Book Binge

Casee's review of Sweet Temptation (Sweet Series, Book 4) by Maya Banks.

He was a by-the-book cop who broke the rules in the bedroom...

Micah Hudson has painful secrets he's run hard from. He has new friends, a new life, but he's about to be confronted with the one person who reminds him of all he's tried to forget--Angelina, the sister of his oldest friend David. She knows everything about his past, including how he and David fell in love with the same woman, and how they decided the best way to prevent her from tearing them apart was to share her between them. But then a terrible accident left Micah alone...

She was willing to do anything to make him see the woman she'd become...

Micah lost the two people who meant the most in the world to him. Angelina lost her only family. And she kept her deepest secret close to her heart. Her love for Micah. No longer willing to wait, she decides it's time to go after him and bring him to his knees. She knows his secrets, his desires, his kinks and fetishes, and she'll use whatever it takes to reel him in. Behind the easygoing, loves women exterior lies a man with dark needs and passions. She can give him what he wants. But will he decide she's what he needs?

I am usually a fan of Maya Banks’ work. This one didn’t do it for me, folks. Subliminally I must have known that because this has been in my TBR pile for months. That really speaks for itself since I have really enjoyed this series.

In Sweet Temptation, Angelina goes to Texas to get her man. Not necessarily her man, just the man that she’s always wanted. The man that was married to a woman that he shared with Angelina’s brother. They had been killed several years earlier and Micah comes to visit their graves once a year. Then he goes to Heidi’s House of Pain to get whipped. I have to admit, whipping isn’t my thing. I suppose I just don’t see the appeal.

Micah first sees Angelina at The House. He doesn’t know who she is, but he knows he wants her. When he finds out who is behind the mask, he’s furious. Angelina was his best friend’s sister, a kid that he had no right to lust after. Yet another thing that bothered me. I could understand why Micah had to remind himself that she was David’s little sister. However, that got old considering the things that Micah subsequently did with Angelina.

Which brings me to the final part that I didn’t like. I’m all for a good ménage. What I’m not into reading is a man that brings home three of his friends and orders her to do anything they way. In a ménage, all three parties are engaged. In this situation, Micah just watches happily and Angelina does whatever the men want. That was weird to me.

What I did like about this book was getting to know more about Connor. I imagine his book will be next. I really liked how he stood up for Angelina in the same way that he stands up for Faith. Love Damon and Serena. I still don’t like Julie, but I liked her more in this book than I have in any other (even her own).

3 out of 5.



This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

The series:

Rowena's review of Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery.

Hero: Ethan Hendrix
Heroine: Liz Sutton

Back in high school, Liz Sutton was the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Then she’d stolen the heart of the most popular boy in town, and their secret romance helped her through the worst of times. Until Ethan Hendrix betrayed her and everything they’d ever meant to each other. Devastated and pregnant, Liz left Fool’s Gold, California – forever, she thought…

Now Liz must return to town and face the man who doesn’t know of their son’s existence. And this time she won’t have the option of making a quick getaway. Ethan and Liz can’t deny their passionate attraction, even after all these years. But will their desire be enough to spark a second chance at love?

After finishing Chasing Perfect, I was pretty excited to read Ethan and Liz's story. Liz wasn't in Chasing Perfect but I was curious about her anyway. The whole secret baby plot is not a favorite of mine and I usually try to stay away from those kinds of story lines but I couldn't stay away from reading this book.

First off, Mallery did a fantastic job of keeping me right smack dab in the middle of this story. She did a great job of making sure that I was interested right up until the very end. There wasn't a moment while reading this book that I wished I was reading something else. I was right there in the thick of all of the drama between Ethan and Liz and at times it was hard to get through but I never once wanted to put the book down.

Ethan and Liz have a past together. Ethan comes from the Hendrixes and they have a reputation in their little town of Fools Gold. Liz is from the other side of the tracks. Her mother was an abusive mess and Liz got a lot of shit because of her. She got a lot of shit at home and she got a lot of shit at school. She was just a young girl who needed someone on her side and grew up learning that nobody had your back but you.

Not even the boy that claimed to love you more than anything.

Over the course of the book, my heart hurt for Liz. She couldn't run away from who her Mother was. She couldn't run away from the memories that being back in Fools Gold brought and she couldn't run away from the boy who shattered her heart into a million pieces over and over again.

