My new boss is my best friend’s older brother and the golden boy of Paradise Shores.
Me? I’m the misfit single mom who never wanted to fit in…
Being forced to move back to my hometown after a decade away is embarrassing, but I’ll do anything to protect my little girl.
I’ll even wait tables at the elite Yacht Club… now owned by the boy I once had a huge crush on. He’s grown up and claimed his rightful place as King of Paradise Shores.
Parker Marchand was a star athlete and professional sailor who never looked at me twice. He’s strong and steady, everything my abusive ex wasn’t, but I’m a struggling single mom and professional screw-up. What could we possibly have in common?
But Parker doesn’t believe in no win situations. He wants to be my knight in shining armor.
His plan: Charm my daughter. Take me sailing. Out to dinner…and into his bed.
Make me forget everyone but him.
The man I’ve always wanted is within reach, but I’ve been burned too many times to trust again. Parker has a brilliant future and I’m running from my past.
Everyone knows knights in shining armor aren’t real, and I’m too old to believe in fairy tales. Even if Parker is making it hard not to…
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He smiles, slow and wide, and lowers his head. “No,” he says, and then he kisses me. It’s salty and warm and water drips from his hair onto my temple, cold against my flushed skin.
My eyes are still closed when he pulls away. “There,” he murmurs. “Not too little, not too much. We did it right this time.”
“Don’t Goldilocks this, Marchand.”
He chuckles hoarsely and then doesn’t make another sound, not as I reach up on my tiptoes and kiss him again. It’s intoxicating being this close to him.
And just like last time, he becomes a stranger under my lips. Familiar and yet novel, an entirely new landscape to explore. Parker and yet not Parker.
“Jamie,” he murmurs, his hands finding my waist beneath the towel.
My hands settle against his chest. His bare chest. He’s warm and hard under my hands, skin deceptively soft over the strong muscle beneath.
“Jamie,” he murmurs again, moving his lips to my ear. He laughs softly. “We’re in the middle of the boardwalk.”
“Oh,” I whisper against his chest.
“I don’t mind, but I have a feeling you might. You know how this town talks.”
“Yes.” I turn my head and peek past his shoulder. An SUV drives by us on Ocean Drive. “What do we do?”
He rubs a large hand up and down my arms, as if to warm me. It sends a shiver down my back. “We’ll go home,” he says, “and start our days, and do this again. When we’re alone.”
“I like that plan,” I say. My voice doesn’t sound like my own.
He smiles, small and crooked. “Come on, James. You’re getting cold, and I’m in danger of overheating.”
*****
Review:
Parker really is the golden boy – patient, kind, and understanding right from the start. If you are looking for any growth from him, you aren’t going to get it, but there’s plenty on Jamie’s side to go around 🙂 And I find it interesting that there are a number of reviews that didn’t like the book because of Jamie’s recovery from the abuse she’d received at the hands of her ex. I don’t know if they only want strong heroines … or those that quickly get over their troubles … or … I’m not sure. It’s not easy for her to get her confidence back. She feels like a failure for letting it go so long and still bears some of the emotional scars from his words. It’s hard for her to come home and face people she knows, people that seem to have everything together. With Parker’s help she starts to let go of some of her past, to realize she’s tougher than she thinks she is, and that she can start over with her daughter. It’s not easy for her and it does take some time, but she gets there.
Small Town Hero is a slow build but satisfying read about second chances and finding yourself again.
*****
Author Info:
Olivia is a twenty-something hopeless romantic who loves billionaires heroes despite never having met one. Taking matters into her own hands, she creates them on the page instead. Stern, charming, cold or brooding, so far she’s never met a (fictional) billionaire she didn’t like.
A voracious reader of romance, Olivia picked up the pen a few years back and what followed was a love affair of her own. Now she spends her days grinning at the steamy banter she’s writing or swooning at happily-ever-afters. Or, to be frank, struggling with writing about herself in third person for the purposes of marketing.
She’s been writing contemporary romance novels since 2018.
They’re all exclusively available on Amazon and enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.
(Phew. Now I can go back to first-person love stories!)
Enemies to friends to almost lovers … then back to kind-of enemies … to lovers. For a guy who wanted to keep things simple this is anything but.
Fiona knew Knox would be mad when she moved in next door.
And not because she brought a collection of wild animals with her.
And she was right.
So she intended to leave him alone. Mostly.
But he’s not ignoring her. He’s actively working to send her and her “ridiculous menagerie” (rude) right back out of town.
Still, as hard as she tries, it’s impossible to stop thinking about the small town grump’s long hair and tattoos and that mouth.
Not the one that’s almost always set in a grim line and says things like, “you got a permit for that?”
Nope, the one that kisses her like she’s everything he’s ever wanted and says very dirty things in her ear. And sweet, protective, supportive things. Sometimes. Accidentally. When she catches him off-guard.
The one that also says he only wants a long-distance fling with her. Nothing serious. And that he never dates women he sees every day. Like his neighbor.
Well, fine. If he doesn’t want her—and her unbelievable past and that-can’t-be-real future—then she doesn’t want him either. He can just kiss her…giraffe. (Yeah, she actually has a couple of those.)
Now she just needs to convince her heart to give him up.
“Remember that thing we talked about at Christmas?”
Knox felt his gut clench. They’d talked about sleeping together. And him becoming the temporary foster dad to three baby otters.
And they’d kissed for the first time. A kiss that had been causing annoying, unwelcome, frustrating dirty dreams for three fucking months.
“About having a salacious affair where we sneak around behind our friends’ backs and sleep together whenever I’m in town?” she pressed when he didn’t answer.
“Yes. I remember.”
Too well. He was incredibly pissed about how often he’d replayed that conversation and how restless he’d been waiting for her to call or come back to Autre.
He didn’t pine for women. Ever. He did the opposite of that.
But now she was here. And Knox wasn’t sure what he was feeling. Her showing up unannounced wasn’t unusual. Fiona Grady rolled into Autre without warning more often than not in her grape-soda-purple truck that sent his heart hammering and cock hardening.
But it had been three months since he’d seen her. Since they’d talked. Since he’d had any clue what she was doing, where she was, how she was.
Suddenly, she was on his doorstep asking about their plan to bang whenever she was in town for a couple of days?
“Okay, well, there’s something I need to tell you that will make you not want to do that anymore,” she said. “So I was wondering if maybe you wanted to get naked together once before I told you and ruined everything?”
He opened his mouth to reply. Then shut it without a word. What the hell?
He glanced over his shoulder. Three minutes ago, he’d been sitting at his kitchen table doing paperwork with a cup of coffee and listening to a podcast about new creative urban development ideas.
Now the woman he was low-level obsessed with was on his porch asking if he wanted to have sex before she told him something that would make him not want to have sex with her anymore.
