Review: Back To You by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Hot City Nights Anthalogy
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero:  Cal MacKenzie
Heroine: Becky Taylor
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: July 8, 2008
Started On: March 26, 2010
Finished On: March 27, 2010

This was a title released in a collection of  short novels bundled up as “Hot City Nights” together with two titles from two of my other favorite Harlequin authors Emilie Rose and Sandra Marton. I haven’t read the other two novels in this collection but am thinking I might give it a go since Sandra Marton and Emilie Rose do write wonderful romances.

Becky Taylor and Cal MacKenzie had the hottest and wildest time of their lives for four weeks when they were at the university together at the tender age of 20. Cal had broken things off with Becky quoting that he wasn’t ready to jump into another serious relationship when he had barely managed to step away from the first serious relationship of his life.

Ten years later, Cal and Becky meet again during a reunion. Becky is at first shocked to find Cal there when he is supposed to be in London with his wife. But unknown to Becky, Cal has been back in Sydney for over a year and is divorced. What happens to  be a chance encounter for Becky isn’t necessarily that for Cal. Cal had come to the reunion wanting to see whether Becky would show up and whether she could still make him feel the same way as he did when they both were 20 years old and going hot and heavy.

Ms. Mayberry has done a splendid job I would say in creating a short story such as this one intense enough so that I as the reader didn’t feel like I had been cheated out of something that could have been better. The intense connection between Becky and Cal burns stronger than ever and before they both know it, they are going hot and heavy with each other once more.

Becky thinking that she and Cal would never get their happily ever after decides to cool things off when she finds out that she is pregnant with Cal’s child. And Cal proves to Becky once and for all that he is committed to loving Becky for the rest of their lives if given half the chance.

A sweet and hot read you wouldn’t want to put down.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble

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Review: Her Best Friend by Sarah Mayberry

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Harlequin Superromance #1626
Publisher: Harlequin
Hero:  Quinn Whitfield
Heroine: Amy Parker
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 1, 2010
Started On: March 25, 2010
Finished On: March 25, 2010

Sarah Mayberry has woven her magic once again with this beautiful story of two best friends who after a long period of time find love and happiness with one another. The story of Amy and Quinn centers around three best friends. Amy and Quinn both grew up together as neighbors. Liz moves in to the neighborhood much later and the three of them were inseparable during those years.

Amy has loved Quinn since she was fourteen years old. However, Liz and Quinn seemed to find love in one another long before Amy could do anything about her feelings and one thing leads to another, and before long Liz and Quinn are married and living in Sydney, both high profile attorneys whilst Amy stays behind in her hometown with her dreams of restoring the local theater to what it was before when her great grandfather owned the place.

Six years have gone by since Quinn and Liz got married and moved to Sydney and Amy is just about to have her dream realized. Amy has tried her best to move on and forget about Quinn and the intense feelings that he arouses in her. However a bit of legal problem regarding the sale of the theater ends Amy in calling Quinn up never realizing that during the period that she had tried to distance herself from their lives, Liz and Quinn were proceeding with getting a divorce.

Quinn hasn’t thought of Amy other than as his very best pal since he was fourteen years old and he and Liz had started dating. Now feeling as a failure with his marriage and future uncertain, Quinn feels that he has finally come home when he returns back to his hometown and starts to help restore the theater with Amy.

The close proximity within which these two work together on the restoration project makes them face their intense attraction head on and other feelings that they may have buried deep inside for the sake of their friendship.

To complicate matters, Liz is back, with the intention of winning Quinn and his love back. Its a pretty sweet and happy ending for Amy and Quinn and I enjoyed reading each and every bit of their story, as much as Ms. Mayberry must have enjoyed writing their story.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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Review: All Jacked Up by Penny McCall

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle & Microsoft Reader
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Penguin Group
Hero:  Jack Mitchel
Heroine: Aubrey Sullivan
Sensuality: 3
Date of Publication: April 3, 2007
Started On: March 13, 2010
Finished On: March 17, 2010

Its being a busy couple of days since I started work after a stretch of staying at home and hence the delay in finishing up this book. This is also a first read for me by the author and I as a reader would have to say that there is nothing more a gal could ask for in a romance once  you have read this one.

