Glass Ceilings by A. M. Madden

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, but I can tell you that Glass Ceilings by A. M. Madden would have been worth purchasing if I hadn’t gotten it from free. In fact, as soon as I finished it, I went online to buy the book that preceded it, Stone Walls. The story begins with undercover FBI agent, Nick Farley, meeting an attractive, but shy and reserved brunette, Angela Cavallo, at the bar where he’s been working to take down an organized crime family in Chicago. He and Angela get together for a short time and fall deeply for each other. However, Angela fears that her past will threaten Nick’s life, so she breaks it off with him, hiding the fact that she is pregnant. Fast forward a couple of years, and the two reconnect when she is a person of interest in a murder that Nick and the FBI are investigating. I’m always a sucker for hidden baby storylines. This one is especially well done as Nick falls for his baby son. Soon he and Angela are rediscovering their love while Nick worries about protecting his new family. I was really caught up in their story and couldn’t put the Kindle down until I’d finished the story.

Lyric and Lingerie by Tracy Wolff and Katie Graykowski

Lyric and Lingerie is a very funny, lighthearted romance. It gets a big slapstick and silly at points which I usually don’t like, but it worked for this novel. We first meet the heroine, Lyric, as she’s rushing to catch a plane from Hawaii to Texas to see her father who is in the hospital. In her hurry she hasn’t been able to change out of the short, sexy dress she was wearing at a cocktail party. The dress rips and a hilarious airplane steward, Tre, wraps her in duct tape to preserve a modicum of decency. Really? There aren’t any sweaters or uniforms on the airplane? Just roll with it because it’s a novel. I would have enjoyed more of Tre - he was a hoot! And, of course, as happens only in romantic novels, she is seated next to Heath Montgomery, the extremely hunky quarterback whom she was best friends with in high school and had a deep crush on as a teenager.

For reasons unclear to the reader, Lyric chose to lose her virginity to him without making it clear to him that she was the one making love with him, not her identical twin, Harmony. Then she felt humiliated when he calls her by her twin’s name. Come on. How can she blame him when she didn’t make it clear? Then she and her twin broke off all contact with him from that time to the present. That part of the plot could have been a little bit more, er...fleshed out. Heath grew up to be a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, but now he’s suffered a career-ending injury. He has to figure out what he’s going to do for the rest of his life. While he’s thinking it over, why not hang out with his former best friend who has grown up to be a very hot lady? She’s also shy and insecure because, as often happens in the world of romance novels, she’s been dumped by her former fiance. She’s a brilliant astrophysicist. You wouldn’t think that a genius-level astrophysicist would have much in common with a former quarterback, but so it is. After all, have I mentioned that they’re both hot. Heath maneuvers Lyric into a pretend engagement so we can hit another romance-novel trope, but it’s very sweet how he’s trying to win her back. What I enjoyed most about the book was the witty dialogue between Lyric and Heath. Heath seems like a very nice man who deserved better than how Lyric and Harmony treated him back in high school. The book is funny and enjoyable.

I received a free review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Three Wise Men Box Set by Serenity Woods

