While the romance is not the spotlight, the last 30-40 pages is where the book shines. Nora Roberts again prove that she is a master for a standalone romantic suspense and Black Hills is one of them. I like that each of her standalone, while have same formula like located in small town, retired detective/cop, strong-willed heroines, suave and smooth-talking heroes, tight-knit family and community, there always something new to discover. In Black Hills, La Nora bring her reader to South Dakota, to a animal reservations called Chance Wildlife Refuge with some touch of Native American culture.

The romance itself actually have some of my catnips, like friend to lover and the one that got away aka second chance. Black Hills start with the meeting between Cooper "Coop" Sullivan and Lillian "Lil" Chance in the Coop's grandparents farm. Since Coop's grandparents and Lil's parents were neighbor and while Coop start as annoying brat, didn't take long for him and Lil to form friendship. The friendship blossoming into romance and they become lover when Coop in his early twenties and Lil will enter college soon. However, things happen and they become estranged especially after they found a dead body in the forest. Fast forward ten years later, Lil is now Dr. Lillian Chance, an expert in zoology and owner of local animal reservations called Chance Wildlife Refuge. While Coop, a retired cop turn into investigator left his business in New York to take care for his grandfather. Old flames rekindled, or not because Lil was pissed off because apparently Coop dump her. While Coop try to amend his mistakes but did a shitty job about it. Meanwhile, someone kill animal and also human because they like to kill to hunt. And their main target is Lil.

As for both characters, I like both Lil and Coop, but sure they are not my favorite although I prefer Lil rather than Coop. Coop feel..cold. Not that strong silent type, but more like a male that can't express his feeling clearly? I got that Coop come from broken home and he start as sad and mad, but I don't like the way he try to insert his life again into Lil's with "my way or the highway" attitude. Yeah, he's more like alpha heroes compared to another Robert's suave heroes, kinda an anomaly to be precise. But, while Lil might be hold onto her grudges toward Coop too long, I like that she didn't play easy. She want Coop to grovel and he did it. The reason why Coop "dumped" Lil kinda explained and while it sound silly (because he think he's unworthy and need to find his ground), I kind of understand him. But again, good that Lil didn't give Coop an easy way to amend his mistakes. Girlie has her heart broken apart and still she can't forget Coop. I like the scene when Coop tending to Lil, although his "my way or highway" attitude grates my nerve a little bit.

The suspense is well written and make me hold my breath. I feel uneasy and anger toward the culprit and their hallucinations toward their heritage that make them feel that what they did aka hunting and killing was justified. This is when Nora Roberts excel, she sure can write a really nasty villain that didn't need to be fawn over. Sure the way the villain portrayed kinda black and white, but bad people did exist. I also like the way Roberts handling the culprit's demise because it totally matched the wild vibe that Black Hills have. As for the romance, not only we get the romantic relationship between Lil and Coop, romance also blooming for Tansy, Lil's best friend and Farley, Lil's adoptive brother. Contrary to Coop's parents, Lil's parents are pretty much in love to each other and I like how supportive Lil's mother to Lil. While Coop's parent is not winning parent of the year award, Coop is lucky to have grandparents that love them and shape him to be the best version of him.

Not one of my favorite of Nora Roberts, but Black Hills sure have its charm. The romance might be a little bit lacking despite its have friend to lover trope (my favorite), but the suspense especially in the 30-40 last pages is what make this book worth to read. Especially if you search for a standalone romantic suspense with right amounts of romance and thriller combined.