Reading this book was personal for me not because I know what it's like to be treated the way that Liz was treated back in high school but because of the whole baby daddy issues thing. Reading about Liz's struggles to do the right thing had me tearing up a whole lot and made my heart hurt because I know exactly how she feels. The guilt, the wonder and everything is a lot to take on and Liz did all of those things with nobody in her corner. I had a caring family that supported me through everything but Liz didn't. She didn't have anyone but three young kids who needed her more than she needed someone else.

Was it wrong of Liz to keep Tyler away from Ethan all those years? Of course but did I understand and sympathize with Liz? Yep. Did I understand why Ethan was pissed to high heaven over having been robbed of time with his child? Of course but did that stop me from getting good and pissed with him for putting Liz through everything that he did when they came back to Fools Gold? You betcha.

I guess without Ethan acting a fool with the whole court thing, we wouldn't have had a story but still, he pissed me off with all of that.

I kept going back to before Liz left town. The way that Ethan treated her in public made me so bleeping mad at him that I couldn't help but sympathize with Liz for her actions in the whole bloody mess. Is it wrong of me? Yeah but I didn't care. My heroes are supposed to be the knight in shining armor and they're supposed to stand up for their women but Ethan didn't. Yeah, he was a kid but he was already in college....he wasn't that young.

The constant fighting and bickering that went on between Ethan and Liz got a little tiring in some parts of the book because they kept having sex and throwing everything out of whack. And then Ethan was such a dumb ass throughout the book, he made me want to clock him over the head a few dozen times.

But all's well that ends well and I really enjoyed the emotional roller coaster Mallery took us on with this one. This book fueled my desire to read Pia and Raoul's story and man it was good to see that not everyone in Fools Gold were always picture perfect. Pia may have been a bitch but she grew up to be a stand up woman who is great. I'm very much looking forward to reading her book and see what she decides to do where Crystal's stuff is concerned.

This book was good and I definitely recommend this to lovers of the series. It's a great addition and it'll make you thirsty for more. =)

Grade: 4.25 out of 5

Reading Order:


This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Tracy's review of Kidnapping Kara by Alyssa Brooks

Casee's revivew of Skin Tight (Skin Series, Book 2) by Ava Gray.

Uncovering the truth is her specialty

As a forensic accountant, Mia Sauter could usually tell when people had something to hide. She made her living exposing secrets while concealing her own. Then, in Vegas, she met a clever, ruthless man who called himself Addison Foster. One year later, she’s still haunted by his betrayal.

He’s a natural born liar

The truth of him had long ago been buried. Foster was only one name of many; he’d been so many men, he’d lost count. Reinvented as Thomas Strong and hell-bent on revenge, his mission is about to be compromised by the one woman capable of exposing him…

Reunited, they confront the explosive chemistry still crackling between them. But their chance meeting will have consequences, for a ruthless madman has his own deadly agenda. The question is—if they survive the fallout, will he choose love over vengeance?

I’ve been pretty surprised when I see reviews for this book. Compared to the first one, I enjoyed this one a whole lot more. It seems like I’m in the minority.

Addison Foster aka Thomas Strong—real name Soren is a pretty special guy. He wouldn’t consider himself special though. More like cursed. He has a supernatural ability to make himself look like anyone he wants. If you look at him and want to see Ryan Reynolds…voila! So when he sees Mia Sauter at the company he’s working for, he doesn’t worry that she’ll recognize him. He’s wrong of course. Mia seems to be the only person in the world that can see the real Soren.

I didn’t fully grasp the significance of this until there was more detail into Soren’s past. He was married to a woman that thought he was someone else. A woman that called him by another man’s name. It makes sense that he’s so drawn to Mia. Mia is the only person that see’s him as he really is. That doesn’t mean that he wants to get involved in any lasting relationship. Sex is enough for Soren. He has a plan, one that he’s had in place for ten years. Destroy the people responsible for the accident that left his daughter in a coma.

When Mia takes the job on to find missing funds, she immediately senses something is off. She just doesn’t know how off. The company she contracted with actually has an underground lair complete with glass prisons, labs, and lab rats. Gillie is one such lab rat. She was taken from her family when she was very young. She has the unique gift to heal people though it does take its toll. All Gillie wants to do is see the sun. That part was heartbreaking.