He ran a hand through his hair. This was why Fiona Grady was no good for him. She came into his carefully controlled and organized life and made things chaotic and messy.
“Are you sick?” he asked.
“Sick? No.”
“Dying?”
“No.”
“Is anyone dying?”
“No.”
“Are you married?” He braced himself. He knew very little about this woman, actually, and if she belonged to someone else, he’d… leave her alone. And hate that man. And never forgive her for stirring him up like this.
“Absolutely not.”
“Engaged?”
“No.”
Okay, that was all…way too much of a relief. He should not be this happy to hear that.
“Did you kill someone?” he asked.
She tipped her head, her mouth curling. “Is that a definite deal-breaker?”
No, probably not. Knox narrowed his eyes.
“No, I haven’t killed anyone.”
“Are the Feds looking for you? Or will I be implicated in some kind of crime if I let you in?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“That’s not a no.”
“I’m just being honest.”
Fair enough. Fiona was a wild animal advocate. The type of person to show up at roadside petting zoos and ‘circuses’ to monitor how the animals were treated and hand out literature to people attending the events, raising awareness about the poor conditions and treatment of those animals. She showed up to help rescue and care for animals, wild and domestic, after natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires. She regularly lobbied local, state, and even the national government for animal protections.
The chance that she could have done something in the “gray area” for one of her causes was pretty good.
The problem with that was he knew that wouldn’t keep him from wanting her.
She was precisely the kind of woman he should be avoiding.
He studied her face for another long moment, then gave in to the inevitable. He pushed his door open.
“Yeah?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She wasn’t dying, wasn’t married, and hadn’t killed anyone. And he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted another woman in his life. So how was he possibly going to shut the door on her? After three months of missing her? He wasn’t that strong. Or stupid.
*****
Review:
So I’ve been enjoying Knox and Fiona dancing around each other for quite a few books now, and I was really looking forward to their story, but I’ll admit that I was really convinced early on that Knox was beyond a … jerk. Then he shares his reasons for wanting a long distance relationship (which was a big of a surprise) and my heart just went out to him. I didn’t think that I could like him any more than I did coming in but then he showed us his ooey-gooey center and he’s now my favorite book boyfriend – nerdy, sexy, intense, and sweet.
Fiona is still sassy, strong, and committed to her animals, to her loved ones, and to ruffling Knox’s well put together feathers. Her secrets are just as audacious as she is and nothing less than we should have expected from her. I loved getting to know her (and those close to her) better as the story unfolds. She understands Knox as no one else does and truly appreciates him. If she can only convince him that they can make a relationship work.
Small town charm, boisterous characters, and enough heat to keep things interesting all mix together to give readers a satisfying conclusion to the Boys of the Bayou Gone Wild series (although, never fear – there are more books coming from this world).
*Part of a series but can be enjoyed as a stand alone, although the prequal Otterly Into You is a must read and currently free on Amazon.*
*****
Author Info:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Erin Nicholas has been writing romances almost as long as she’s been reading them. To date, she’s written over thirty sexy, contemporary novels that have been described as “toe-curling,” “enchanting,” “steamy,” and “fun.” She adores reluctant heroes, imperfect heroines, and happily ever afters.
Erin lives in the Midwest, where she enjoys spending time with her husband (who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books), her kids (who will never read the sex scenes in her books), and her family and friends (who claim to be “shocked” by the sex scenes in her books).
USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan returns with the ultimate beach read, as one woman forges the most unlikely friendship of all, and embarks on a summer of confronting her past in order to build the future she wants…
When Joanna Whitman’s famous ex-husband dies in a car accident, she doesn’t know what to feel. Their dysfunctional marriage held more painful secrets than she cares to remember. But when she discovers that the young woman with him in the crash is pregnant, Joanna feels compelled to act, knowing exactly how brutal the media spotlight will be on celebrity chef Cliff Whitman’s ex-wife and his mysterious female friend.
Ashley Blake can’t believe it when Joanna shows up in her hospital room and suggests they hide away at her beach house on a sleepy stretch of California coast. Joanna should be hating her, not helping her. But alone and pregnant, Ashley can’t turn down Joanna’s offer. Yet she knows that if Joanna ever found out the real reason Ashley was in that car, their tentative bond would shatter instantly.
Joanna’s only goal for the summer is privacy, but her return causes major waves in the local community, especially for the man she left behind years ago. All Ashley wants is space to plan for her and her baby’s future, and to avoid causing any trouble for Joanna. But as secrets spill out under the hot summer sun, this unlikely friendship is about to be put to the test.
*****
Review:
Morgan’s latest is a lovely story about how not everything is what it seems and sometimes the only way to go forward is to look to the past.
Joanna has spent years in a spotlight that she doesn’t want and since divorcing her celebrity chef husband she’s done everything she can to avoid it. The sudden death of her husband under scandalous circumstances has the press back at her door. Realizing what it means for her, and the woman in the car with him, Joanna takes them both and heads to her home town to hide. Which also puts her close to those she left behind many years ago. While they wait for the press to find them, secrets come out and connections are made.
Beach House Summer is a slow burn as Joanna and Ashley get to know each other and examine who they are & what they want. Joanna also has to face her past – a friendship lost and a love that might be again.
Spending the night in jail isn’t exactly how I planned to spend Christmas, but I’ve had worse holidays…
Now that I’m out, it’s time to accept my real punishment. Coaching ten-year-old terrors on the ice, in my non-existent free time. My Coach thinks it’d be good for me. Remind me where I came from. He should know I’ve tried every day of my life for the last ten years to forget.
The youth hockey league is a hell I didn’t plan on and the worst penalty possible…
Until the day a sweet, single mom cracks a joke about her kid, and then all bets are off.
I’m the best defenseman in professional hockey, but I didn’t see her coming… now what in the hell do I do? I’m not equipped for a relationship. I’m definitely not ready to have a kid depending on me, but I can’t deny she makes me feel things— want things I never imagined I could have.
I should save us both the trouble and stay far away from her. But rules were made to be broken, and I was never good at following them anyway.
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You feel sorry for Holly when you first meet her – her ex is a total *insert favorite bad word here*, he cheated on her with her best friend and then moved in with the woman right next door! But once Dom sets his sights on her … 🙂 Holly is a good mom, a caring person, and quickly finds herself drawn to the broody hockey star. And is surprised to find that attraction reciprocated.
This is my first Las Vegas Vipers book so I don’t know what impression previous stories gave readers about Dom but based on Rule Breaker I loved him. He’s troubled but loves his sister and will do whatever he can to help her. He’s made himself a loner because he wants to keep his family & his history quiet. Forced to coach a little kids hockey team, he finds himself drawn to Holly and her son. Before he knows it he’s getting involved and letting other people into his own life. The way that has him growing closer to his teammates turns out to be just as pivotal for him as the relationship that develops with Holly.
