Book Review: The Stars Shine Bright by Sibella Giorello

About the Book:  After the FBI suspends her for bending its rules, Special Agent Raleigh Harmon is looking for a chance to redeem her career and re-start her life.

Sent undercover to a thoroughbred horse track, Raleigh takes on a double life to find out who’s fixing the races. But when horses start dying and then her own life is threatened, Raleigh realizes something bigger—and more sinister—is ruining Emerald Meadows.

She’s never felt more alone.

Her one contact with the FBI is Special Agent Jack Stephanson, a guy who seems to jump from antagonistic to genuine friend depending on the time of day. And she can’t turn to her family for support. They’re off-limits while she’s undercover, and her mother isn’t speaking to her anyway, having been confined to a mental hospital following a psychotic breakdown. Adding insult to her isolation, Raleigh’s fiancé wants them to begin their life together—now—precisely when she’s been ordered not to be herself.

With just days left before the season ends, Raleigh races to stop the killing and find out who’s behind the track’s trouble, all the while trying to determine if Jack is friend or foe, and whether marrying her fiancé will make things better—or worse.

Raleigh is walking through the darkest night she’s faced, searching for a place where the stars shine bright.

My Thoughts:  This is the second book of this series (The Stars Shine Bright is the fifth installment) that I've read and reviewed, and I enjoyed this one as well, but not quite as much as the first one, The Mountains Bow Down. Now, that book took place on a cruise ship and we love to cruise, whereas this book takes place at a horse track and I know nothing about horses - so that likely played into it.

That being said, I enjoyed Giorello's writing style once again and the storyline held my interest.  This is the fifth book in the series and I've only read books 4 and 5, but I'm assuming the love-hate relationship with Agent Jack has continued throughout the series - I'm already wanting that angle to come together and I've only read two of the books, so that would be my one "complaint".

Overall though, an excellent read. I think I'm going to have to go back and read the first three books of this series!

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity for organizing this tour and providing me with my complimentary review copy and to NetGalley/Thomas Nelson for the ebook version.