Dr. Rowan was completely bleeping crazy.

So a couple of things that bothered me; Soren was very careful about making sure that his DNA wasn’t given. He switched samples, etc. But he donates blood. That didn’t wash for me, especially considering how careful Soren was. The donating of blood was what brought him back to the attention of Rowan. When Mia is kidnapped by Rowan’s henchmen, he goes crazy. Of course, he only realizes then that he loves her.

The end of the book was really heartbreaking but uplifting at the same time. I love this author so much that I might try her Ann Aguirre books. Which is big because I hate 1st person (as you all know).

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

The series:

I've never understood why, but education is one of the first places that budgets get cut. Likewise, I've never understood why teachers don't make more money. Nothing is more important than the education of our children. Maybe it sounds trite, but they really are our future. Do we want poorly education children to become poorly educated adults? Especially when it falls to those poorly educated adults to make the important decisions about our world? Of course not. But no one seems to recognize that.

Our school district - along with most others in California and across the country - is facing major budget cuts. Our already overcrowded classrooms are being pushed to the limits. Teachers are being given pink-slips, sport programs are being cut, and the art programs are pretty much being eliminated.

As if that isn't enough, our public libraries are taking major hits, too. My local library doesn't have the best selection of novels for either myself (the romance section is pretty sad) or my teenage daughter (and the YA section is even worse), but they do have some amazing programs for both kids and adults. They also have some great ebook and audiobook lending options, which make their lack of print selection more bearable.

It depresses me that many of our nation's libraries may be closing. I know Wendy and Mollie are both facing major budget cuts in their libraries.

But not all hope is lost. There are things you can do to help keep your library open. Carol Fitzgerald recently wrote a wonderful article for the Huffington Post detailing some things you can do to support your local library and hopefully keep it open.The best quote from that article, as pointed out to me by Mollie?

Someone told me that when economic times are tough there are two places you do not close --- libraries and parks. People need to nurture their minds and their bodies.

I couldn't agree with that more. I think we often take our libraries for granted. Now is the time to step up and show some Library Love!

Tell us, how is the library important to you? 


Many thanks to Authors on the Web for the link!


Image credit CCPL

I'm a little late with this, so you'll have to hurry up and enter. Who wants to win a trip to Tuscany or LA (if you won the trip to LA you could come to a So Cal Blogger Meet Up!)? Who doesn't, right? Well, now's your chance. To celebrate the release of The Starlet by Mary McNamara, Regal Literary is offering a contest open to everyone!

            When Mercy Talbot, strung out on any number of controlled substances, jumps from the top of King Triton into a famous Roman fountain, paparazzi capture it all.  Only 23, Mercy has been a star since childhood, and the world has watched her many breakdowns and failed rehab stints. Now co-star and lover Lloyd Watson is dead in an “accident” —shutting down production on their film and sending Mercy back to the drugs.

            Juliette Greyson rescues the sodden young actress from the fountain. PR head for  a posh L.A. hotel, Juliette is well versed in the care and feeding of high-strung celebrities.  Having survived her own dissolute phase,  she is sympathetic to Mercy’s plight, and whisks her away to Cerreta, the two-hundred acre family farm near Siena that she and her cousin, Gabe, inherited.

            But when Juliette’s ex-lover, fabulous (and determinedly not aging) movie star Michael O’Connor joins the cast, shooting resumes, and Juliette’s vain attempt to keep Hollywood away crumbles like fresh biscotti.  The entire production moves from Rome to Siena, and entangled relationships and heightened emotions overrun idyllic Cerreta’s bucolic charms.  Then a police detective arrives from Rome to say they are reopening the investigation into Lloyd Watson’s death…

**Please Note** This is not a Book Binge sponsored contest.

Holly's review of Last Night's Scandal by Loretta Chase

After surviving the perils of Egypt, Peregrine Dalmay, Earl of Lisle is back in London, facing the most dire threat of all: his irrational family....and Miss Olivia Wingate-Carsington. A descendent of notorious—but very aristocratic—swindlers, the delectable redhead has the ability to completely unhinge him, and a long history of dragging him into her scandalous schemes.