Lynn’s latest is funny, angsty, sexy, and entertaining. She gives us characters we can root for, plenty of steam, a boatload of feels, and a HEA that just tugs at the heart. A bit of a warning – there are some sensitive topics discussed, but I don’t feel like she treated them lightly (although I’m no expert in any of them).
*Part of a series but can be read as a standalone.*
*****
Author Info:
Stacey Lynn likes her coffee with a dash of sugar, her heroes with a side of bossy, and her wine a deep shade of red.
The author of over thirty romance novels, many of which have been best-selling titles on Amazon, AppleBooks, and Barnes & Noble, she loves being able to turn her vivid imagination into a career that brings entertainment and joy to her readers. Focused on sports romance and emotional, small-town romance, she also loves stretching herself in different genres.
Born in Texas and raised in the Midwest, she now makes her home in North Carolina and loves all things Southern. Together with her ultimate tall, dark, and handsome hero, she has four children. Her life is a chaotic mess that fights with her Type-A, list-making, neurotically organized preferences and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
How do you start over when the biggest mistake of your life has more than one million views?
Forget diamonds; the internet is forever. Social media consultant Isla Thompson learned that lesson the hard way when she went viral for all the wrong reasons. A month later, Isla is still having nightmares about the moment she ruined a young starlet’s career and made herself the most unemployable influencer in Manhattan. But she doesn’t have the luxury of hiding away until she’s no longer “Instagram Poison.” Not when her fourteen-year-old sister, Dani, needs Isla to keep a roof over their heads. So she takes the first job she can get: caring for Camilla, a glossy-maned, foul-tempered hellhound.
After a week of ferrying Camilla from playdates to pet psychics, Isla starts to suspect that the dachshund’s bark is worse than her bite—just like her owner, Theo Garrison. Isla has spent her career working to make people likeable and here’s Theo—happy to hide behind his reputation as a brutish recluse. But Theo isn’t a brute—he’s sweet and funny, and Isla should not see him as anything but the man who signs her pay cheques. Because loving Theo would mean retreating to his world of secluded luxury, and Isla needs to show Dani that no matter the risk, dreams are always worth chasing.
Isla trudged along the hallway toward her apartment, high heels swinging from her finger. Usually she wouldn’t dare go barefoot on public carpet—especially not in a building of questionable standards, like this one. But after walking six blocks to get home in the pretty, stiletto-heeled death traps, her feet had officially given up the ghost.
Besides, foot hygiene was the least of her problems. With another rejected job application—this one coming through before she’d even made it home from the interview—she had bigger things to worry about.
Isla unlocked her front door and stepped inside, her lips quirking at the familiar sight. Her little sister, Dani, was standing next to the wall, one hand resting on a makeshift barre crafted from a shower curtain rod and some wall brackets they’d found at the dollar store. She was dressed in a plain black leotard and a pair of pink ballet tights with a hole in the knee. Her battered pointe shoes were frayed around the toes, though the ribbons were glossy and new, stitched on with the utmost care.
Classical music blared from the stereo and Isla hit the pause button. “What have I said about disturbing the neighbors?”
Dani paused mid-plié. “If you’re going to do it, do it properly.”
“That’s not what I said.” She shot her sister a look, trying to ignore how her leotard was digging into her shoulders. It was clearly a size too small because the damn girl was growing like a weed. At fourteen, she’d already surpassed Isla in height.
“Oh, that’s right.” Dani grinned. “You said that about schoolwork. But, to be fair, ballet is even more important than schoolwork, so…”
“We’ll agree on that when you can pay the bills with pliés.” Isla hung her keys on the hook by the door and dumped her purse onto the kitchen counter.
“Working on it.” Dani continued warming up, her pointe shoes knocking against the floorboards. “How was your day?”
Ugh. You mean, how were the three dozen rejection letters and this last interview, which was clearly only for curiosity’s sake because the recruiter straight up laughed the second I left the interview room?
“It was…fine,” she said, without much commitment.
In reality, it was anything but fine. What had her old boss called her? Oh, that’s right: Instagram poison.
“You told me once that saying something is ‘fine’ is no better than saying it’s ‘purple pineapples.’” Dani dropped down from her relevé and frowned. “What happened?”
What hadn’t happened?
Isla pulled a bottle of wine out of the fridge and poured her-self a glass. She’d been rationing it, since the only stuff that was left after this was a box wine of unknown origin. “Amanda lost her contract with that makeup company and her movie is flopping. She sent me an angry email today.”
“Whatever happened to all publicity is good publicity?”
“It’s a myth. Turns out some things are career killers.” Isla took a gulp of the wine. “And now I’m that woman who filmed a Disney princess vomiting all over herself.”
After the live video had been splashed across the internet and featured on network television, Isla had swiftly been fired from her job as a senior social media consultant with the Gate-way Agency. All her freelance clients had dropped her like a hot potato, too. Now, anyone who searched Isla’s name got page after page of the same thing: vomit girl and the person who was too dumb to stop recording.
Hence the growing pile of rejected job applications.
“I take it the interview didn’t go well?”
Isla cringed at the concern in her sister’s voice. Most fourteen-year-olds were worrying about frivolous things, like which shade of lip gloss was the most on trend or how to craft the perfect TikTok dance routine. Hell, she would argue that’s the stuff they should be worrying about. Not whether they were going to have a roof over their heads.
“No, it didn’t,” Isla admitted. “But honestly, I’m not sure I would have wanted to work there anyway.”
It was a total lie.
Isla was ready to take anything at this point. It was humiliating to be begging for jobs she could have done ten years ago with her eyes closed, only to be rejected because the recruiters had found someone “with more experience.” Umm, what? In other words, she’d been officially blacklisted from the social media industry.
“How come?” Dani walked over to the kitchen, her arms swinging gracefully by her sides. Her dark hair was in a neat bun on top of her head, tied with a piece of leftover ribbon from her pointe shoes. “Were they not very nice?”
“Not really.”
Dani came up to Isla and put an arm around her, stooping so she could lean her head against her big sister’s shoulder. Some days it felt like it was them against the world. Given they didn’t actually know where their mother was these days—and they hadn’t seen either one of their dads in God only knew how long—they really did have to stick together.
Isla remembered the day it all happened—the eve of her twentieth birthday. Their mother had announced she was eloping overseas with a boyfriend she’d known less than a month, and they hadn’t seen her since. Apparently motherhood was a temporary commitment, in her eyes. That left Isla responsible for the well-being of another human, and more terrified of the future than she’d ever been.
Six years later, Isla had built a life for them both. She’d fostered and financed her half sister’s dreams, built up her own dream career and done it all while hiding how often the numbers weren’t in their favor. But the older Dani got, the more keenly she observed what was going on.
“Maybe you can ask the ballet school for our money back,” Dani suggested quietly.