There is a hotter than sin hero in Jack and a feisty as they come heroine in Aubrey Sullivan who just has a mind of her own which lands both of them in the most darning of situations. This book is packed full of  humor and you can’t help but smile at the impatience in Jack when Aubrey keeps talking a mile a minute and land them both in a hefty load of trouble when they are barely out of the latest stint of trouble Aubrey has landed them both in. And yeah, I have noticed that I seem to be the one who seem to be “All Jacked Up” these days since all my heroes are ending up with the name Jack these days.

Aubrey works in the state congressman’s library in Washington D.C. With an eidetic memory, Aubrey has always been sort of a loner and thus her preference to be with books which do not tend to have minds of their own. She is just having another one of those quiet days at the library when Jack literally crashes into her life, holds her at gunpoint until all hell breaks loose and Aubrey is running for her life with bullets chasing her and one very suspicious looking character as her rescuer.

With her eidetic memory and tons of books in her memory, Aubrey is hardly the typical demure librarian that Jack expected. Rather her incessant chatter about next to nothing grates on his nerves and without Jack even realizing it, he is lusting after the not-so perfect curves of Aubrey. Danger tends to bring these two into close proximity, though both of them try to deny the simmering attraction between them.

Meanwhile a bounty hunter, all cops across the state and a team of two very mismatched thugs are after these two and they are on the ride and adventure of their life trying to dodge all parties after them and get to the bottom of what it is exactly that Aubrey knows that has landed her in this shit load of trouble. Ms MacCall has done a tremendous job in creating two characters who are so different in nature, but in the end complement one another perfectly. The sex is steamy, the adventure is action packed and fun and you would never have a boring moment when reading through this book.

Great read, recommended for those who love romantic comedies, thrillers and hell just anyone who loves a good bout of romance.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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Review: Blue Bayou by JoAnn Ross

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Callahan Brothers, Book 1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Hero:  Jack Callahan
Heroine: Danielle Dupree
Sensuality: 4
Date of Publication: April 2, 2002
Started On: March 12, 2010
Finished On: March 13, 2010

This is JoAnn Ross’s first book that I have ever tried out and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at how good this story is. I think I picked up the “scent” of this novel in some discussion forum in Amazon and this book certainly does seem to have got its fair share of good reviews which the story certainly deserves.

This is the first book in the “Callahan Brothers” series. The Callahan brothers are Finn, Jack and Nate, three of whom have individual stories of their own. I don’t think I am going to venture into the stories of Finn and Nate’s, because most of the time when a series starts off with a big bang like this one where the reader is really captivated by the story, the rest of the books in the series seem to pale in comparison and rarely gives the satisfaction that the reader craves from the series.

Though I may or may not read the rest of the books in the series, I bet that its Jack’s story that has enthralled readers the most because there is a history between the hero and heroine in the novel. Danielle or Dani is the daughter of the town’s judge. Jack’s father was the town sheriff who was shot and killed whilst trying to save Judge Dupree from being killed. Ever since then Jack’s mother Marie has worked as a housekeeper and surrogate mother for the Dupree family at their home.

Ever since the death of Jack’s father, Jack has always been a bit of a hell raiser which finally lands him at a sort of rehabilitative jail for youngsters. Having done his time and learnt his lesson, he returns home to find that Dani was still after him even though he had told her several times that she was too young to know what a guy like him would need and want. Pretty soon these two are hot and heavy in an affair which ends up in no good when Judge Dupree discovers the fact that Jack and Dani were having the time of their lives without his knowledge. Suddenly these two lovers are wrenched apart and by the cruel manipulation of the Judge, these two lose so much more than just the kind of love that people search for a lifetime looking, but rarely find.

