Low Country Hero

McClain (the Love Inspired series) kicks off a series with this enthralling tale of learning to trust, set in an idyllic South Carolina coastal town. Anna George breaks into a cabin under renovation in Safe Haven after fleeing Montana with her five-year-old twins, hoping to protect them from her abusive husband. Former soldier Sean O’Dwyer, who’s working on the house, is outwardly gruff, but he recognizes Anna’s secrecy and fierce protection from his own mother, who disappeared while trying to escape her husband’s abuse, leaving Sean and his two brothers in foster care. He offers Anna a job and soon Anna becomes connected to life in the resort town, even working on earning her GED. Her twins’ selective mutism begins to recede as they bond with Sean, whose impulse to shelter Anna flounders after a miscommunication ignites his long-standing reluctance to grow attached to any woman. With Sean retreating, a hurt and confused Anna is left alone to face the possibility that her husband has followed her. The locals provide ample depth, though McClain never resolves a subplot around Sean’s amnesiac mother, Rita, returning to Safe Haven. This enjoyable contemporary romance will appeal to readers looking for twinges of suspense before happily ever after. (Mar.)