THE HERO by Robyn Carr

Third in the Thunder Point series, this gently enjoyable book starts with a young woman and child hitching lifts along the Oregon coast. Devon has escaped a commune and is grateful when old Rawley picks her up on his way to Thunder Point to open the beach bar early one morning. He's pleased to pass on the kindnesses he's been shown in life, and tells her to do the same. Fed and introduced as Rawley's cousins, in case of betraying gossip, Devon agrees to stay for a while. She had gained a degree in early childhood education before circumstances drove her into the commune, and now she starts to readapt to life.

THE HERO then follows Sarah Dupre, resigning from the piloting arm of the Coast Guard, content in her engagement to Cooper, who owns the beach bar.

I did find the start of the book slow after the early chapters, as Devon reflects on the commune which was first a shelter for her, then a cage. She joins the swell of unemployed workers, made more difficult for her because she hasn't retained her identity documents. People are kind in Thunder Point. The note of tension is only hinted at by Devon's recollection of men at the commune growing marijuana and their leader's gradual slide to paranoia. The more she lives among normal people and researches on the internet, the more she realises that the commune was a front for the drugs operation.

The town's community has been developed during previous books and a new reader may get a little bored by incessant chatter about who is going to live where and with whom. The promised wedding is charming; however there isn't much action. Normality is lovely, but it makes for quiet reading. The earlier two books had plenty of interesting sub-plots which are merely background this time around. Devon finds an admirer and there is a scene for adult readers, but it's by no means certain that her life is settled. The action is piled on at the end, making a rousing finale to this trio of books about Thunder Point, and Robyn Carr allows us to choose from a number of brave men and women as to whom we would call THE HERO.

With warmth and sensitivity, #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr shows readers that falling in love can be the bravest act of all. In a moment of desperation, Devon McAllister takes her daughter and flees a place where they should have been safe and secure. She has no idea what is around the next bend, but she is pretty certain it can't be worse than what they've left behind. Her plan is to escape to somewhere she can be invisible. Instead, an unexpected offer of assistance leads her to Thunder Point, a tiny Oregon town with a willingness to help someone in need. As the widowed father of a vulnerable young boy, Spencer Lawson knows something about needing friendship. But he's not looking for anything else. Instead, he's thrown his energy into his new role as Thunder Point's high school football coach. Tough and demanding to his team, off the field he's gentle and kind...just the kind of man who could heal Devon's wounded heart. Devon thought she wanted to hide from the world. But in Thunder Point, you find bravery where you least expect it...and sometimes, you find a hero.