Its years later and Dani returns home with her son Matt, older and wiser than ever before. With her father, the judge in jail, Dani is surprised to find that Jack had also returned home and is now the owner of her previous home. Sparks start to fly between the two as soon as they meet one another. Though Jack tries to deny that he still loves Dani, it is inevitable that these star crossed lovers would eventually yield to the red hot passion that flares between them every time they are within each other’s vicinity.

However, secrets from the past tends to  haunt these two, until they both learn to trust one another, to forgive and let go. Beautiful love story with enchanting characters and steamy sensuality that’s sure to be a winner for any romance novel lover.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard

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Review: Pride and Passion by Jenna Bayley-Burke

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd.
Hero:  Jake Tolliver
Heroine: Lily Harris
Date of Publication: March 9, 2010
Started On: March 11, 2010
Finished On: March 11, 2010

Upon receiving the monthly newsletter that I get from Samhain Publishing and reading the synopsis of this book, I sort of had expectations that this book would turn out to be a delicious read. Though the story ain’t half bad it just felt like reading a Harlequin romance where petty jealousy and trust issues are pretty much the core material for the book which otherwise could have been made into a great romance.

Lily Harris is a woman who has nowhere to turn to. With her father dead leaving her with a mountain of debt and noway to crawl out of the mess with life as she knew it intact, Lily is surprised and shocked when her father’s business partner Jake Tolliver steps into clear away the mess and keep her safe. Lily has always felt apprehensive around Jake and this time round no less when Jake proposes that she marry him so that she could go on living the rich heiress lifestyle Lily has been accustomed to.

Whilst the truth of the matter is that Jake has always wanted Lily by his side ever since he saw her one year back and had been working towards making her his, Jake has his issues to deal with as well. Growing up with a mother who continually had to justify to Jake’s father that she wasn’t being unfaithful to him but rather trying to make a living for her and her son and getting beaten up for it has left its mark on Jake. Jake hasn’t ever done commitment to a woman and it would take some doing before he would explain his comings and goings to a woman and justify his associates and friends to a woman in his life like his mother had had to do everyday of her life.

Lily doesn’t understand all this when she is thrust into the cutthroat world that Jake inhabits. Jake and Lily enters into a wager that Jake would let Lily work at and learn the ropes of the business that her father so much loved, and if she does it before the new year rolls in, she wouldn’t need to marry Jake unless she comes to him on her own terms.

I don’t understand why Lily couldn’t trust Jake. I mean yes the guy was a Casanova before he tried getting together with Lily, but all she sees are the various pictures of the models and voluptuous women on his arm whilst being photographed all over the world. Of course it doesn’t help matters when Jake doesn’t come forward and explain that he is just a business partner and friend of Dee, the woman whom at first Lily tries to throw at Jake to ward his attentions off from her.

Anyhow by the end, as any typical Harlequin style romance novel, the hero manages to give and give and the heroine manages to thwart every effort of his until some calamity supposedly takes his life, or so the heroine thinks which makes her admit her feelings to the hero and that’s  the first thing that she does when she finds out he survived.

Ah, I guess I am just disappointed that this novel didn’t turn out to be what I expected. It could have been so much more. Really!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo | Samhain

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Review: Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Sensuality: 2.9
Publisher: Penguin Group
Hero:  J. D. Jameson
Heroine: Payton Kendall
Date of Publication: March 3, 2009
Started On: March 9, 2010
Finished On: March 10, 2010

Finishing this book means that I have read through the list of available books by Ms. James and I would have to say that she is one helluva of a writer, one that I would definitely be on the look out for in the future. It’s too bad that she has published just only 3 novels. Now if there were like 15 more so titles to go through, I would indeed be a very happy bookworm for a couple of weeks.

