“Striking a Secret Service agent will land you in prison.”

But the petite redhead with the cowboy hat and tire iron seemed unfazed by Nick Sheffield’s words. The Secret Service agent had come to the tiny Texas town to unmask a potential threat to his employer–a U.S. senator. Could his quarry be this captivating single mother who aroused in him a passion that was anything but innocent?

How dare this stranger just show up and turn her life upside down! The last thing Georgeann Grady Colton needed was someone like Nick–handsome, suspicious, irresistible. As danger and desire collided, Georgie knew she was traveling a treacherous road: falling for a man who was taking them both to the point of no return…

Titles in The Coltons: Family First multi-author mini-series include — Colton’s Secret Service by Marie Ferrarella – Rancher’s Redemption by Beth Cornelison – The Sheriff’s Amnesiac Bride by Linda Conrad – Soldier’s Secret Child by Caridad Pineiro – Baby’s Watch by Justine Davis – A Hero of Her Own by Carla Cassidy

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

**This series was originally published under Silhouette, which of course, no longer exists – but the Coltons do and continue through Harlequin mini-series even today.  I wanted to go back to the earlier ones I might have missed… so “Flashback” reviews were invented for these titles.  🙂

Title:  Colton’s Secret Service
Series:  The Coltons: Family First #1
Author:  Marie Ferrarella
Genre:  Romantic Suspense
Publication Date:  September 1, 2008
Rating:  4 stars

I have followed the more recent Colton mini-series from Harlequin and have enjoyed this ever-expanding family’s adventures in love and danger.  Yet, because it is always expanding to other branches of the Coltons I realized that although I might have read the earlier stories years ago I have no clear memory of the family connections beyond it being mentioned that this is Joe Colton’s family type of thing.  So I decided to go back a bit further and picked the Family First series as a beginning “Flashback” reading point.  I’m glad I did, and perhaps you’ll also want to dig a bit deeper into this prolific family’s past stories as well.

When presidential candidate Joe Colton’s top Secret Service operative got wind of a dangerous email threat it didn’t take Nick long to leave the Senator’s side and head off to a tiny town to track down the supposed threat.  What Nick didn’t expect was the spitfire who dared to threaten him with a tire iron when she discovers him in her home… her broken into, used as a squatter’s den, this is where the email was sent from home.  Yeah.  They both have some fast talking explaining to do – and neither are going to like the answers they get.

Colton’s Secret Service starts off on a tense note and doesn’t let up until the final page… but that ending.  Even if this book has been out for a long time now, the way this one ended only amplified my need to read the rest in order to get the ultimate answer – which I did get, eventually.  Nope, not going to spoil this one for a new reader, like me.  I enjoyed the characters, definitely rooting for Georgie and Nick to get past themselves and admit that they belong together and adored a little 4-year-old who has a very old soul.  We’ll meet folks who will have their stories told eventually and spend some tense moments as Georgie and Nick track down the real threat to the Senator.

I found it fascinating to go back and read an older title from an author that I read a lot of their work.  Small differences, little adjustments as the years, and the changes in acceptable topics in romances changed from 2008 to today in 2021… what almost thirteen years.  I will always pick up a book by Marie Ferarrella, no doubt, I simply found it interesting to see the differences in writing from about a decade ago.  Nonetheless, I had fun going back to Colton’s Secret Service and actually have binge-read the series already so the next review up will be Rancher’s Redemption by Beth Cornelison.

I own a Kindle edition of Colton’s Secret Service.

Available in print or for your favorite e-reader