her in the same home were Thea’s twin sister was abducted twenty-eight years ago.

Special Agent Jake Stillwell is called in to lead the FBI CARD (Child Abduction Rapid Deployment) team in search of the missing girl. Jake is determined to find this little girl as the hours pass. Thea is willing to help, but she cannot get involved due to her mother being tied to this case, too.

But Jake and Thea have been involved personally in the past and this case brings them back together to not only try to save a little girl, but maybe let them resolve the misunderstandings that let them walk away from each other in the past.

I enjoyed this romantic suspense and am looking forward to reading more books in this series. The present-day abduction suspense plot is completed in this book, but the cold case is still unsolved and will hopefully be resolved in future books in the series. The suspense plot does move at an uneven pace and at times I was able to put the book down. This may be due to all the information on the cold case and the number of people involved in both plotlines. The second chance romance between Thea and Jake is well written and believable with the dedication to their careers and their troubled backgrounds. There are sex scenes towards the end of the book that are explicit, but not gratuitous. Overall, this is a good start to this series.

I will be looking for more books in this Procedural Crimes series and this author.

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Excerpt

“While I was trying to fish the doll out of the pool, someone came from behind and hit me over the head hard enough to daze me. Next thing I know, I’m caught in a whirlpool several feet below the surface. I lost my flashlight, so I was spun around underwater in complete darkness. No up, no down.” He paused. “For a while there, I wasn’t sure how I’d get out.”

Thea watched his expression as he spoke. He still seemed shaken from the experience. She’d never seen him like that. “I knew something bad must have happened.”

He summoned a brief smile. “I know what you’re thinking. I even thought so myself at the time. So much for my keen instincts. Someone came up behind me and I never sensed a thing.”

“That’s not what I’m thinking.”

“No?”

“I’m thinking you could have died down there and I would never have known what happened to you.”

“Thea.” He said her name so softly she might have thought the tender missive was nothing more than a breeze sighing through the treetops.

The sun bearing down on them was hot and relentless, but Thea felt a little shiver go through her. It hit her anew how much she’d missed that tender glint in his eyes as their gazes locked. How much she’d missed his husky whispers in the dark. The glide of his hand along her bare skin, the tease of his lips and tongue against her mouth. The way he had held her afterward, as if he never wanted to let her go. But he had let her go and she’d done nothing to stop him.

She drew a shaky breath. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“Get caught in a whirlpool? I’ll do my best.”

She scowled at him. “Don’t make light. You know what I mean.”

“I’m fine, Thea.” He seemed on the verge of saying something else, but he held back. Maybe he thought she wanted his restraint. She did, didn’t she? They were in a precarious situation. Adrenaline and attraction could be a dangerous combination. Throw in unresolved issues and they were asking for trouble.

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