Her spot had been secured for the summer intensive ballet camp months ago, before Isla’s job situation had fallen apart.
“I know it was really expensive,” she added.
Isla felt tears prick the backs of her eyes, but she refused to let her sister see even a sliver of her emotion. It was her job to be a pillar. To be the strong one. To be the positive mother figure neither of them ever had.
“Dani, I would sell my right kidney if it meant you could go to ballet camp.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s illegal.”
Isla snorted and wrapped her sister into a big hug. Like al-ways, she smelled of oversweet vanilla perfume and mango-scented shampoo. She would do anything for this kid. Anything to make sure Dani grew up knowing that dreams were worth chasing, and that family came first no matter what.
“And how do you know so much about black market organ sales?” Isla raised a brow and Dani laughed.
“CSI.”
“Ah, of course.” She laughed. But when Dani pulled back, Isla noticed her sister’s characteristically carefree attitude was hidden under the worry swimming in her blue eyes. Isla hated seeing that. “Why don’t we go to Central Park, huh? We’ll take your phone and I can get a few shots of you for your Instagram account.”
“Really?” Dani’s eyes lit up.
“Sure. Just let me get changed.”
“I promise not to make you take a hundred photos this time.” Dani grinned and did a little pirouette in the kitchen. “Not even half that!”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Isla shot over her shoulder as she headed into her bedroom. “Trust me, I know where you get those perfectionistic tendencies.”
The second Isla closed her bedroom door behind her, she slumped against it and deflated like a balloon the day after a birthday party. Outside, the city roared with life. Sirens and horns, music blaring from the open window of another apartment, the shrieking laughter of people enjoying the early evening. She gazed out of the window, her eyes catching on the usual things that faced their cozy (read: cramped) place. There was a glimmer of light as the sun reflected off glass panes, and the zigzag of a fire escape from the building opposite them. The same three apartments always had their blinds wide open—either inviting voyeurism or not caring enough to prevent it.
Sometimes she wondered about their lives. Had they been stuck and struggling at some point like her? Had they lost faith in themselves and the world?
After she got fired, Isla had assumed it would all blow over if she kept a low profile and didn’t make matters worse. But then Amanda’s movie tanked and all her sponsorships fell through, and people stopped taking Isla’s calls. Even when she’d tried to laugh the whole thing off as a “Miley Cyrus exercise” her contacts had frozen harder than an Upper East Sider’s Botoxed face.
New York could be like that—when you were successful it felt as though the sun was made of gold. And when you fell from grace, you hit the concrete so hard you shattered every bone in your body.
How much longer was she going to be able to keep faking that everything would be fine? Rent was due next week and the final payment for Dani’s elite ballet camp had come out of her account a few days ago. Isla’s eyes had watered at the amount. But Dani had worked so hard, practicing every day and pushing herself to the limit to beat out the rich kids with their prestigious coaches and private lessons and their lifetimes of opportunity.
How could Isla pull the rug out from under Dani like that? What kind of lesson would that be teaching her?
“You’ll figure this out,” she said to herself. “Someone will hire you.”
After all, she had to make it work. Because letting her sister down was not an option.
While it’s entirely predictable, London’s newest is charming and cute. In the beginning Theo is gruff and standoffish, very Beast to Isla’s Beauty but as we get to know him we see the lonely man underneath and the reasons he’s kept himself separated. Time spent around Isla’s bright and understanding spirit has him coming out of his shell more and more. But it leaves him vulnerable and that’s not something Theo likes to be.
Isla is struggling to find work to be able to support her sister and a chance encounter with Theo in the park gives her the help she needs. While working on winning the trust of his temperamental dachshund, Isla also gets a glimpse into the heart of Camilla’s equally troubled owner. And the more she sees, the more she likes.
As good as the romance is, the secondary relationships are important as well. There’s something wholesome about Isla’s relationship with her sister. The way she shows her support and patience, the sacrifices she’s made for her, and the way Dani is willing to help her sister in return. And I really hope we get to see more of Isla’s friend, Scout, as her support is very important to the Thompsons and I’m curious about her story. Theo doesn’t have very many people in his life, by choice, but you can see the caring that’s there for those that have known him the longest. And the stories of his grandmother show just how awesome she was.
There’s so much about this book that I liked. It’s fun, steamy, & emotional and even though I could see their problems coming a mile away, the path to them and then to a HEA made for a very enjoyable read.
*****
Author Info:
Stefanie London is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance. Her books have been called “genuinely entertaining and memorable” by Booklist, and her writing praised as “elegant, descriptive and delectable” by RT Magazine. Originally from Australia, she now lives in Toronto with her very own hero and is doing her best to travel the world. She frequently indulges her passions for lipstick, good coffee, books and anything zombie related.
I used to believe in what we do at Mayberry Matchmakers, but now? Love is just another four-letter word.
Too bad my grandmother hasn’t gotten the memo. When tech billionaire Rory Byrne approaches us, wanting to develop the matchmaking app my sister and I dreamed up (and Nana shot down), she jumps at the chance. My grandmother is nothing if not opportunistic.
Of course, there’s a catch. She’ll only do it if Rory lets us matchmake him the old-fashioned way.
He’s going to say no.
Please God, let him say no.
The last thing I want to do is matchmake an entitled rich jerk…especially one who looks like sin and talks a good game.
Rory
I’ve screwed up in love a few times, but I never screw up in business. Mayberry Matchmakers has the idea for something amazing, and I have the money and the experience to make it come to life.
I should deny Nana Mayberry’s condition. If I let them matchmake me, it’ll be all over the news, and making headlines has never interested me…especially not after the personal betrayal that nearly broke me. But I’m having trouble caring about what I should do, because Bryn Mayberry is smart, snarky, and not the slightest bit impressed with me.
Actually, this may be Mayberry Matchmakers’ easiest job yet.
“People are always watching you, aren’t they?” I ask.
Rory takes a step toward me, and I think again about all those watching eyes. Everyone in town will be watching us now, and they’ll sense . . .
Well, they’ll sense that we’re obviously in lust with each other.
“Are you watching me, Bryn?” he says softly.
Well, throw a bucket of water on me and call me the Wicked Witch of the West.
“Sometimes it’s hard to look away,” I admit, my mouth forming the words before I have time to give it a talking-to.
His eyes sparkle, as if I just confirmed something he’s wondered about, desperately. “Do you ask so many questions of all of your clients?”
“Yes,” I fib. While he might be averse to white lies, I’m not. But before that sparkle can dim all the way, I admit, “But I don’t usually offer any information in return.”
His smile burrows under my skin. Then he glances up, taking in our observers, and says, “Let me walk you to your car.”
“It’s in the back of the parking lot,” I say.
He nods. “Lead the way.”
He walks beside me, a little too close, and even though it’s a warm night, I can feel his heat leaping toward me, like flames to paper.