Olivia may be Society's darling, but she's aware a respectable future looms menacingly. And so when Lisle is forced to go on a family mission, she sees this as the perfect chance for one last adventure—even if it is with the one man in the world she can't wrap around her finger: but really, she only wants to help…


Which is why Lisle and Olivia find themselves in a gloomy Scottish castle inhabited by spiteful ghosts and craven murderers...and a shocking secret: the greatest peril of all may be burning within their own stubborn hearts.

Although I love a good hero as much as - sometimes more - the next girl, it's really the heroines who make or break stories for me. The most delicious hero in the world doesn't mean crap if he's with a TSTL heroine. Not only do I hate the heroine, but I start to question the hero..what's wrong with him that he's with this awful girl? What does he see in her? Why doesn't he take her over his knee, give her the spanking she so rightly deserves, then find a woman who actually deserves him?

Olivia Winsgate-Carsington is a complete hoyden. She incites duels, makes bets, calls men out and breaks engagements like they're hard-boiled eggs. She gets away with it, however, because her family is very, very rich, very, very titled and because, despite her antics - or perhaps in spite of them - society loves her. But she knows it's only a matter of time before she's forced to settle down and become respectable.

She isn't ready just yet, however. So when she hears that Lisle needs to visit a haunted castle in Scotland, she sees it as the perfect opportunity for another adventure.

Lilse has spent the last 10 years in Egypt, deciphering hieroglyphics and uncovering artifacts. He loves it there and detests cold, wet England. But his father has him over a barrel - either he goes to even colder, wetter Scotland and overseas the restoration of a crumbling, haunted castle there, or his father will cut him off without a farthing. 

He's more than prepared to tell his father to go to the devil, but then Olivia steps in and manipulates everyone, forcing his hand. He's always loved Olivia like a sister, but it's been 5 years since he's seen her, and those 5 years were extremely kind to her. Now his feelings are less than brotherly, and she's tempting him like crazy. But he wants peace in his life, and he knows Olivia will never give him that.

Trapped in a dank castle, filled with ghosts and problems, the two have to work together to get the castle restored. But their biggest battle is overcoming their attraction and keeping their hearts safe from one another.

This book started out well enough. The letters exchanged between Olivia and Lilse were hilarious. Olivia's capitals and underlines had me laughing out loud. Here's an example from the first letter. This is how the book opens:

My Lord,

You must burn this Letter after reading it. Should it fall into the Wrong Hands, I shall be once again Exiled to the COUNTRY, to one of my Carsington step-uncles' Domiciles, where I shall most certainly be placed in ISOLATION. I don't mind Ruralizing in Small Doses, but to be LOCKED IN and forbidden any Social Intercourse of any Kind (for fear of my forming Unsuitable Acquaintances or Leading Innocents Astray) is intolerable, and will surely lead me to Desperate Acts.

While hilarious, I should have read the warning signs and quit while I was ahead. But I trusted Chase to deliver an amazing, strong heroine and continued on. I'm pretty sorry for it now.

Olivia is the type who acts first, thinks later. Or, more accurately: acts first, thinks never. She constantly rushes off and does things without thinking the about consequences or how it will effect other people. For example, going to Scotland. She decides that's what she wants to do, and hang what Lisle wants. So she finds a way to manipulate him into going. When he - very rightly - gets angry with her over it, she pitches a fit, storms out and heads to Scotland anyway. All in the dead of night. All while being furious with him, for being so mean to her.

She manipulated Him. She forced him to do something he didn't want to do, for no other reason than because she wanted it, and then had the gall to be angry with him for getting angry at her?

This is how it continues throughout the book. She does stupid and ridiculous things, without thinking about what the consequences will be, then gets angry at him for it. She literally stomps her feet and says, "I HATE YOU" then storms off every time he calls her on her behavior.

"I hate you!" She cried. "You're despicable!" She kicked him in the shins.

So mature, don't you think? Especially since she's what? 22?

There is no give in her. She never, not once, admits she was wrong. About anything.

**MILD SPOILER** Late in the book she decides to catch the "ghosts" who have been plaguing the castle and sits outside watching for them. They arrive and she chases them halfway back to the village. In the dead of night, in the middle of a rain storm, in Scotland in Nov. Then has to trudge home. But the time she arrives she's half frozen to death. **END SPOILER**

And she blames Lisle.

"Why did you make me so angry? You know what happens when I lose my temper."

She sneaks off in the middle of the night, to confront men who are breaking and entering and acting like ghosts, got drenched in a downpour and almost died. But it's his fault because he made her angry. Glad we cleared that up.

