Before We Kiss
By Susan Mallery
Publisher: Harlequin
HQN
Release Date: May 27,
2014
Since a history of bad luck with women had him taking a
hiatus from romantic entanglements, Sam Ridge planned on spending the evening
of Valentine’s Day alone. His plan changed when he saw Dellina Hopkins smile.
They spent one incredible night together, but the sight that greeted Sam when
he opened the door of a spare bedroom in error sent him fleeing into the night.
A room full of wedding gowns and a dry-erase board list headed “Ten Ways to Get
Him to Propose” terrified him so much that he spent the next five months
avoiding Dellina. Unfortunately, she’s the only party planner in Fool’s Gold,
and Sam needs her help to organize a three-day party his PR firm Score is
hosting for clients. Awkward doesn’t even begin to describe Sam’s situation.
Dellina Hopkins is not a one-night stand kind of girl, but
former football star Sam Ridge was hot enough to cause her to make an
exception. The time they share is the stuff of fantasy, but Dellina is less
impressed by Sam’s hasty departure. She knows she shouldn’t enjoy his
discomfort so much when, after months of silence, he has to seek her out to
request she plan the Score party, but she does. She anticipates how foolish he’s going
to feel when he learns that the wedding gowns belong in Paper Moon Wedding
Gowns, Isabel Beebee’s shop, and the list to Dellina's sister Fayrene. But Sam’s
discomfiture is all she can enjoy. It doesn’t matter how strong their chemistry
is, Dellina doesn’t get involved with her clients.
Mallery gives her readers another emotionally satisfying
story in this tale of two people who are more interested in right now than in
forever until their hearts persuade them differently. This is a novel filled
with humor (Sam’s irrepressible mother and her inability to accept boundaries
is a hoot) plus ample sizzle and the warmth and interconnections that are characteristic
of Fool’s Gold. Thumbs up to another winner from Mallery.
Suddenly Last Summer
By Sarah Morgan
Publisher: Harlequin
HQN
Release Date: June
24, 2014
Sean O’Neil loves his
family, but he prefers to limit his contact with them. His life is centered not
at Snow Crystal Resort, the family business in Vermont, but in his orthopedic
surgery practice in Boston. That changes when Walter O’Neil, grandfather to
Sean and his brothers Jackson and Tyler, suffers a heart attack. Sean plans to
spend a short time in Vermont, oversee his grandfather’s first days at home
after his release from the hospital, and then return to Boston and life as
usual, but when his help is needed to see that a new restaurant at the resorts
opens on schedule, he extends his stay. Family loyalty is a factor, but if he
is honest with himself, he knows that it is the resort’s passionate French chef
Élise Philippe who has him building a deck and spending too much time
remembering the moments he shared with her during an earlier visit.
Élise is a passionate woman. She is passionate about her job
and about the O’Neils who, from family
patriarch Walter to teenage Jess, have become her family, but she is
doing all she can to contain her passion for Sean O’Neil. Deeply scarred by her
past, Élise ferociously protects her heart from romantic entanglements. Let her
staff drool over the sexy, shirtless Sean O’Neil as he builds that deck. Élise will
focus her energies on ensuring that last summer’s passionate encounter remains
an unforgettable but not-to-be-repeated experience. But when the two are
constantly in one another’s company, an emotional intimacy develops that
intensifies the physical attraction that is stronger than all their
determination to avoid long-term commitment.
If you are a fan of
contemporary romance and have not read Sarah Morgan, do yourself a favor and
rush to your favorite bookseller to find this book. Nobody is better at
creating characters so real they seem like friends engaged in relationships
that, while high on sizzle, still develop in a credible fashion. Sleigh Bells in the Snow was one of my
favorite contemporaries of 2013, and Suddenly
Last Summer is just as good. I’ve already read Tyler’s book, Maybe This Christmas (an October 29
release) and loved it. I give this series my highest recommendation.
Take My Breath Away
By Christie Ridgway
Publisher: Harlequin
HQN
Release Date: May 27
Poppy Walker is one stubborn woman. Her siblings may be
convinced that a family curse prevents them from doing anything with a dozen
run-down cabins that the Walkers own, but Poppy is determined that her vision
and sweat equity will be enough to transform the cabins into a
revenue-producing enterprise that will help support her and her five-year-old
son Mason. The two weeks that her son is on a visit to Disneyland seems the
perfect opportunity to make a dent in the required renovations. Poppy hopes to
have the cabins ready for summer rental, but when a clearly wealthy flatlander
shows up wanting to rent a cabin and offering quintuple the going rate, Poppy
can’t say no, even when all her instincts tell her that this stranger with the
electric-blue eyes is dangerous.
Ever since the tragedy that devastated his family four years
ago, former teen idol and current movie executive Ryan Hamilton has found the month
of March torturous. All he wants is a sanctuary where he can hide from the
world—particularly the celebrity-stalking press--and prevent himself from doing
something crazily destructive for the next few weeks. The secluded cabin in the
mountains of Southern California seems perfect for his purpose. Now he just
needs to control his interest in Poppy whose natural beauty and total ignorance
of who he is make her difficult to ignore.
All these books are part of a series, a description that applies to most of the books I read. I’m a series addict. Do you share my addiction, or would you like to see fewer series and more single books?
Note: Since I am late posting these reviews, I am moving the final post at Just Janga to tomorrow, Friday, August 1.
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