Anyhow, I have identified that Ms. James likes to write romances that feature lawyers, that factor into the story their busy lives, how they juggle their careers, how stressful their lives actually are trying to become a partner of their firm and of course scenes of the courtroom drama makes it all a more worthwhile read. This book is in no way an exception to this rule.

Payton and Jameson have been working for the same law firm for the past 8 years, during which they have both worked their asses off foregoing everything just so that they would be able to make partner after the 8 year term is up. Never having a cordial relationship between them has boded well for them since they have never had to work together on anything as their branch of law took them in different directions most of the time.

However, fate works towards bringing these two together when a 20 million dollar legal case jumps into their firm’s lap and Payton and Jameson are both assigned to woo this client into hiring their firm for the job. Once this becomes a done deal, however Payton and Jameson both realize that somewhere along the way, the rules of making partner in their firm has been changed and that only one of them would come out as the winner.

All the bets are off when slight misconceptions of actions by both Payton and Jameson to one another brings out moments filled with hilarity that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud several moments during the novel. Especially the part where Payton has her naked butt in the air in front of everyone at the court house and the hilarity that ensued is something any romantic comedy lover would definitely love to read.

As much antagonistic and distrustful these two are of one another, they both slowly come to realize that the facade of anger and animosity that they have put up around one another is just a defense mechanism against letting themselves recognize what they actually feel for one another.

Its a journey fraught with misunderstandings, hilarity, passion and sweet moments that definitely makes this book a worthwhile read.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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Review: Just the Sexiest Man Alive by Julie James

Format: E-book
Read with: Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Sensuality: 2.9
Publisher: Penguin Group
Hero:  Jason Andrews
Heroine: Taylor Donovan
Date of Publication: October 7,  2008
Started On: March 8, 2010
Finished On: March 9, 2010

After reading the latest novel by Ms. James, I decided to give her other two novels a try cos I liked her writing style and character development a lot. Although the romance factor in this novel is pretty much less compared to her latest novel, the game that springs up between Jason and Taylor right from the start is exhilarating enough to keep the reader avidly interested till the very end.

Taylor moves to a branch of her law firm in Los Angeles from Chicago for the case that’s going to make her career. Someone who has always been career oriented, Taylor has no time for fun and games, especially after what she found her fiance doing with his secretary at his work desk, just months prior to their marriage. One thing that Taylor had learnt early in her age, being the only girl in a household of rambunctious  boys was that no matter what happened, Donovan’s never admitted defeat and never did cry. So holding her head high, although she is hurt, Taylor throws herself into the invigorating case of sexual harassment as the defender knowing full well she is going to win the case no matter what.

Quite unexpectedly Taylor gets dumped with the job of teaching Jason the ropes of courtroom drama for his new movie in production. Jason is everything Taylor is not. Standing her up for the two appointments that were supposed to start off their little project, Taylor is ready to brush off her hands off Jason, though he just might be the sexiest man alive on whom Taylor had laid her eyes on.

Jason is not accustomed to having things go any other way than his. He finds himself intrigued when Taylor doesn’t really care about how famous he is and how he is coveted by the rest of the female population surrounding him. And when Taylor gives as good as she gets during their verbal sparring matches, Jason is hopelessly hooked line and sinker though he refuses to admit his feelings to himself, but rather tries to make Taylor jealous by using other means which eventually in the end backfires on him.

Interesting plot with two likable characters. As I said before though there is not much of a romance till the very end of the novel, it is highly entertaining and one can never go wrong in picking this novel up for a bunch of laughs.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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Review: Something About You by Julie James

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Standalone
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Penguin Group
Hero:  Special Agent Jack Pallas
Heroine: Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde
Date of Publication: March 2, 2010
Started On: March 7, 2010
Finished On: March 8, 2010

Its been ages since a book has been good enough to warrant that I stay up all night to finish it. Yes, this book was that good. Since I haven’t ever read a book by Ms. James I would have to say she has hooked me onto her writing style which is a mix of suspense, murder, mayhem, red hot passion that sizzles between the two lead characters with a bit of humor thrown into the mix to make a helluva of a story.

