She’s escaped him once…

But can she do it again?

After the husband she thought was dead returns with revenge on his mind, Veronica Shay resolves to confront her secret past.

Her old boss and friend, Granger Macmillan, has previous ties to organized criminals and won’t let Shay handle them on her own.

But when they fall into a nefarious trap, they’ll need to call in their entire North Star family in order to stay alive…

Titles in the A North Star Novel series include — Summer Stalker – Shot Through the Heart – Mountainside Murder – Cowboy in the Crosshairs – Dodging Bullets in Blue Valley – Undercover Rescue –

*This team was first introduced in the Badland Cops series.  Those titles include —South Dakota Showdown – Covert Complication – Backcountry Escape – Isolated Threat – Badlands Beware – Close Range Christmas

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

Title:  Undercover Rescue
Series:  A North Star Novel #6
Author:  Nicole Helm
Genre:  Romantic Suspense
Published:  May 24, 2022
Publisher:  Harlequin Intrigue
My Rating:  4.5 stars

What a fantastic story to bring the A North Star Novel series to a conclusion.  And also of note, we will see some familiar faces from the connecting series Badland Cops as well.  It’s a wrap-up of troubles that partially began back in the Badland Cops, continued through North Star and now we will close the door on a series that has kept me waiting for each new release impatiently.

In a way, Undercover Rescue brings us full circle with Shay and Granger.  They have a history, a bond in many ways, a friendship that has stood the test of time, and perhaps more if either would ever acknowledge their feelings.  In the past few books, we’ve had hints, and then stronger hints that there is trouble within North Star – as was proven in the previous book, Dodging Bullets in Blue Valley when Shay was injured.  Shay has a plan, one that her team which has become her friends, her family, certainly wouldn’t agree to if she’d voiced it – which is why she’s getting everyone she can out on assignment or off to their new lives.  She needs to handle this threat on her own for she knows where it’s coming from – what she hadn’t expected was Granger showing up, knowing exactly what she was up to… and joining in on her plan, with his own additions.

Someone is after North Star.  Not just Shay and Granger, although they are targets, everyone ever associated with North Star is in danger. This is why Shay slipped away from headquarters to deal with the problem without further endangering her team, and her friends.  Granger began North Star, he was her boss until injuries had him step aside and give Shay control of the operation.  Yet, he’d always kept a close eye on them all, so he knew almost as soon as Shay did what was happening, and who was behind it.  He won’t let her face this threat alone… and neither will the others who consider them both to be boss, friend, and family.

Tense.  Gripping.  Nostalgic.  Those are the thing I felt most while reading Undercover Rescue.  Yes, Shay and Granger faced great danger, and their crew did what was needed to do to rescue them.  Yet it was the familiar faces, men and women whose stories I’ve enjoyed, some who went off to live their lives with their love far from North Star, others who have recently found their life partner are still within the organization… but it was the reconnections that hit me the hardest, with the biggest smiles, and the heart-stopping tensions that they do not lose that hard fought for happiness to this vile piece of trash.

Badland Cops and North Star have finished their journey, together and separately… but there was one short mention in the final chapters that has me wishing that idea would become another series, another chance to reconnect – one day.  Who knows?  But it would be awesome if it happens.

I loved every single moment spent in Undercover Rescue.  And if you’ve read either (or both) series then you need to read this one.  The action is fast-paced, the danger intense, and the plot simple yet complex in the best ways.  Anger, tears, laughter, family, finding that love of a lifetime, connections… all that and more await you in this concluding story.  Don’t miss this one.

I own a Kindle edition of this title.

Available in print or for your favorite e-reader