This is a great series of novels and I highly recommend them. The Perfect Gift I’ve read several books by Serenity Woods in her Treats series and enjoyed those, but this is my favorite novel from her so far that I’ve read. Yes, it’s a billionaire guy falls for a poor, single mother plot and we’ve seen way too many of those, But it’s not in a 50 Shades of Gray sort of book. Instead, it’s a very sweet story about Brock who has had a hard time recovering from the too-early death of his beloved wife from cancer. Erin is a poor woman whose boyfriend took off as soon as she got pregnant. Now she has an adorable, little boy about to turn three years old. Brock and his two brothers have made a fortune having cooperated to invent medical devices for children with pulmonary diseases. Brock has met Erin online at the website that he and his brothers created for parents to talk to each other and ask questions. Erin’s son has asthma. Brock and Erin have become friends as he’s helped her understand her son’s condition. She has no idea that she’s talking to a billionaire. When they finally meet, Brock falls for her and goes after with a determined push to win her heart. She has her own doubts wondering if his money is what is really attracting her and if he will ever grow to doubt that she loves him for who he is rather than what he can provided for her and her son. Bkrock is almost too good to be true. He’s a sexy doctor with a heart of gold who just wants to help children and he also happens to be a billionaire. (And seriously, isn’t any guy a millionaire any more? They always seem to be billionaires. Inflation has hit the romance novel.) Brock’s character is what made this story stand out among so many billionaire love stories. These were two kind-hearted, good people. They are working to find each other and their HEA. Sure, there are some sexy scenes, but the story is really about how a poor woman can grow comfortable with loving a good man who just happens to be monster rich. I enjoyed their story. I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. An Ideal Present This is the second book in Serenity Woods’ Three Kings series about a group of three brothers who are super rich. In a switch from some of the more typical billionaire/poor woman romances, these brothers have earned their money because they developed medical devices to help sick children and decorated the devices with characters from a series of popular children’s books that one of them has written. Two of the brothers are doctors and one is the author. These are not your average alpha billionaires featured in so many romance novels since Fifty Shades of Grey. I appreciate that. I am tired of all the young, gorgeous, alpha billionaires who just want the woman for sex until they have some sort of realization that they actually love her. I’m afraid that too many billionaires today are more likely to look like Donald Trump than Jamie Doman. The hero of this story is Charlie King and he is just a wonderful guy. And he’s a different sort of hero. He has an Asberger’s-like personality which manifests itself in uncertainty in how people are reacting to him and what they want of him. He’s brilliant; he’s the brother who invented the medical devices that have made the brothers so rich. He had a relationship end badly because his old girlfriend wanted him to be more aggressive in bed and he just couldn’t fathom why any woman would want that sort of abuse. He’s a good guy who wants a relationship but doesn’t trust his own instincts. The heroine is Ophelia, but she’s no weak woman as Hamlet’s Ophelia was. She has just left her husband of seven years because she has had it with his manipulative personality. She has a daughter who suffers from cystic fibrosis. I think this must be an aspect of this series - to have the heroines have sick children. While Charlie is hunky in looks and rich, what attracts Ophelia is his kind personality and his brains. She understands what he goes through in his difficulties in relationships but doesn’t mind. She’s willing to tell him quite openly what she wants and what she thinks so there isn’t any of the contrived misunderstandings that some romances have. Instead, they just talk things out like mature adults. Imagine that in a romance novel. I really liked the mature relationship between these two. Charlie doesn’t feel he has to be an alpha guy when Ophelia is hurt by her former husband because, as he tells her, while he’d like to go medieval on the guy, he knows that she can fight her own battles. Although he does have a creative threat for the ex-husband. And another thing - too many times the ex-husband is an evil, threatening guy. Ophelia’s ex might not be the guy she wants now, but he loves her deeply and is a good and loving father to their sick daughter. I appreciated that. I also liked that the little girl is treated as more than a plot prop of a sick child. She is a person and more than a victim of her disease. Charlie says that he is working on a research possibility to use gene therapy for CF patients. That made me curious and it seems that that is indeed where the research is focusing today for CF. There is one little mistake in the book. At one point her phone is broken and a few pages later she gets a text on it. But that didn’t detract from the book. If I had a complaint, it would be that the books is too short. I think this was supposed to be a novella and then the author decided to write it as a novel. It seems to get wrapped up and present the happy ending quite quickly. But maybe the fact that I thought it ended too quickly is a function of my having enjoyed spending time with these characters. I’ll definitely be looking for third book that tells Matt King’s story. I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. A Secret Parcel I have enjoyed the earlier two books in this trilogy, Three Kings, about three New Zealand brothers, the Kings, who have become billionaires . They made their fortune designing medical devices to help children with lung diseases and one element of the devices is that they feature the characters from the brother, Matt, who is an artist and author of a best-selling children’s series of books. Georgia is a single mother who has applied for a job managing one of the offices of their foundation to handle charitable enterprises. Matt immediately is interested in George from the moment he spots her waiting for an interview. But he has bided his time before making his move to go from employer to boyfriend to everything else he wants from her. George is coping with a rebellious 11-year old son who is having a lot of trouble dealing with the tragic death of his father. She has moved to the northern part of New Zealand to get away from an overbearing mother who has been making both her and her son miserable. While she sends her son to visit her parents, she and Matt indulge in a romantic affair as they realize how much they have in common. He’s much more than a wealthy playboy, the role she’d slotted him into. In fact he is practically perfect except for his insecurities that he doesn’t measure up to his brothers because he’s not a doctor or inventor. But he’s a great artist and writer and she helps him see how much he has given children. In fact, I found him so much more appealing and there didn’t seem to be a real reason for him to love Georgia other than that he was attracted to her looks. I appreciate the difficulties she was having with her son, but once we find out the backstory to her marriage, her sending him off to stay with her parents by himself when he begs her not to seems either terribly insensitive or just a plot device to get the kid out of the way so she can romance it up with Matt. For fans of other Serenity Woods novels, it was nice to catch up with Mozart the rescue dog her book, A Festive Treat. You don’t have to have read the earlier books in the Three Kings series to enjoy this one, but I recommend them. I really have enjoyed the series as each brother meets and falls for a single mother whose children have problems in their health or dealing with personal problems as Georgia’s son does in this one. The three books take place simultaneously as we come to find out as the brothers talk on the phone about their romances. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Found by Rosalind James