FBI Special Agent Jack Pallas and Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had a falling out three years ago. Jack blames Cameron for ruining his career and thinks that she is the one who made the Justice Department send him off to Nebraska after Jack badmouthed Cameron all over the national media.

Now, three years later, Jack is back and Cameron finds herself as the only potential witness in a high stakes murder of a call girl involving a senator. Whilst Cameron only saw the back of the killer, he is not taking any chances to lead all this back to him and he pulls all the stops to eliminate Cameron and wipe her away from the almost perfect crime that he committed.

Though at the beginning Jack is all but pulsating with anger at Cameron, he slowly starts to find out that there might be more than what meets the eye in what took place three years back. And there was that simmering sexual tension between him and Cameron that no matter how hard Jack tries to ignore, seems to blaze hotter and hotter with every encounter.

This is one delicious book for fans of romantic thrillers can never go wrong with. I absolutely loved every fricking minute of it!

Till next time!

P.S. I guess this is one of those rare times when the cover of a book actually depicts something described in the book. The cover filled my head with all these hot images during one  of  the most delicious mouthwatering scenes in the book. *wink* *wink*

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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Review: Facing It by Linda Winfree

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Hearts of the South, Book 8
Sensuality: 3
Publisher: Samhain Publishing Ltd
Hero:  Deputy Chris Parker
Heroine: Ruthie Chason
Date of Publication: April 7, 2009
Started On: March 5, 2010
Finished On: March 7, 2010

This is the first book that I tried from Ms. Winfree and I would have to say she is pretty good at writing romantic suspense. I seem to have started from her last book of the Hearts of the South series. I loved the characters of this series, many of whom you encounter in this story as well.

The most striking thing about this novel is how Ms. Winfree juggled two equally beautiful blossoming romances in one novel. Unlike most authors if and when in a book there are two budding romances, one tends to take the center stage and the other romance would take the backstage and any issues if any between the couple would be resolved pretty quickly. However I was delighted that this wasn’t the case in this novel.

Facing it is the story of Chris, a man who has scars left over from being in domestically abusive relationship which had nearly cost him his life. Chris doesn’t handle women in his personal space well. However all of that changes when he offers to help his friend Tick Calvert, Ruthie’s brother and Chris’s boss in looking after Ruthie and her adorable three kids who need protection from Ruthie’s controlling husband.

Ruthie had tolerated being under Stephen’s thumb as long as she could. Finally it took its toll when she saw how his controlling attitude towards everything in their family lives had taken its toll on her three children, with whom any reader is bound to fall in love with.

Unknown to Ruthie and Stephen, Stephen has been under surveillance by the FBI for shady money laundering and this is where the delicious second romance comes in. Harrell Beecham and Jennifer are the agents that have been occupying the house across from the Chason’s and keeping an eye on the family’s activities for the past year, pretending to be a married couple. The pretending stuff has been playing havoc on both Harrell and Jennifer, so much that the simmering attraction between them breaks out onto the surface when Jennifer decides to take matters into her own hands and confront Harrell with it.

Harrell is leery of commitment from growing up with a mother who has 8 failed marriages under her belt. Reluctant in believing that any relationship that Harrell is part of could end up in any other way except in disaster, Harrell doesn’t want to give into the intense feelings that Jennifer tends to rouse in him. However in Jennifer, Harrell has met his match for stubbornness and ultimately Harrell has no choice but to give in to the need that has been hounding him ever since they became partners. However the road towards ultimate happiness between these two characters isn’t a smooth one either. I loved how Ms. Winfree gave time for each of her characters to work through their issues so that the ending was sweeter and better for the reader.