You see, no give. There was no growth on her part, no willingness to admit she was wrong or that she should temper her behavior. I can appreciate what Chase was trying to do, but it lost something in the execution. Mostly because Olivia didn't mature, or grow, or even once admit she was wrong.

I liked Lisle, He was the strong, steady sort. He took his responsibilities serious, but he also had a strong sense of adventure. In the end, however, I just wondered what he saw in Olivia, and why he was so attracted to her. Physical beauty means nothing to me if the person's personality/actions are ugly. Though Olivia wasn't a malicious girl, she was very selfish. I had a hard time thinking of Lisle in a good light after seeing some of the stunts Olivia pulled, and how willing he was to let her get away with them.

As always Chase's writing is fabulous. She really excels at dialogue and creating beautiful imagery with her words. I kept reading right up until the end, hoping Olivia would be redeemed, or show some type of growth. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Even Chase's beautiful writing isn't enough for me to recommend this book.

2 out of 5

The Series:


This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Casee's review of Louisiana Heat by Dominique Adair.

Having met the man of her dreams online, Kay travels to Bayou Blue, Louisiana, to explore the possibility of furthering their relationship. The moment David sees her, he decides to impersonate his cousin Remy, the man Kay is searching for. Having been obsessed with her for the past six months, David seizes the opportunity to get to know her better and to explore their seemingly mutual desires.

This wasn’t my kind of BDSM book. David sees Kay at a bar where she’s gone to meet his cousin Remy. Kay had been talking to Remy online and has never seen a picture of him. David recognizes Kay as the woman he met at an art gallery he’s commissioned with. He’s sure that she won’t recognize him, so he decides to approach her.

Not only does he approach her. He fucks her all while Kay thinks he’s Remy (David’s cousin). I’m all for the D/s, but the whole Master/Slave thing just isn’t for me. It was even less for me in this situation where everything was a lie. David knew she would find out, but he wanted to put it off for as long as possible.

As for Kay, she is confused by the feelings she has when she gets spanked. She doesn’t understand how something that should be painful is pleasurable at the same time. She lets David (who she still thinks is Remy) take her to a sex shop that specializes in bondage. He introduces her to a whole new world she never even knew existed.

Eventually the cat is let out of the bag. It is all resolved in the end.

2.5 out of 5.

This book is available from Ellora's Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.

Rowena's review of The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells.

"Sometimes I still wake up shivering in the early hours of the morning, drowning in dreams of being out there in the ocean that summer, of looking up at the moon and feeling as invisible and free as a fish. But I'm jumping ahead, and to tell the story right I have to go back to the very beginning. To a place called Indigo Beach. To a boy with pale skin that glowed against the dark waves. To the start of something neither of us could have predicted, and which would mark us forever, making everything that came after and before seem like it belonged to another life.

My name is Mia Gordon: I was sixteen years old, and I remember everything...."

After getting dumped by her boyfriend, Mia is looking forward to spending a relaxing summer in the Hamptons with her glamorous cousins. But when she arrives she find her cousins distant, moody, and caught up with a fast crowd. Mia finds herself lonelier than ever, until she meets her next-door-neighbor, Simon Ross. And from the very first time he encourages her to go skinny dipping, she's caught in a current impossible to resist.

Timeless in feel, The Summer of Skinny-Dipping is a poignant, literary coming-of-age romance that will live on long after summer has ended.

This is going to be a really hard review for me to write because this book was a very hard book to put down. When I first read the blurb and then saw the cover, I thought the story would be a light and fluffy read but it was everything but light and fluffy. This book was a lot deeper than I was expecting.

This book follows Mia Gordon on vacation to the Hamptons over the summer to spend time with her family. Mia and her cousin Corrine used to be tight and Mia cannot wait to see her again but when Mia gets to the Wind Song, their summer home, she finds that the cousin that greets her is not the cousin she remembered at all. Over the course of the book, Mia will also find out that her family is chock full of secrets as well.

Mia is an average teenaged girl who has body issues, mom issues (she's not the perfect daughter that her Mom wants, etc..) and she's got boy issues in the form of a broken heart. She wants to lose herself this summer at the beach and try to get over the loss of her boyfriend, Jake. Mia fancied herself in love with Jake but over the course of the summer, we see Mia re-evaluate the feelings she had for Jake.

