I received this book in a box of books from a friend (who got them from another friend). That same friend recently wondered if there is a subgenre of romance related to sheriffs. I told her if there wasn't, there probably should be.

The main theme running through the book seems to be forgiveness--God's forgiveness, forgiving others, forgiving ourselves. Both the main characters struggle with forgiving themselves for things that happened in the past that had serious repercussions. Zane's convincing Rachel of it seemed a bit preachy though.

Other than that, the standard themes apply--Alex and Zane are identical twins so Zane allows himself to be convinced to pretend to be Alex to better solve his disappearance. Convenient. I did find it odd that the mayor would be in on and agree to such deception--but this is set in history and maybe such things were done that way back then. Again, it just seemed too convenient for me, though at least Zane did have some accountability in that an authority was aware that he was undercover. (To be fair to Zane, impersonating his brother was not his idea, even though he went along with it.)

I thought the deputy would prove to be involved somehow and was wrong. I did guess what Daniel was trying to say, but not much before the author revealed it. ( )