Black Hills by Nora Roberts

Ahh, Nora Roberts. One of my all time favorite authors -- although, her stand alone novels are always a hit or a miss for me. This one was definitely a hit. I have come to notice that as long as I have some sort of interest in the plot (for example, this was all about wildlife rescue which I find fascinating) that the book is so much better. On to the story...

The book centers around Lil and Cooper, two people that meet as kids and drift apart for years and reconnect. I liked how the beginning of the story started out with them both as children and continued on into the teenage love. It made me appreciate their background more. They both have wonderful families, Lil with her mom, dad, and friends Farley and Tansy and Cooper with his grandparents. Cooper had a falling out with his parents and even though it is addressed I felt it could have been resolved a bit more in the present. That was a slight issue for me. Also, if you do not have any interest in wildlife refuge/rescue you may have a hard time enjoying this book as that is so much of the story. Lil has a very special relationship with a cougar and it carries through the entire book. She opens up her own wildlife refuge abode for old, injured and mistreated animals and has gone on many adventures around the world and loves her work. Cooper was a police officer and then PI so his work comes in handy to protect Lil as the killer is waiting to get Lil.
Another issue for me was that I felt the ending was a bit rushed. This book is long...472 pages as a hardcover and I just felt like I needed just one more chapter and surely they could have lost a few other pages to make that happen. SPOILER: I was extremely disappointed that the storyline around Tansy and Farley's love, engagement, and wedding planning did not include the actual wedding. So much time was dedicated to them that I wanted to have a wedding!

That being said, this book rates a solid four and a half stars. If the ending had just been a touch different I would have given it five stars.