Getting to know Mia was interesting because I saw myself at that age in Mia. I was boy crazy and I had low self esteem. I was with a boy that I thought I was in love with and it took me an entire summer to get over him and even though I functioned well enough, when we went back to school, I was back to being "in love with" the same boy. I think the reason for this is because I didn't have a Simon like Mia did. If only my parents took me to the South Hamptons for the summer. Maybe then I would have found me a Simon.

I adored Simon.

Simon is summering in Southampton right next door to Mia's Aunt's house. The two of them form a friendship that changes Mia's life...for the better. Mia's summer that started out with her snobby cousins excluding her and making her feel like an idiot for not being as skinny as them or as rich as them turns into the best summer of her life.

Simon shows Mia so many different things and he changes her life for the better. Knowing Simon made her feel alive. Knowing Simon showed her that what she felt for Jake was nowhere near what she felt for Simon.

If you believe in soul mates than Simon was Mia's soulmate. He loved her with a passion that made your heart sigh and really, you couldn't help but love him.

Watching the relationship between Simon and Mia blossom, made me sigh because when you're in love at that age (and I have no doubt that these two were in love, despite their young age), it's so much...more. It's so much more passionate and strong.

Reading this review, you would think that this book was a romance novel but it's not. It's a coming of age novel that took place over the course of a summer. Howells does a fantastic job of sinking her writing teeth into you and not letting go. She wrote a story that made me smile, made me laugh and broke my heart all at the same time. She wrote a story that I will not ever forget, I'm thinking.

This book was good but if you're a romance reader than I'm not sure this is the book for you. It's hard, it's real but it was damned good too.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Sourcebooks Fire. You can buy it here.

Holly's review of Almost Perfect (Fool's Gold, Book 2) by Susan Mallery

Could a secret romance really lead to a perfect love?

Back in high school, Liz Sutton was the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Then she’d stolen the heart of the most popular boy in town, and their secret romance helped her through the worst of times. Until Ethan Hendrix betrayed her and everything they’d ever meant to each other. Devastated and pregnant, Liz left Fool’s Gold, California – forever, she thought…

Now Liz must return to town and face the man who doesn’t know of their son’s existence. And this time she won’t have the option of making a quick getaway. Ethan and Liz can’t deny their passionate attraction, even after all these years. But will their desire be enough to spark a second chance at love? 

I really enjoyed the first book in Mallory's Fool's Gold trilogy and was anxious to start this one. Especially since Ethan really intrigued me in the last book.

The secret baby plot is a tricky one. When done well, it's one of my favorite plot devices. But it just isn't done well very often. The important thing is for the reason behind the child being kept a secret to be a legit one. One the reader can sympathize with and understand. I think Mallory gave us that here.

In high school Liz Sutton was the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Her abusive alcoholic mother was the town prostitute, and that carried over to her daughter. It didn't matter that Liz was totally different than her mother, the girls - and boys - she went to high school with assumed she was a slut, too.

Until Ethan Hendrix, that is. He saw the real Liz, the one no one else would look for. He said he loved her, and Liz believed him. Right up until the day she overheard him telling his friends she was nothing to him, nothing more than a good lay. Heartbroken, she fled town. Only to return three weeks later when she found out she was pregnant. She went to tell Ethan, but he was in bed with another girl. Pride and anger pushing her, she fled town again.

She stayed gone for 6 years. Then she had an attack of conscience and decided she needed to tell Ethan the truth. But due to a misunderstanding she thought Ethan didn't want anything to do with her or her son. It's been 5 years since and now she's a successful mystery author. Liz has gladly put Fool's Gold, and Ethan Hendrix, behind her. But when an email comes through her fan site from a girl claiming to be Liz's 14 year old niece saying she and her younger sister are alone, Liz knows she has to back to Fool's Gold and assess the situation. She just hopes she can get in and get out quick, before she runs into Ethan.

Ethan is happy to see Liz back in town. Though he knows he was a jerk to her back in high school, he's always wished her well and looks forward to seeing her again. But when he finds out that Liz had his son, and kept it to herself for 11 years, he completely flips out. He's always tried to do what was right, to be the kind of man his father expected him to be, and Liz robbed him of 11 years with his son. He doesn't believe that she tried to tell him, even though she says she has proof that he rejected them both. He wants the time back she stole from him, and he's determined to get it..anyway he has to.

