Review: Her Secret Protector by Roxanne Snopek (Secrets of Cherry Lake #4)

Note: This ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Carrie Logan is the good girl, the one who lives by the rules her family and hometown dictate. But she was also once the girl who took chances, the one whose nearly naked photos have leaked onto the internet and could possibly spell trouble for her wholesome, family-oriented photography business in Cherry Lake. She's never been ashamed of the boudoir or goddess pictures that are part of her old portfolio, but she hasn't taken those kinds of photographs in years. She needs to put a stop to more photos being posted on the world wide web, and her best option is cyber security expert Ethan Nash, a man who keeps to himself and his dogs, but is drawn to the Carrie in the photos then and the Carrie before him now and feels the need to protect her. But could Carrie be the one who protects Ethan from the townsfolk of Cherry Lake?

Her Secret Protector by Roxanne Snopek is the fourth release in Tule Publishing's multi-authored Secrets of Cherry Lake contemporary romance series. Carrie Logan belongs to the Jackson clan, a family held to a higher standard in their hometown of Cherry Lake. With photography as her bread and butter, the last thing she needs is to have old, provocative photos of her strewn all over the internet. The breach on her website could mean worse problems if goddess photos of clients are leaked, so she turns to Ethan Nash, a man who has made a name for himself in the cyber security business. While Ethan makes sure that Carrie realizes that once the photos have been uploaded online, taking them down will be nearly impossible, he can't help but agree to take Carrie on as a client, with her photos sparking something inexplicable in him.

Carrie is the girl whose reputation in Cherry Lake is beyond reproach while Ethan's has already been tarnished even before he was able to make any sort of actual effort to become part of the community. One of the known negatives of being part of a close-knit town like Cherry Lake is the propensity for gossip to spread like wildfire, but then that's something that I doubt is limited to small towns. There's a rush to judgment and a prejudicial kind of closed-mindedness that both Carrie and Ethan are forced to confront in the story, and I loved how they served as each other's protectors, ready to face down anyone who looked down their noses on the two. I was rather saddened by Nathan Jackson's reaction to Carrie's photos and his treatment of her, but Pansy Oppenheimer was a force to be reckoned with and I loved her even more.

While Carrie and Ethan's love story was a joy to read, the absolute bonuses in this book were the four-legged scene stealers: Mars, Ashur, and Gun (Ethan's Belgian Malinois dogs), Dixie and her pups (the stray Labrador retriever mixed dogs), and Belinda (Carrie's tabby cat). Goodness, these guys brought a smile to my face, but what poor Gun had to go through was gut-wrenching though that frisky dog deserves kudos for bringing Carrie and Ethan together after a rough patch. Mars, Ashur, and Gun, especially, were more than decorative, providing valuable opportunities for lessons to be learned in the story. And just like the dogs that were given a bad rap by certain personalities in the book, Carrie and Ethan show the people of Cherry Lake that not everything they believe to be true actually is. Her Secret Protector gets five stars. ♥

Release Date: 07 September 2015

Date Read: 08 September 2015

Learn more about Roxanne Snopek here.

Purchase Her Secret Protector on Amazon | Kobo.