Once we’re away from the front of the brewery, his hand slips to the small of my back and lingers there, and if there’s ever been anything so sexy, I don’t know what it is. We’re about to pass a copse of trees on the side of the lot when he glances around, grabs my hand, and pulls me into it. We’re in near darkness, evergreens dancing around us, and we’re standing close enough that I can feel his breath feathering my face.
His eyes are so warm they nearly immolate me.
“I don’t mean to tell you how to do your job,” he says, “but I think you succeeded before you started. I want to be set up with you.”
“Micromanaging me already, are you?” I ask, a little breathless.
“Yes.” He reaches up to touch my jaw, tracing the shape of it. “I’d like to kiss you.”
I should tell him no. Setting aside the whole four dates thing, we’re going to be working together. Giving into this . . . madness . . . is the last thing we should be doing, but I’ve been so lonely, and he’s more of a man than I’ve encountered in . . .
Forever.
He’s the kind of man I didn’t think existed in real life, to be honest.
So maybe I can temporarily forget I’m setting myself up for disaster. Because just about a year ago, my fiancé of twenty-four hours and I broke up, and within a week he was with another woman. Within three months, he’d married her. If I let myself fall for Rory, if I let myself give in to these feelings tugging at me, insisting I acknowledge them, then I won’t just be giving myself a front-row seat to him moving on . . . I might have the displeasure of being the person who helps him do it.
Still, I find myself leaning into him. “Then quit talking and do it already.”
*****
Review:
The newest collab between these two bestselling authors is full of disastrous dates, steamy moments, and two people who shouldn’t finding themselves falling in love.
Rory is pretty much perfect – he’s generous with his money and power, he’s kind and understanding, and he’s commanding in the bedroom. Which makes him pretty darn irresistible to Bryn.
Bryn is struggling with her self-worth. Her last relationship ended badly and left her with a lot of doubts, about herself and her job as a matchmaker. Quickly realizing her early assumptions about Rory and his motives, she finds herself with another issue – resisting her latest client.
Angela Denise brings readers a humorous rom com with a near-perfect hero and a heroine who needs to learn to trust herself again. A delightful combination of comedy, heat, and emotion, with enjoyable characters and a satisfying HEA, Matchmaking a Billionaire gives readers a reason to want to return to Highland Hills again and again.
*****
Author Info:
ANGELA DENISE is the pen name for the writing duo Angela Casella and Denise Grover Swank.
ANGELA CASELLA loves writing romcoms, particularly with the lovely Denise Grover Swank. She lives in Asheville, NC with her husband, daughter, and two geriatric dogs. Her hobbies include herding her daughter toward less dangerous activities, stress baking, and marathon watching TV shows.
DENISE GROVER SWANK is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author and has sold over three million books. She indie published her first book, a romance mystery, Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes, in 2011. She has since published over fifty novels, multiple novellas and short stories as an indie and with five publishers. She is published in seven languages. She is a single mother to six children and four dogs and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads you to believe.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Denise Grover Swank was born in Kansas City, Missouri and lived in the area until she was nineteen. Then she became a nomadic gypsy, living in five cities, four states and ten ho uses over the course of ten years before she moved back to her roots. She speaks English and smattering of Spanish and Chinese which she learned through an intensive Nick Jr. immersion period. Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in own her mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children. (Quite badly if you believe her offspring.) Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity. Or so she leads you to believe.
ANGELA CASELLA loves writing romcoms, particularly with the lovely Denise Grover Swank. They write together as Angela Denise. Angela also writes the Fairy Godmother Agency series. She lives in Asheville, NC with her husband, daughter, and two geriatric dogs. Her hobbies include herding her daughter toward less dangerous activities, stress baking, and marathon watching TV shows.
Melissa Foster is celebrating the release of her new contemporary romance, Maybe We Won’t. Check it out and be sure to grab your copy today!
Maybe We Won’t
Silver Harbor #3
by Melissa Foster
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Blurb:
A sexy and soul-stirring novel about love, family, and rediscovering what matters most by Melissa Foster, the New York Times bestselling author of Maybe We Will.
When workaholic Boston attorney Deirdra de Messiéres is passed over for a well-deserved promotion, she takes a two-month hiatus to show her boss just how much he needs her and heads home to Silver Island. But beyond seeing her sisters happy, home is not where Deirdra’s heart is. She has no interest in their family restaurant, the Bistro, or reliving hurtful childhood memories, and absolutely no interest in spending a single second with Josiah “Jagger” Jones, the Bistro’s too-laid-back musician and chef. Sure, the hippie is hot, but he drives her nuts. The guy lives in a van with his dog, and he can’t even commit to a solid work schedule. To make matters worse, he’s always around. She needs to get off the island, stat.
Jagger has overcome his own personal trials to place stock in life’s pleasures: family, friends, peace…and if he has his way, one positively beautiful, absolutely uptight attorney. Jagger knows he’s the perfect person to help Deirdra deal with her hurtful past and find her way back to being happy.
A chance encounter leads to deep conversation, and night after liberating night, Deirdra lets down her guard. But neither has plans to stay on Silver Island. Free-spirited Jagger has wanderlust, and Deirdra has a career to return to. They’re on different paths, and plans for a future together don’t stand a chance. But when has anything gone according to plan?
The Silver Harbor series is published by Montlake Romance and will be available in paperback and audio formats at all book retailers, and exclusively in digital format for Kindle and Kindle apps. Download a free Kindle reading app here: http://bit.ly/FreeKindle_App1
Deirdra de Messiéres lay in her childhood bedroom on Silver Island thinking about her upended life. She’d worked her ass off for the last several years as a corporate attorney for a tech firm in Boston, and after her promotion to assistant general counsel last year, she’d thought she was on the fast track to becoming general counsel when the slot opened up—until the GC had a heart attack and her slave-driver boss, Malcolm, had hired a referral from outside the company through his good-old-boy network.
The bastard.
He’d sprung that little nugget on her three days ago, after which Deirdra had announced her two-month hiatus, effective immediately. Everyone had been shocked, including Deirdra. She’d never taken time off and had made herself available in the evenings and on weekends since she’d first started with the company. She’d had to. It was a dog-eat-dog industry, and with six other attorneys on board—four of whom were men—she’d wanted to stand out. Yes, she was well aware that she was putting the company she’d given her all to in a pickle, especially since the new general counsel couldn’t start for another two months. But that was the point. Let them suffer without her impeccable mind handling everything under the sun. She was confident in her game plan and certain Malcolm would quickly see the error of his ways.
The truth was, she’d thought he wouldn’t let her walk out the door after her announcement. But her stern sixty-year-old boss had simply wished her a relaxing time and said she needed it. She’d already received dozens of calls and emails from colleagues who were shocked that she’d taken so much time off, but she struggled with disappointment over the ones that hadn’t come from her boss.