Meanwhile, Chris and Ruthie slowly find one another as well. Ruthie having witnessed how cruel a controlling man in her life could be, is still willing to give Chris with his gentle yet skittish nature the chance to get to know her and ultimately give into the hot attraction that flares between these two and catches both of them unawares. Chris has his own frightening issues to work out and Ruthie remains patient throughout all this, which made me really admire Ruthie as a heroine, which is a rare thing for me.

I liked the fact that Ms. Winfree didn’t try to garner the reader’s sympathy for Ruthie by going on and on about how Stephen’s abusive behavior had shattered Ruthie and so on, but gave Ruthie a fighting chance to become a beautiful and strong character that any reader would empathize and root for.

Great book, I might give a go at reading the other books in the series some other time.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | Kobo | Samhain

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Review: Broken by Shiloh Walker

Format: E-book
Read with: Amazon Kindle
Length: Novel
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Rafferty, Book 2
Sensuality: 4
Publisher: Penguin Group
Hero:  Quinn Rafferty
Heroine: Sarah McElyea
Date of Publication: March 2, 2010
Started On: March 4, 2010
Finished On: March 5, 2010

This is one book that I have been waiting like forever to get my hands on. Forever as in when the author announced that this book would be released on March 2010 sometime last year. And looking at the yummy cover which makes my heart flutter just a tad each time, who wouldn’t want to read this book?

I read Fragile the first book in the series, the story of Luke Rafferty, Quinn’s twin brother sometime back and enjoyed every minute of that book as well. Though I was thinking of taking a shot at re-reading Fragile because there was a glitch at Amazon in the Kindle version of Broken that was sold, I had to wait for an agonizing period of time until I could figure out how to strip the DRM from mobipocket books so that I could read the book on my Kindle. I have given up on the idea of re-reading Fragile for now cos a summary of Fragile is related at the beginning of this novel. Maybe sometime later I will give it a shot once again!

As I always say, Shiloh Walker is one author that you can never go wrong with. At first, this story seems like your average abused wife running away from the abusive husband story. But I was in for a pleasant surprise when there was a twist at the end unlike anything I could ever have imagined.

Quinn and Luke although twins were separated at birth. Quinn got to live with his alcoholic abusive mother who never made him forget the fact that Quinn wasn’t wanted in this world. Quinn never even realized that he had a twin until at last during one of her drunken sessions, Quinn’s mother overdosed and left him alone with no one to turn to. Though Quinn wanted nothing further from being placed in a state home, he was in for a surprise when Quinn’s birth father came to collect him and though Quinn refused to give an inch and trust another human being to be kind towards him, finally coming to realize that his father wouldn’t abuse him physically and emotionally like his mother had done gave him at least a semblance of normalcy when growing up.

Now Quinn is a bounty hunter, chasing after those who skip bail and bringing them to justice. And then comes Sara with her wide brown eyes and sexy curves that has Quinn drooling all over right from the start. Sara is woman whose on the run, moving from one place to the other always with an eye out for trouble and never taking the time to get acquainted with people whom she meets.

However from the moment she meets Quinn, nothing on earth could have stopped these two from propelling towards one another. Hot intense need has these two scorching up the sheets in no time. Though neither knows anything about the either, love, the emotion each of them had been afraid of creeps into their hearts and catches them unawares.

Nonetheless, duty comes calling when Sara finds that its time for her to move again. With a hastily scribbled note to Quinn, she takes off, only for Quinn to find her. This Quinn is a mass of seething anger and resentment at being lied to and made a fool of and two people who are as wary of trusting people as these two suddenly find themselves at a loss as to how to handle the situation.

Emotionally gripping and sexually charged, this novel bears all the classic signatures of what makes Shiloh Walker’s stories mouth watering. Although Guilty Needs would always remain my favorite novel and Colby my most favorite hero by Shiloh Walker, Quinn himself makes for a deliciously heart warming hero and Sara a heroine who complements and completes Quinn in every way. Great ending to a great story which has me grinning from ear to ear after ending the story.

Keep em’ coming Ms. Walker.

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | BooksOnBoard | Kobo

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