Found is the third in James’ series about Maori multi-millionaire, Hemi Te Mana, and Hope. In the first two books, Hemi had met Hope and fallen for her right away helping her and her younger sister, Karen fight Karen’s health problems. Of course, Hope was attracted to Hemi and they seemed headed toward their own happily ever after. Then, in the second book, problems arose because Hemi couldn’t stop his possessive and domineering behavior as Hope worked to establish some lines of independence. Now we have the third book as Hope has fled New York and Hemi to go to New Zealand and stay with Hemi’s grandfather, Koro. This is one of those books in a series for which you really have to have read the first two books or you won’t understand the dynamic between these two. Hemi is a guy who has to dominate those around him and Hope enjoys that in the bedroom but nowhere else. She has to teach him to treat her as a full partner and discuss things with her and allow her to make her own decisions. This book is about his learning those lessons. Those are lessons worth learning in any relationship and I appreciated James’ efforts to show that what might work sexually doesn’t work in a true, mature relationship. I’m not sure that I buy that the only way to teach Hemi that lesson was for Hope to flee across the globe to stay with his grandfather, but at least that helped make the setting of the book New Zealand. That’s always a plus with one of Rosalind James’ books. I didn’t enjoy this book as much of her other New Zealand books. Maybe it’s a part of being the third book in a trilogy. I found myself not remembering details of what had happened in the first two books. Maybe if I had read them all together instead of as they came out, that would have helped. There is a secondary plot as Hemi must extricate himself from an earlier marriage to an extremely witchy woman who is going after his business and wealth. He (and the readers) know he will win in the end, but Hope (and the readers) have to wait for him to show what happens to someone who tries to get between him and what he wants and owns - both his business and Hope. And then he has to realize that he doesn’t own Hope, but has to respect her sense of self. There was a little too much discussion and internal monologue about their relationship that I just didn't buy that Hemi's character, as he was written in the earlier books, would have engaged in. I found myself more interested in the plot with the ex-wife and the scenes with her more interesting than the ones with Hope. And since, for most of the book, he's in New York while she's in New Zealand unless he's flying in for a couple days of lovemaking and then flying out again, the interactions between them are not as interesting. There's a limit to how much sex and phone sex are interesting to read. That's all fine for a while, but I found myself enjoying the other characters and the descriptions of New Zealand more than the interactions between the H and h. I loved Koro and Hope's sister, Karen, as well as Hemi's Maori relatives. They helped move the novel along. I still enjoyed the book and, if you’ve read the first two, you’ll definitely want to read how it all came out. If you haven’t read any of the series, then you’ll enjoy reading them all one after another without having to try to remember details from the earlier books. Trophy Wife by Noelle Adams https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1733302698 I really enjoyed this book, much more than I expected to from the description. The title character, Alison had married a much older, wealth man when she was 18. He is domineering and has no respect for her and doesn’t allow her to do much to explore being anything else but a decoration for his life. She finally realizes that she wants to be explore her own potential and be more than dependent arm candy. She leaves him and, due to a prenup, takes very little away from the marriage with her. She moves to a small town in North Carolina where she had inherited a small house from her parents. She is determined to make it on her own. And right away she meets the sexy guy who lives across the street, Rob West. He’s immediately attracted to the classy, beautiful woman who is his new neighbor. And he’s a great guy - friendly, sexy, and kind. He wants to help her. He owns the local hardware store so he also knows how to do all sorts of handy things. But she doesn’t want to accept his help because she wants to prove to herself that she can things on her own. These are two nice people who are clearly attracted to each other. They have to overcome their own hang-ups from previous bad marriages. They have to learn to trust each other and trust themselves. I enjoyed seeing the growth in both characters and their deepening love for each other. I’ve read other books with similar sorts of plots and I liked how this book avoided a lot of common tropes about a rich girl suddenly poor and having to make her way in a small town. Several times I thought that book was going to go down one of those rather tired plotlines, but it didn’t. The author stayed true to her characters and let them be the story rather than some artificial plotline. I appreciate the opportunity to receive a copy of this from Netgalley to review in exchange for an honest review.