She still couldn’t believe Malcolm had said she freaking needed the break. As if she’d ever produced subpar work? That was a laugh. He’d had nothing but accolades for her jobs well done, and last year’s promotion had been proof of that.
Her frustration simmered to the boiling point. Ugh. She needed to stop overthinking the situation. Fat chance of that happening for a self-professed control freak. Deirdra not overthinking would be as weird as her younger sister, Abby, not seeing the bright side of things or their older half sister, Cait, trusting everyone at face value. Deirdra had a better chance of trying to transform into a bird and fly away.
If only . . .
She and her sisters were quite the trio, and they’d had a whirlwind few months. She and Abby had only discovered Cait existed in the spring, when they’d come back to the island to go over their mother’s will with one of their mother’s best friends, Shelley Steele. While Abby had embraced and trusted Cait unconditionally from the moment she’d met her, Deirdra had been cautious, given that their family house, restaurant, and meager inheritances were on the line. It had taken Cait some time to open up and trust them as well. But they’d gotten through those trials and tribulations and had become close. Cait was a wonderful addition to their family, and like Abby, she’d found solace and love on Silver Island.
Deirdra would not be following suit.
Beyond seeing her sisters happy, Deirdra had no interest in their family restaurant, the Bistro, or in the island on which she’d spent too many years trying to hold together the pieces of her alcoholic mother’s disheveled life, helping to run the Bistro and keep a roof over their heads. Deirdra had fled immediately after high school to attend Boyer University in Upstate New York with her bestie, Sutton Steele, and had finally started living her own life. But self-preservation had consequences, and Abby had been stuck caring for their mother in Deirdra’s absence. That sucked, but what choice had Deirdra had at the time? Stay on the rinky-dink island running a restaurant she resented and putting her drunk mother to bed while her dreams went to pot? Besides, Abby had encouraged her to go, and Deirdra had clung to that support like a lifeboat in her sea of guilt as she’d set out to prove herself to Abby and maybe even to stick it to her mother and show that she couldn’t hold her back.
Deirdra stared at the ceiling, discomfort simmering inside her. She’d thought her resentment toward the island and all that it represented might ease now that her mother was gone, but painful reminders lingered like ghosts in the wind, and the house and her bedroom were filled with them. Abby and Aiden had done a great job of sprucing it up. It was absolutely gorgeous. To anyone else it would seem warm and inviting, but there wasn’t enough paint on the planet to obliterate Deirdra’s painful memories. How many nights had she snuck out the window just to sit on the hill and look out at the water to keep from drowning in her mother’s wake?
Maybe she shouldn’t have come back, but she couldn’t do that to Cait. The start of her impromptu hiatus had lined up with the day Cait and all their friends were fixing up her new tattoo shop. Deirdra wasn’t big on manual labor, but she loved her sisters, and she’d needed to get out of Boston. She was glad she’d come, even if being on the island was uncomfortable. She’d gotten to witness Cait’s boyfriend, Deirdra’s childhood friend Brant Remington, get down on one knee in front of all their friends and propose. Deirdra couldn’t be happier for them, but come hell or high water, she was getting off this island tomorrow and going on a well-deserved vacation, the destination of which was yet to be determined.
The sound of the front door jarred her from her thoughts, and Abby’s giggles floated upstairs. She and her fiancé, Aiden Aldridge, couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Deirdra glanced at her phone. It was almost one o’clock in the morning. In the spring, Abby had moved back home from New York, where she’d worked sixty-plus hours a week as a chef. She’d met and fallen head over heels for Aiden in a whirlwind love affair. Together they’d revived the Bistro, and they were getting married in November.
Deirdra tried to focus on the distant sounds of Silver Harbor sneaking in through the open window instead of the cacophony of laughter, low conversations, and prolonged silences, followed by loud lustful sounds coming from downstairs. If only she were back in Boston. She preferred her noisy neighbor’s stereo blasting classic rock and oldies at all hours over this. At least that she could dance to.
Needless to say, she was a little jealous of her sisters’ love lives. Not that she’d had time for a man, or anything else besides work, these last few years. More noises floated upstairs. She closed her eyes, willing them not to have sex in the living room or, worse, in the kitchen. She had to eat at that table. Oh God, that’s probably what Aiden is doing. She squeezed her eyes shut. Deletedeletedelete!
What was she thinking, staying in her old bedroom? She should have stayed in the apartment over the garage. Why hadn’t she thought of that from the get-go?
A loud thud rattled the walls, followed by more laughter.
Deirdra flew out of bed. She was not going to listen to a play-by-play of Abby and Aiden having sex. She put on her silk kimono and headed downstairs, praying she wouldn’t catch them in a compromising position. She stopped on the bottom step, eyeing the trail of clothing that led past the steps and down the hall to their bedroom. Thank God. Hurrying into the kitchen, she snagged the key to the apartment off the hook by the side door and quietly slipped outside. She crossed her arms against the brisk September air as she climbed the steps to the apartment above the garage.
A streak of moonlight lit a path down the hallway to the bedroom. She took off her kimono and slipped under the warm covers, closing her eyes as she sank into the mattress. Something moved beside her, and her eyes flew open just as that something licked her face. She screamed and jumped out of the bed, flailing for the light switch. A bark rang out, and a cold nose hit her crotch. She swatted at it as she flicked on the lights, illuminating an amused Josiah “Jagger” Jones pushing languidly from the bed as his dalmatian, Dolly, nosed Deirdra’s privates. The twentysomething hippie worked at the Bistro as a part-time musician and part-time chef.
“What are you doing here?” She twisted away from Dolly, her eyes catching on Jagger’s naked body. Holy mother of hotness. Broad shoulders and a few wordy tattoos on his ribs vied for her attention, but her eyes locked on the dusting of dark chest hair trailing down lickable abs, and her thoughts skidded to a halt at the impressive cock dangling between his legs. She couldn’t look away. Her loneliest parts clenched with desire, while her boggled mind tried to make sense of the perfect manscaping, which didn’t fit the image she held of the hemp-clothing- and sandal-wearing, too-damn-laid-back guy for whom she had no patience. Not that she’d ever imagined him naked. Well, not too often anyway. He may not be her type—give her a man in a suit any day—but she couldn’t deny that Jagger was hot, and he had a great voice, the kind that fantasies were made of. His hair wasn’t bad, either: dark, thick, and wavy. The kind of hair she’d love to hold on to while his face was between her legs.
Dolly licked her, snapping her back to the moment.
Holy crap. She was losing it. She was thirty years old, and he couldn’t be more than twenty-four or -five. She needed to get off the island and scratch that particular itch with a man who was more her speed . . . age . . . Holy cow, his body . . .
Dolly licked her again, jerking her mind back into submission.
“Dolly!” She turned away, glowering at Jagger, who was watching her with a big-ass grin.
