Forbidden Ground

Written by Karen Harper

Narrated by Chandra Skyye

Despite a traumatic childhood in Cold Creek, Ohio, the Lockwood sisters have reunited there for the wedding of youngest sister Tess to the town's sheriff. Maid of honor Kate Lockwood is determined to break through best man Grant Mason's defenses. An anthropologist, Kate is particularly interested in the prehistoric Adena civilization that once called the area home. A large burial mound sits on Mason family land, and Kate wants permission to excavate. But Grant refuses and tells Kate to stay away from the mound.

When Kate comes under attack, she is certain that it is connected to the burial mound. Grant seems concerned for Kate's safety, but despite their explosive attraction she can't help but feel that he's hiding something. Can Kate trust the man she's come to love, or will the wrong decision be her final act?
Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781494581411

Karen Harper

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author KAREN HARPER is a former Ohio State University instructor and high school English teacher. Published since 1982, she writes contemporary suspense and historical novels about real British women. Two of her recent Tudor-era books were bestsellers in the UK and Russia. Harper won the Mary Higgins Clark Award for Dark Angel, and her novel Shattered Secrets was judged one of the best books of the year by Suspense Magazine.

Reviews for Forbidden Ground

[monicalynn-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Kate, Tess's sister is in town for Tess & Gabe's wedding and also hoping to be able to excavate the Adena mound on Grant Mason's property. Carson her professor/boyfriend is so excited that Kate has an in due to Gabe & Grant being best friends. Once the wedding is over and Tess and Gabe are off on their honeymoon. Things begin happening. Paul a friend of Grant, Gabe & Todd is killed, however they are not sure if it is murder or accidental. Then Todd is injured. Carson is pressuring Kate to get into the mound and Grant is not so willing to allow her in there even though he has all kinds of feelings for her. Kate is finding feelings for Grant as well. A must read to find out what happens, does Kate get to excavate the Adena Mound? Was Paul Murdered or was his death accidental. Whose involved in the mysterious tree thefts in Cold Creek.

[virginia51-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in the Cold Creek trilogy. You should read the first book called Shattered Secrets first but you could probably service if you didn't.. I enjoyed this second book a lot more than the first but I liked the first also. I loved Kate and Grant. They were a great couple. I enjoyed also learning a little bit about anthropology. This book kept me on my toes with some suspense and a little romance. I received this book through the reading room for a fair and honest opinion.

[robin661_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Forbidden GroundKaren HarperBook Summary: Let the dead stay dead… Despite a traumatic childhood in Cold Creek, Ohio, the Lockwood sisters have reunited there for the wedding of youngest sister Tess to the town's sheriff. Maid of honor Kate Lockwood is determined to break through best man Grant Mason's defences. An anthropologist, Kate makes her living studying the dead. She is particularly interested in the prehistoric Adena civilization that once called the area home. A large burial mound sits on Mason family land, and Kate wants permission to excavate. But Grant refuses and tells Kate to stay away from the mound. Kate respects Grant's desire to honor his grandfather's belief that the dead should not be disturbed. However, the more she researches the more it becomes clear that Grant is hiding something. When one of Grant's friends is killed—and the sheriff is away on his honeymoon—the couple joins forces to assist the deputy in the investigation. When Kate comes under attack she is certain it is connected to the burial mound. Grant seems concerned for Kate's safety, but despite their explosive attraction she can't help but be suspicious of his motives. Can Kate trust the man she's come to love, or will the wrong decision be her final act?Review: I was looking forward to reading this book. I wanted to like it from the start although I really found it difficult to get into the storyline and Kate. She was not so smart at times. I tried repeatedly to enjoy this book and yet it was more of a chore to get through this book. It had a good set up - a murder and weird events going on surrounding the mound in Grant’s backyard. The tree that had his childhood treehouse in it was cut down, people were trying to frighten Kate but none of that change things for me. I feel really bad that I could not connect with this book.I would like to thank NetGalley and Harlequin MIRA for allowing me to read and review this book in return for a free copy and I was never asked to write a favorable review by anyone.

[dearheart_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I found a great deal to admire. The mystery is definitely good, as is the world and character building. I like the characters and would like to get to know some of the secondary characters better, so I expect I’ll at least go back and read the first book in this trilogy.However I did have an issue with the romance. Kate is in town for her younger sister’s wedding. She’s an archeologist with an interest in the Celtic and Adena cultures and hopes to prove that the two are related and the best man in the wedding just so happens to have an unexplored Adena mound on his property. Kate and Grant are instantly attracted, but he has his owns secrets regarding the mound and won’t let her open it up. Yet she never stops harping on it, especially as she finds clues as a number of tragedies happen, that lead her to believe that Grant is covering something up. I just wanted to shake them both.As I said, the mystery itself is good and I was surprised when the how and why was revealed. And we’re provided with an unresolved issue with a religious cult in the area that I expect will be addressed in the last book. The more I think about it, the more I want to read the next book to hopefully see this guy brought down.

[rhonda1111 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4 STARS I liked the suspense of Forbidden Ground. It had me guessing all over the place. I like the information about the mounds of Adena. I have not heard of them before. It would be interesting to learn about them. I like Kate and Grant characters. I like that it was a pretty clean story. Did have some violence, romance, history, cult, and changes in paper mills. Their was one line in the story that I did not like about Mormons when talking about cults group. I don't think it influenced my opinion but could have. Grant and three of his childhood friends have a secret they swore to never tell or show anyone. They never even told their good friend Cabee because his dad was the sheriff and now he is one. Kate has come back to town for her sister's wedding. She also hopes to get permission from Grant to excavate his mound in his yard. It had never been opened. Also never realized that some trees are worth so much money. For $70,000 I would be tempted to sale a tree. Someone is targeting trees going on private property cutting them down and selling them. Grant's tree was special to him. Bird eye Maple. Forbidden Ground was a complicated and interesting novel. I want to read the next book in the series. The setting was a small town in Ohio up in the mountains. I was given this ebook to read from Net Galley and Harlquin. I promised to write a honest review with my opinions.

[amdrane2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really gotta say, Kate drove my absolutely nuts. Grant, I liked. He was dealing with a lot of stuff from his brother to his ex-wife to his company then throw in Kate, who was so obsessed with the Indian Burial Mounds that I'm amazed she could function around other people. The Adena were mentioned at least twice on every single page in this book. I almost wanted to skip thru some parts cause she was either talking about them or thinking about them even dreaming of them. Now, don't get me wrong cause I love archeology and I even subscribe to Archeology Digest so I really thought I was going to love this book....um, no. I liked it. It kept my attention, but I really got mad at Kate trying to pressure Grant into letting her have her way when he constantly told her how he felt. She didn't care. It was all about what she wanted. Then she got extremely mad at him when he held something back. Well, yeah. You're trying to manipulate him to do your mentor's bidding. I'm still going to read the next book in the trilogy cause I have high hopes for it. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.