Cider Brook by Carla Neggers

Author: Carla Neggers
Publisher: Mira (Harlequin)
Date of publication: January 2014

Being rescued by a good-looking, bad-boy firefighter isn't how Samantha Bennett expected to start her stay in Knights Bridge, Massachusetts. Now she has everyone's attention—especially that of Justin Sloan, her rescuer, who wants to know why she was camped out in an abandoned old New England cider mill. 

Samantha is a treasure hunter who has returned to Knights Bridge to solve a 300-year-old mystery and salvage her good name. Justin remembers her well. He's the one who alerted her late mentor to her iffy past and got her fired. But just because he doesn't trust her doesn't mean he can resist her. Samantha is daring, determined, seized by wanderlust—everything that strong, stoic Justin never knew he wanted. Until now…

I have really been enjoying this series so far.  Cider Brook is the third in this series about Knights Bridge, Massachusetts.  A clue in a painting has led Samantha to investigate the possibility of pirate treasure in an old cider mill in the town.  The problem is that she was fired by Dylan McCaffery's father a few months before he died.  She has tremendous guilt about it and is hoping to slip in and out of the town unseen.  Who knew that lightning would cause a fire and trap her inside the old cider mill?

But, while I did enjoy Cider Brook, I have to say I was a little underwhelmed with the overall story. For me, the romance part was the best part of the story.  Samantha and Justin were great together.  I thought they had good chemistry. I'm a big fan of the Sloan men in general.  I hope more of them show up in later books.  It was also nice to catch up with characters from the earlier books.

I  thought the mystery part was kind of OK.  It wasn't as exciting as the mysteries in the first two books and felt like a bit of a let down.  I also felt like there was too much rehashing of what happened in the previous books with previous characters.  The reason for Samantha's firing by Duncan was kind of silly if you ask me and could have been cleared up by one simple conversation.  I honestly didn't understand why she felt so guilty.   Still, I do recommend the book.  It is a good addition to the series and worth checking out.