“Like what you see?” he said far too casually. He lazily raked a hand through his hair, his leather and beaded bracelets slipping down his wrist.
*****
Review:
Jagger is easy-going, happy-go-lucky, and a friend to many. Quite the contrast to the stand-offish lawyer of the de Messiéres family. Deirdra might be a tad bit uptight, maybe even a touch snobbish, but it doesn’t take too long being around Jagger to start her taking a long, hard look at the person she’d become. She’s let her resentment and the bad memories of her childhood on the island color her view of it, the people who live their, and even her own sisters. Once she’s gotten a good look at her life, she’s not really sure she likes it all that much after all.
As Jagger helps Deirdra face her past and the two become closer, she starts to uncover a part of herself she’s buried deep. But can she let go of her trauma enough to really embrace the person she could be? Even though the story pretty much goes exactly as you’d expect it to, Maybe We Won’t is still a thoroughly enjoyable read. Foster can always be counted on to bring readers stories of heat mixed with humor and a more than generous amount of emotion and her latest shows exactly how well she does it.
*****
Author Info:
Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance, new adult romance and women’s fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Readers adore Melissa’s fun, flirty, and sinfully sexy, award-winning big family romance collection, LOVE IN BLOOM featuring the Snow Sisters, Bradens, Remingtons, Ryders, Seaside Summer, Harborside Nights, and the Wild Boys After Dark. Melissa’s emotional journeys are lovingly erotic and always family oriented.
Melissa also writes sweet and clean romance under the pen name Addison Cole.
Melissa has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children in Washington, DC. Her interests include her family, reading, writing, painting, friends, helping others see the positive side of life, and visiting Cape Cod.
Melissa is available to chat with book clubs and welcomes comments and emails from her readers. Visit Melissa on social media or her personal website.
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Jesse Ainsley’s life running his busy veterinary practice in the sleepy Cornwall bay he grew up in leaves no time for a serious relationship… at least, that’s what he tells himself, but the simple truth is much more cliché. He’s been in love with his best friend forever, but when he starts pulling away and goes radio silent on him for six months, Jesse begins to wonder if their friendship is finally over.
Deacon James lives his life at two speeds, a hundred miles an hour and stop. He’s spent the last decade travelling the world, winning races, partying with the most beautiful men and women, and living life on his terms, a life which was pretty close to perfect… with just one caveat… he’s never quite been able to get over the boy he left behind. His best friend Jesse has always made him yearn for something he’s too afraid to face and cutting him out of his life seemed like the only answer.
But things are never that simple. When Deacon wakes from an accident in Italy with Jesse asleep in the hospital chair beside him, he discovers Jesse’s been keeping secrets of his own.
At a crossroads in their life, they’re faced with a choice, build something deeper and stronger from the ashes, or let words unsaid and secrets tear them apart forever.
From author Wendy Saunders writing as Vawn Cassidy comes this second chance, friends to lovers, hurt/comfort with a HEA.
I surface through the syrupy depths of consciousness, and this time it’s a little easier. My body still screams in agony, and I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. My head is pounding, and my throat feels like it’s filled with razor blades, but as I open my eyes, they don’t feel so heavy and it’s easier to focus.
I tilt my head slowly and glance at the chair wondering if I really had seen Jesse or if it had been some kind of feverish dream.
It wasn’t, unless I’m still hallucinating because he’s curled up in a comfortable looking leather chair next to me, idly leafing through a magazine. I’m sure he’s wearing a different colour shirt than before, and I take a moment to study him.
His short blonde hair is in need of a trim, sticking up slightly as if he’s run his fingers through it in agitation. There’s a light scruff along his jaw, which means he probably hasn’t shaved in a few days, and there are smudges under his eyes, like he’s barely slept.
“Jesse…” My voice is barely more than a croak, causing Jesse’s head to snap up in my direction.
“Deak.” He leans forward with a gasp of relief. “You’re awake. You opened your eyes for a few moments yesterday, but then you were out cold again.”
Yesterday? I stare at him in confusion. “Where…” I try to speak, but my voice sounds like a rusty nail, and my mouth is so dry I don’t even have any spit when I attempt to swallow.
“Here.” Jesse carefully lifts a small plastic cup and guides a straw to my lips. “Sip slowly. They had to put a tube down your throat to help you breath for a while, so you probably have a sore throat.”
Understatement.
I sip gratefully. The water is lukewarm and has a faintly clinical taste to it, but against my painful throat it feels like the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I release the straw, feeling a bead of water drip from my lower lip. I watch as Jesse reaches out unconsciously and runs his thumb along my lip. My heart kicks up a notch, and once again the stupid machine next to me starts beeping faster.
Realising what he’s done, he drops his hand and swallows, staring at the machine. “I’ll go get someone.” He frowns.
“Jesse,” I whisper hoarsely, lifting my hand clumsily to grasp his. “Where am I?”
“You’re in a hospital in Rome,” he replies quietly, his warm hazel eyes searching my face for any flicker of recognition, but so far, I’m drawing a blank.
“Rome?” I frown, and I have a vague recollection of a party. “What happened?”
“You were in a car accident.”
I close my eyes against the sudden flash of lights, the sound of grinding metal, glass shattering.
*****
Review:
Jesse feels like he’s taking care of everyone and everything. He doesn’t mind, he loves them all, but he’s starting to struggle under the pressure he’s putting on himself. While he misses his best friend desperately, having him back may be more than he can take. Deacon is having a bit of a life crisis. He’s struggling with finding enjoyment and purpose in his current life, to the point that he’s cut off the most important person to him. An accident brings them back together, providing the opportunity to connect and maybe develop their relationship into something deeper.
Cassidy delivers a very emotional romance with moments of humor and a bit of heat but also filled with a lot of angst, brooding, and misunderstanding. Not everyone is into that kind but I think those that do will really enjoy themselves. The characters, both main and secondary, are enjoyable and the HEA ending is an enjoyable conclusion to a heartwarming (and occasionally heartbreaking) story. I’m super excited to see what is in store for the rest of them 🙂
*****
Author Info:
Vawn Cassidy is the mild mannered MM obsessed alter ego/ pen name of contemporary fantasy & romantic suspense author Wendy Saunders. She’s a Brit and lives in the UK with her husband and kids.
To celebrate the release of Definitely Deacon, Vawn is giving away 2 e-sets of the Belong to Me Series so far (2 eBooks: Suddenly Beck & Definately Deacon)!
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
Dante didn’t set out to deceive. His favor for a pal in prison got him this farmhand job, and Jen needs help guarding more than her blueberries. Someone’s set on hurting her, and he’ll make damn sure they don’t. She can’t know who sent him or why he’s handier with a handgun than a hoe. But none of that matters more than keeping Jen safe.
To save the girl, he’ll have to pair old skills with new. A princess tea party and an old-fashioned gunfight? Why not. Grape stomping and grenades? Sign him up.
