Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Lord Jamie Mainwaring isn’t sure what the future holds for him.  The devastating betrayals of the last mission aboard the Caribbean cruise have left him feeling emotionally battered and shaky.  The closer Jamie looked at the events that caused the death of his lover and almost his life, the more deceit he uncovered.  Soon Jamie realizes that he has been manipulated and lied to for most of his life.  Shattered and uncertain, Jamie realizes that there is only one man he can trust and turn to in this web of manipulation and deception….the man he left behind twice, Detective Remy Remington.

Detective Remy Remington and Miguel “Miggy” Rojas  have moved forward in their lives together in Phoenix, Arizona.  Their security business has taken off, and so has their relationship.  Partners in everything, from a business to adopting one of the unfortunate boys from the London mission, Remy and Miggy are happy together.  But all that is about to change.

Remy’s former chief  at the PD is dead, Remy’s name scratched in the dirt by his body.  Miggy was once an addict as was his twin sister.  Now she reappears on their doorstep and trouble is following her.  And on top of all that, Jamie arrives needing support and assistance from Remy, a situation that leaves Miggy unsettled and more than a little jealous.

With so many problems needing investigation and personal issues unsettled, the danger is just beginning for all three and it might just cost them their relationships and their lives.

If you are anything like me and fell in love with all three main characters in the Separate Ways series…Lord Jamie Mainwarring, Det. Remy Remington, and Miggy Rojas…then this is the book that will leave you feeling as devastated as Jamie did at the end of Oceans Apart.  Make no mistake, this is as outstanding a story as it is emotionally wrenching.  And that fact alone will have people hurling their books at walls, howling and bawling buckets here.  Why?  Because Laura Harner puts us and her characters through the proverbial wringer in Moving Mountains, a book you will hate to love.

In Continental Divide and Oceans Apart, we watched the dance of attraction and deep connection that developed between Lord Jamie Mainwaring and Detective Remy Remington.  First in a case in London involving missing young boys and murder in Continental Divide (Separate Ways #1), then on a gay cruise on an ocean liner in Oceans Apart.  On each occasion and mission that brings them together, the timing is off although the attraction remains white hot.  Both characters (and satellite ones) are superbly written.  These are nuanced, layered personas, easy to believe in and even easier to love and connect with.

And with each story, Laura Harner builds our frustration and anxiety over their  relationship and personal obstacles in between them.  One of these “obstacles” is Miguel “Miggy” Rojas.  And old friend of Remy’s, he appears early in the series in need of drying out and support.  Which he gets from Remy.  Theirs is a deep, complicated relationship but the more you see of Miggy the more you come to love him as well.  That’s a nifty feat for a character that by his very presence keeps our two main characters apart.

The tag line of Moving Mountains is “It’s easier to move a mountain than escape the past.”  That is certainly true of the story here.  Harner’s excellent plot has as many layers and complications as its characters.  There are mysteries and murders to solve, connections you will never see coming, and events that will leave you in tears, just devastated at the turn of events.  Yes, parts of this book are hard to experience.  But the choices that Harner makes here as an author are also logical and necessary.  For some fans and readers, that will be their hardest obstacle to overcome with this story and perhaps even the series.

The past certainly comes back to haunt all three characters here and as the sequence of events plays out, Laura Harner is setting the stage for the final story in the Separate Ways series, Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4).  As we sail towards the finale, I can say that this has been a moving and memorable voyage.  I have come to love these men through each intricately plotted and beautifully written story.  I have loved and cried with them.  And then cried some more.  And wouldn’t have missed a page of it, even with all the turmoil involved.

If you are new to the series, then please start with Continental Divide to see how these two men meet and separate the first time around.  Then onto to Oceans Apart and here at Moving Mountains.  Then you will be prepared for Prevailing Winds, just like me.  Or at least I hope we will be prepared.  With Laura Harner you never know.  It will be a wonderful rollercoaster, that is for certain.  Consider this story and the series, highly recommended!

Cover art by Laura Harner.  The simple restrained design works beautifully here.

Buy Links:              All Romance eBooks (ARe)                        Amazon                     Moving Mountains

 Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 199 pages
Published October 29th 2013 by Hot Corner Press
ASINB00GAQGH00
edition languageEnglish
seriesSeparate Ways #3

Separate Ways Series in the order they were written and should be read:

Continental Divide by Laura Harner and Lisa Worrell
Oceans Apart (Separate Ways #2) by Laura Harner
Moving Mountains (Separate Ways #3) by Laura Harner
Prevailing Winds (Separate Ways #4) by Laura Harner