ACROSS THE VANISHING SKY
Series: Starlight Grove #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense
Author: Catherine Cowles
Release Date: March 5, 2026
He spent a lifetime trying to escape his dark past…but to save her, he’ll wade back into the shadows.
Braedyn Winslow never expected to return to Starlight Grove—the town that took everything from her. Not after her best friend, the one who’d sacrificed so much for her, vanished without a trace. But with a young son to raise and a past that won’t stay buried, Brae is back…and determined to uncover the truth.
She just didn’t count on the brooding, reclusive mountain man living next door.
Dex Archer is the stuff of local legend—silent, rugged, and surrounded by whispers of his and his brothers’ violent father. But Brae sees through the scowl and his parentage to the man beneath: fiercely loyal, unexpectedly kind…and just dangerous enough to protect her when someone starts warning her off her search.
The closer she gets to the truth, the harder it is to stay away from Dex. And as things get more perilous, Brae realizes the only person she can rely on is the one man who swore never to trust again.
Only someone isn’t happy that Brae has been digging, and they’ll do anything to stop her. But Dex? He’ll do anything to save her, even slip back into the dark…
“Tell me you want this. Tell me you need it, consequences be damned.”
Well, Catherine Cowles has done it yet again. She gave us a cast of characters in a new town that I am swooning hard for. Let me paint a picture for you, shall I?
First we have our MMC, Dex. And if you love a tortured MMC, prepare to fall and fall hard not just for Dex but for every single one of his brothers. And he’s got four of them. That’s right, we get five Archer boys and oh boy are they intriguing in their own way. But I digress. We’re talking about Dex. Dex is a gray hat hacker who worked for the FBI for ten years and now he’s back in the small town that still haunts him. But that town is where his brothers are, and although their history is dark, the Archer boys are as close as brothers get. Dex also has tattoos and slutty little glasses. So of course I fell for him immediately.
Braedyn is a woman on a mission. A year ago, her best friend vanished into thin air. She’s told that the case is cold, that her best friend likely fell into a river or got caught by wild life. But she refuses to believe it or give up searching for her. So she finds herself in the small town where she lost her, with determination in tow, along with her tracker trained dog and her young son.
She soon discovers that her grumpy neighbor who she immediately clashed with, may also be exactly who she needs. Dex doesn’t usually take cases on that are close to home, but something about Braedyn pulls at every heart string he has and suddenly he finds himself just as invested in the search for her best friend as he is in Braedyn herself.
The romance is a slow burn that was oh so satisfying. These two are such a perfect match. Braedyn with her abandonment issues and Dex with his fear of the blood that runs through his veins and getting. Both of them have their own trauma and I loved the way they help heal each other.
The one thing that I absolutely love about Catherine’s books is how utterly unpredictable they are. Every time I think I know who our bad guy is, she leaves me with my jaw on the floor. And this story was no different. I was absolutely blindsided by the ending, in the best of ways. I love a story that can surprise me, especially when it’s suspense. And no one does small town romantic suspense quite like Cowles. It hit every single spot for me and I am wholly obsessed with the Archer Brothers. I don’t even know whose story I’m more desperate for now; Orion, Maverick, Kol, or Wylder. Orion’s uber tortured self calls to me but I just know his book will likely be last.
If you’re looking for an addictive small town romance with an unputdownable suspense plot and a swoony romance seamlessly woven in, then you need this book in your life. I can’t wait for the next book in this amazing new series!
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