But as the enemy closes in, there’s one skill Dante finds he doesn’t have: The strength to walk away when the job is done.
I really enjoyed Fenske’s newest. It’s a light mix between romance and suspense, low on drama but with humor and a bit of action to keep things interesting.
Stopping by Jen’s farm as a favor to a friend, Dante finds himself drawn to her and the troubles happening around her. As he gets to know her better, he struggles with keeping who he is from her while also working to find out who wants to hurt her.
Struggling to keep her vineyard going, she doesn’t need an inappropriate attraction to her gorgeous new farmhand. He’s capable, strong, a good cook, and oh-so-sexy but Jen’s self-esteem took a big hit after her fiance is caught cheating. Things change when a fake kiss leads to something more but will they live long enough to see where it goes?
Killer Instincts is a win for me. The characters are appealing, the bad guy a surprise, and the story well balanced between feels, whimsy, and danger. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what Fenske has in store next for Mateo and Sebastian.
(I read Killer Looks, which introduced the three men in this series. I don’t think that you need to but it’s hard for me to separate what I know of Dante from there vs what we get here.)
*****
Author Info:
When Tawna Fenske finished her English lit degree at 22, she celebrated by filling a giant trash bag full of romance novels and dragging it everywhere until she’d read them all. Now she’s a RITA Award finalist, USA Today bestselling author who writes humorous fiction, risqué romance, and heartwarming love stories with a quirky twist. Publishers Weekly has praised Tawna’s offbeat romances with multiple starred reviews and noted, “There’s something wonderfully relaxing about being immersed in a story filled with over-the-top characters in undeniably relatable situations. Heartache and humor go hand in hand.”
Tawna lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, step-kids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She loves hiking, snowshoeing, stand up, paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year. To find out more about Tawna and her books, visit www.tawnafenske.com.
What chance does a small-town girl have with a world-famous rock star?
Two years after his wife’s death, rock star Garrett Hayes hasn’t moved on. But he has moved out of L.A. Where better to escape his past than a small town in the northern California mountains? If only he could get the townsfolk of Wildwood to leave him the hell alone.
Ani Bennet returned to her hometown for some much-needed serenity. The last thing she needs is a grumpy, too hot for his own good, rich and famous rock star living next door—and rent-free in her brain.
She set her fangirl tendencies aside and deleted his photo from her cell when they became neighbors. But when Garrett asks for help, she can’t say no. The problem is, spending time together is making those fangirl feelings resurface—and bringing them to a whole new level.
What chance does a small-town girl have with a world-famous rock star? It’s time for Ani to set her fears aside and find out.
My new neighbor arrived at midnight on a Thursday. First came the moving truck, followed by a Jeep Wrangler. Mrs. Cooper, the former owner of the house, passed a while back. A damn shame. The woman was not only nice, but she made biscuits like you wouldn’t believe. For years the grand old Victorian house sat empty at the end of the cul-de-sac. Not unusual for a small town. Few people wanted to move to the middle of nowhere in Northern California, no matter how picturesque it might be. While the place had been sold not long after listing, there’d been no sighting of the new owner until now.
“What the heck?” I mumbled to myself, standing at the window.
Who moved in the middle of the night? It seemed covert and suspicious. Like something a criminal or government agent would do. Although, maybe they just traveled far and this happened to be the time they arrived. But most people would stay at a hotel and wait for daylight to do this sort of thing. Surely.
The only things ever happening at midnight in Wildwood were: 1. Harry, the town drunk, performing Bob Dylan classics in the middle of Main Street. 2. Me, an insomniac, wandering aimlessly around my house. That was it. Everyone else in the whole wide world—or our corner of it—was fast asleep.
Half hidden behind a curtain, I watched the truck being unloaded. A full moon shone down through the pine trees as the moving men hauled stuff inside. The first guy, the one who drove the Jeep, went straight into the house. He was tall and wore a ball cap. That was about all I could see. Maybe he was setting the place up for his wife and family. Maybe he had a boyfriend. He couldn’t possibly be single, heterosexual, under sixty, and emotionally mature. My luck just wasn’t that good. Not that I intended to date again in this lifetime.
Whoever he was and whatever he was doing, it would all be known in due course. Such was the joy of small-town life.
Once the furniture was moved inside, things got a little dull. There’s not much you can tell about a person from their boxes.
I took the opportunity to once again check the locks on all my windows and doors. After that, I made a cup of chamomile tea. Neither of these things helped me sleep, but the rituals were soothing. Mom always said I had a busy mind. I didn’t necessarily think about anything useful, I just thought a lot. At night, I tended to think about books, bad memories, and ex-boyfriends. The last two were often one and the same.
As a child, I was the daydreamer who got busted humming in class when everyone else was concentrating. (Like anybody actually needed algebra. If you can work out the discount at a sale, you’re good to go. Then again, this attitude might explain why my life had gone approximately nowhere.)
I returned to the window just in time to see my mystery man reappear. The new neighbor strode out to the Jeep and opened up the back. When he once more headed toward the house, the ball cap was gone and his short hair was on display. In each hand he carried a guitar case.
I perked up. Musicians were cool. Unless he owned electric guitars and believed in turning the volume up to eleven. That could get old fast.
As he got closer to the house, the porchlight hit him and…huh. Something about his profile tugged at a memory.
Guess he felt my gaze, because he turned toward my place. And whoa. His lips were a thin line, his jaw set to cranky, and none of it mattered—the man was beautiful. Though he really was strangely familiar.
Meanwhile, with only a lamp on behind me, I couldn’t have been more than an outline. A shadowy person lurking in the dark. Great. Nothing like being spied on to make you feel welcome in your new neighborhood. So much better than a casserole or cookies.
Wait! I knew where I recognized him from. Only it couldn’t be, because that would be crazy. Absolutely fucking wild. Yet there he stood.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
My new neighbor was a goddamn rock star.
*****
Review:
I adored grumpy, moody Garrett. He’s had a difficult couple of years after the death of his wife and he’s still wallowing in his grief. Ani is trying to work through a bit of trauma of her own but moving back to her small, hometown provides her some comfort. At least, until things are turned upside down when her new neighbor moves in.
I think readers are going to be in one of two camps – either they are going to enjoy it as a feel good ride or they are going to like it but feel like it needs something more. Scott’s writing is smooth, with characters who are likable, occasionally quirky, and always enjoyable. The unlikely friendship that develops between Ani and Garrett is entertaining but the subsequent romance may develop a little too quickly for some. I do wish that Garrett’s grief and Ani’s issues had been explored a little more. There’s a lot there and I feel like it would have provided even more depth to the story. However, if you look at it as a more light-hearted, fun-filled love story it makes for an excellent read.
*****
Author Info:
Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013, 2014 & 2018, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.
Romantic Reads and Such 