Suddenly Dating

I’ve become a strong fan of Julia London’s novels. Both her contemporary and historical romances have become automatic buys for me, though I received this novel as an ARC from Netgalley. However, I would have paid for it otherwise it. What I liked about this novel, Suddenly Dating, was the character development. The heroine, Lola Dunne, faces a familiar quandary in romance novels. Her former boyfriend has abandoned her and she doesn’t want to work in the law firm where he now works. She is the oldest daughter from a family whose mother had done little to raise them. So Lola basically raised her four younger siblings and sacrificed going to college so they could go. She always puts herself last, but now finally she decides to put herself first and work on writing a novel. Her novel sounds like a real hoot; it’s a humorous novel about a woman murdering her ex-boyfriends. Lola ends up at Lake Haven in a lovely vacation home lent to her by a friend involved in an acrimonious divorce. Unfortunately, the man in the divorce has also lent the house to a friend, Harry Westbrook, a civil engineer working hard to getting his own business off the ground. They end up sharing the house and comedic and romantic scenes ensue. Harry is recovering from his own romance in which the woman he thought he loved dropped him because she didn’t appreciate his spending all his time on his business. He is just a very likable guy who is trying to be a decent guy although he’s irritated by Lola’s insufficiently neat habits. But he learns to overlook the messy kitchen when she makes him delicious dinners. They help each other with their careers and sexual frustrations and they start falling with each other. And the reader also will fall for them.

Poinciana Road

Poinciana Road by Margaret Way struck me as a mix of a traditional Gothic romance except it’s set in modern day Australia. Instead of a creepy setting on the English moors, we have a lovely estate on the Queensland. The estate that Mallory James has inherited sounds beautiful and made me want to get on the plane. The heroine, Mallory, has her own psychological problems having witnessed the death of her mother and having a nasty, cold father who abandoned her. But she was lucky enough to have been brought up by her Uncle Robert. After having lost her fiance when he got a local woman pregnant, she has left her home and gone on to a successful career as a child psychologist. I thought the book would follow the rather worn road about the heroine having lost her first love and ready now for a new romance. That romance is with local wealthy town leader, Blaine Forrester. But the book adds in a creepy mystery involving her former fiance who now works for the estate. His wife, the woman he cheated on with Mallory, is pitiful, but their daughter is charming. Except the child suffers from mysterious illnesses. Mallory wants to help the child but is blocked by her former fiance, Jason Cartwright, and his twin sister. The relationship between the twins is strange and an overall aura of creepiness pervades the novel. The reason I’m not giving the novel five stars is that the romance between Mallory and Blaine isn’t very well developed. At first she’s cold to him and then suddenly they’re a loving couple. Also, there’s a ghostly element that suddenly enters the book near the end. But it was still an intriguing and different sort of read. I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGallery, in exchange for a fair and honest review

My Christmas Fiance by Serenity Woods

My Christmas Fiance is part of a new series by Serenity Woods and it’s rather reminiscent of her very enjoyable Three Wise Men series in that we have a company founded by close friends/siblings who have managed to become billionaires while creating a product that also helps those with health problems. In this series, they have become one of the leading gaming companies in New Zealand while also catering to those with sight problems. I would have liked more about this aspect of their business since it was something totally new for me and I would have been interested in learning how video games can be made more adaptable for the blind. The reason that they want to help the blind is because one of the owners of the business, Teddi, who is the sister of the hero, Stratton, has been blind since she was a toddler. She had a genetic disease that Stratton fears he might be a carrier of so he has sworn off having children in case he passes along the blindness. That part of his character seemed a bit out of place to me because it was as if he were saying that his sister would have been better off not being born although she is portrayed as someone who has mostly adjusted to her disability and is living a fulfilled life despite being both blind and having had a fiance suddenly die on her. The heroine of the story, Meg, has moved to the city to take the job as PA to Stratton and they were immediately attracted to one another. The only problem is that she’s pretending to be married and has a 13-year old son. This might have been enough for the plot, but then layered on top of that is a pretend engagement which Stratton and Meg embark on in order to convince their former partners that they’re no longer interested. I’m a bit tired of the fake engagement plot device which has become a romance-novel cliche. Has it ever happened in real life? Especially with a billionaire? The plot complications with the former partners which formed the necessity for the fake engagement are rather smoothly resolved even though the reason for the pretense was the fear that there would be major problems with each ex. Despite that, the relationship between Stratton and Meg is an enjoyable read, especially in the first half of the book. She’s sassy and he really enjoys her independence and fun. Then, as they become involved together, she seems to become much needier and lacking in confidence. Stratton is revealed as being a caring and protective guy. The relationship between Stratton and Meg’s 13-year old son is nicely done. There are clearly going to be further novels in the series featuring Stratton’s sister as well as the other male partner. I look forward to reading those books and maybe finding out a bit more about how the blind play video games.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct by Sophia Henry

Unsportsmanlike Conduct is another book in Sophia Henry’s series revolving around members of a minor league hockey team in Detroit. I’ve read and enjoyed all the earlier books in the series, but I didn’t remember them that clearly so I think it would be fine to read without having read the earlier books. There are references to those characters and what happened earlier, but the reader can basically get what’s going on without having read or remembered what went on.

