No One But You: My Review

No One But You

About the Book

Struggling to make ends meet after a messy divorce, Sadie Harris is at the end of her tether. Her waitressing gig isn't enough to pay the bills let alone secure primary custody of her son, Jayden, a battle she refuses to lose. Desperate, she accepts a position assisting Dawson Reed—the same Dawson Reed who recently stood trial for the murder of his adoptive parents. Joining him at his isolated farm seems risky, but Sadie is out of options. 

Dawson has given small town Silver Springs plenty of reasons to be wary, but he's innocent of the charges against him. He wants to leave his painful past behind and fix up the family farm so he can finally bring his dependent sister home where she belongs. 

As Sadie and Dawson's professional relationship grows into something undeniably personal, Sadie realizes there's more to Dawson than the bad boy everyone else sees—he has a good heart, one that might even be worth fighting for.

My Comments

Brenda Novak has written several series of books set in small towns.  No One But You is the second book in the Silver Springs series, something I didn't realize until after I finished it.  Needless to say, it stood on its own and unlike many other series romances, I didn't see any obvious next couple for the next book.

Sadie has left her controlling police-officer husband.  They live in a small town and everyone likes her ex--or at least they don't want to get on the bad side of one of the town's lawmen.  Every time she applies for a job, he sees to it that she isn't hired, so her only income is from a waitress job she had before they split.  She finally finds someone to hire her--the town outcast.  He's the adopted son of a couple who was brutally murdered.  While he was found "not guilty", as my boss, a criminal defense attorney, will tell you, "not guilty" and "innocent" are not synonyms, and most people in town believe Dawson got away with murder.

The strength of Brenda Novak's writing is her characters.  I loved watching Dawson and Sadie get to know each other and heal the hurts each had suffered.  The weakness of her writing is the climax scenes and this one is very unrealistic.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review  copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B-.