Jill was abducted when she was 13. Hayden, the town bad boy, was the one who rescued her. It turns out Hayden was colored by his father's action. His father was a horrible person (so the son must be too). After Jill's rescue, the town see him in a new light. They become best friends and then lovers. As teenagers do, they break up so Hayden can prove himself worthy of Jill and Jill can go to college and then the FBI.
Fast forward 10 years and Hayden is retired from the Seals, Jill is an FBI agent specializing in child abduction. After a case goes wrong, she comes back to her hometown. She plans on using the time to look into the cold case of the abduction/murder of a girl her age after her escape/rescue.
Both Hayden and Jill are likable, competent characters. They talk and reconnect. They worked well and I liked them together. There is a decent amount of suspense and mystery.
I read this for Romance-opoly Emergency Services Moon track

For close to 15 years, I have read at least 30 novels by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, all of which have transported me to a variety of interesting places and times, as well as introducing me to many colorful, endearing, and intriguing people.

"PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES: War at Home, 1919" is the final novel in the War at Home Series, which has been a delight to read. It begins in December 1918, a few weeks after the Armistice. Captain Sir Edward Hunter, the patriarch of the Hunter family, has survived the hazards of war and is anxious for a reconciliation with his wife, Beattie, whose heart had been captured by an old love from her youth who had died from wounds he received from combat about a year earlier, leaving her heartbroken and emotionally distant from her husband. But before the reconciliation could take place, Edward is asked to take on an important role at the upcoming Paris Peace Conference. Thus for most of 1919, Edward is mainly in Paris. Beattie manages to make a visit and both she and Edward begin the tentative process of reconciliation. I won't say much more than that.

The Hunter family and Edward's sister Laura (an adventurous woman who had spent the previous couple of years at the Front as an ambulance driver and the proprietress of a rest home and recreation center for soldiers in Flanders not far from the lines) experience various ups and downs in 1919 --- as do several of the servants who had long been in service to the Hunters at The Elms in Northcote. Now that the war is over, readjusting to peacetime in Britain proves to be easier said than done.

What I loved most about reading "PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES" is that I never wanted to stop reading. Everything about it seemed so tangible, so real. I felt that Sir Edward, Beattie, their children, the family dog Nailer -- and the servants Cook, Ada, and Ethel (along with Munt the cantankerous gardener and Frank Hussey, who had bared his heart to Ethel some years ago and remained determined to woo and marry her) were so vividly alive!!! And now that I've finished the War at Home Series, what I have experienced from it, I know, will stay with me always. Give or take 3 or 5 years, and I wouldn't be averse to re-reading all 6 novels thereof.

Very cool Christmas story full of action, passion, good characters and an interesting plot. I liked it, not my favorite in the Wilde series, but definitely not dull or boring. This one focuses on Spencer, who we met in other books. This time the setting is his small town where he is the sheriff. Haley is running from a very bad guy and Spencer has an interest in being her hero. We have twisted FBI agents, hired thugs, Wilde agents to assist in the capture of a crime lord from NYC, and a sweet and romantic holiday tale all rolled up into a good story. Definitely a good story to read during the Holidays.

Three authors came together to make this book possible. But, the writing styles were not quite standardized, and led to some flaws.

The premise of this retelling of historical events (with just a touch of storytelling liberties by the narrators), is promising. This is the story of a sixteen-year-old girl who becomes the Queen of England by a series of traitorous events; and how she and her sometimes-horse-of-a-husband (literally) must return the throne to Jane's cousin, Edward.

The tone is tongue in cheek and comes across as a quirky mixture of The Princess Bride and Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail. It's funny, but at times it comes off as though it's just trying too darn hard. Also, run on sentences and sentences that are not stylistic, but just badly written and not edited (i.e. "Hobbs, Edward remembered the man's name was") made this difficult to read.

However, if you are a fan of YA and don't care a hoot about anything but plot, this is a fun story with numerous instances of deus ex machina to explain any part of the plot that gets cornered.  Of course, this is part of the fun at times.

Great for Fans of Horrible Histories, Princess Bride, Monty Python, and parodies.