Liz is what makes this book. She's strong, mature, levelheaded and willing to do anything for her son and her nieces. She wasn't a martyr or a woman filled with self-pity. She was very refreshing.When she receives the email from her niece, she immediately makes plans to go check out the situation. I really liked how she handled that. She just..handled it. There was no waffling or worrying about herself - her only thought was for the two young girls who'd been on their own.

Similarly, she was great about the situation with Ethan. Even though she had good reason to believe Ethan wanted nothing to do with his son, she wants them to have a relationship. She did her best to make herself and Tyler available so that Ethan could get to know him. She was also fair and careful to nurture Tyler's feelings about Ethan.

Ethan was justifiably angry over Liz keeping Tyler from him. He missed out on 11 years with his child. 11 years is a long time, and he knows he'll never get that time back. While I understood why he was angry - and was even angry on his behalf quite a bit - I think he spent too much of the book dwelling on the negative. He undermined Liz with Tyler, turned half the town against her, and refused to accept any of the responsibility for his part in their past. In his mind, nothing he'd done was as bad as Liz not telling him about his son. While I agree that Liz was wrong, Ethan played a large part in what kept Liz from telling him initially. Plus, Liz truly believed he knew about Tyler and wanted nothing to do with either of them. When presented with the proof of her claims, he softens a bit, but not enough.

That isn't to say Liz was perfect and totally blameless. She was young - only 18 - when she found out she was pregnant, so fear, anger and pride kept her from trying to tell Ethan about Tyler for 6 years. I can't fault her for the 5 years after that, but the first 6 years are fully on her. She should have set aside her hurt feelings and done what was right. I also think she was just as guilty as Ethan when it came to clinging to her anger over the past. Yes, Ethan rejected her in a cruel way, then added insult to injury by being in bed with another woman not 3 weeks after she took off. But she spent a large part of the book harping on Ethan about how he needed to let go of his anger or he'd never be able to move on, yet didn't practice what she preached.

In the end I was able to forgive Liz easier than Ethan, however, because she was able to admit she was wrong. She took full responsibility for not trying harder to tell him about Tyler and she realized she was holding on to her anger and did her best to let it go. Not that Ethan made it easy.

Still, I believed in them and wanted to see them make it work. Both characters were very real. Mallery really did an excellent job of bringing them to life. They both made mistakes, but at their core they both wanted what was best for their child.

While parts of it frustrated me, overall I found it to be a lovely romance. Mallery really showcased the characters and gave us a well developed story. From the anger and frustration Liz and Ethan feel, down to the fear of abandonment her nieces suffer with, each character was real and emotionally compelling.The town of Fool's Gold became real to me once again, and I wasn't quite ready to leave it when the story was done.

4.25 out of 5

The series:



This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place

Casee: It's beautiful outside where I live. Yesterday I sat by the pool reading, while my kids played in the water. I really can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I'm reading One Season of Sunshine by Julia London. It's a contemporary. Kind of a spin off of Summer of Two Wishes. So far I'm really enjoying it. It does seem like more of a women's fiction novel than romance, but it's still really good.

Holly: It's not so beautiful outside where I live. Summer has finally arrived full force and she brought with her 105+ degree temps and a lot of wind. The good news is, that means lots of extra reading time. It's just too hot to anything else. Last night I read Almost Perfect by Susan Mallory. It's the second book in her Fool's Gold trilogy and I really liked it.

Today I'm going to start Burning Up by Susan Andersen. I'm also going to read Demon Blood by Meljean Brook. I've had it for months but I've been putting it off because I know the wait until the next book is going to be practically unbearable. But I can't put it of anymore. Must.Find.Out.What.Happens.

Rowena: We've been blessed with beautiful beach weather where I live at and I couldn't be happier. I live near the coast so on top of the bright sunshiny weather, we also have amazing coastal breezes that keeps things from getting too hot. It's the perfect reading weather.

Over the week, I finished reading Almost Perfect by Susan Mallery and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a good addition to the series. I also finished reading My Soul to Keep by Rachel Vincent and I was going to start Beastly by Alex Finn but my niece wants to read it so I stopped reading that book and started, It Started with a Dare by Lindsay Faith Rech and My Reckless Surrender by Anna Campbell. So far, so good on both books.