This is about two young people who, for different reasons, have built up walls to prevent themselves from having a meaningful relationship with someone. But a one-week Caribbean cruise seems to provide enough of an escape from real life for Kristen and Pasha to fall for each other.

It’s not much of a spoiler that the heroine, Kristen, has cystic fibrosis. Knowing that she might not have a normal life span has led her to devote herself to living her life to the fullest. She is also afraid to have a real relationship because she fears forcing someone she loves to have to suffer through her early death. Pasha has had a rotten life because his father was abusive and then both parents died suddenly in a car accident. He fears that he could become abusive like his father, but he’s actually, deep down, a very sweet and sensitive guy. And a very hot guy with an extremely active sex drive.

So Kristen and Pasha spend a wonderful week together without her knowing who he really is. He doesn’t tell her because of something rotten that he tried to do to her best friend. What are the chances that a guy who had been nasty to her best friend would end up on the same singles cruise and run into her (literally) on the first day? But we have to suspend disbelief or there wouldn’t be any novel.

This is a very rewarding book. I would not have thought that I would enjoy a book about a girl with CF, but Henry tackles that with sensitivity. Kristen refuses to be defined by her disease and Pasha also refuses to see her as a diseased woman. I enjoyed the book much more than I expected to, especially considering that there is no sports in what is, ostensibly, a sports romance. But there is a very nice romance where the complications come from the plot and not her illness.

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Into the Light by Kathryn Ascher

Into the Light is the third book in the author’s Rocky Creek series, but it doesn’t take place in Rocky Creek and you don’t need to have read the previous two books in order to follow this one. In fact, it wasn’t until about two-thirds of the way through that I realized that the hero of this book was the younger brother of the Nathan, the hero of “On the Line.” The story involves two close friends from Rocky Creek, Jackson and Kerri. From flashbacks, we can see what a lovely relationship they had had while growing up with Jackson there to comfort Kerri as she dealt with the sudden death of both her parents. I really liked that Jackson. Unfortunately, Jackson underwent a change once he went to college as he got involved in a band and enjoyed that lifestyle. When he realizes that he loves Kerri, he tells her older brother who had had to raise her after their parents’ death. The brother, Charlie, tells Jackson that he needs to change his behavior and should wait two years to contact Kerri again. So we have this artificial break with no contact between the two even though they had been very close up to that moment. Kerri is, naturally, hurt and mystified by Jackson’s behavior. So when Jackson finally shows up two years later to see her in Paris, she refuses to see him. There is a hint that she’s undergone some trauma that influenced her in refusing to talk to him. He doesn’t persist in trying to talk to her and just leaves in a funk. I didn’t buy it, but the author needs this separation between the two to set up the rest of the book. Now, four years later, Kerri has been hired to be the manager for a rock ‘n roll band. And, by coincidence, it turns out that the band is Jackson’s band. He’s changed his name a bit so she hadn’t realized it until she meets the band. You have to suspend a bit of disbelief that Kerri, who has been working in Europe in finance is now taking a job to travel with a band through small Southern cities and it just happens to be a band founded by Jack/Jackson. Kerri has a tough job because the lead singer, Sebastian, is so immature and has been bleeding the band’s expenses by wasting money and trashing hotel rooms. Kerri has to take a strong stand with him while trying to withstand her attraction to Jack. And Jackson, who has apparently spent the intervening four years from Paris, living the life of a rocker: alcohol and many women. I found it hard to warm up to Jackson. He seems so passive and immature. We read several times that he’s the most talented member of the band and he just allows Sebastian, who is not as talented, peacock around as if he’s the best person of the band ruining the music, causing acrimony among band members, and basically bankrupting the band. So we’re supposed to believe that this lovely guy we saw in the beginning of the book, totally sank into the slough of despond after he couldn’t see Kerri. Now she’s back and he immediately realizes he still loves her and wants her back and switches back to the sweet, loving guy he used to be. The book now is a second-chance romance with plot complications as Kerri tries to help the band make enough money to fulfill their contract while Sebastian keeps trying to sabotage her efforts. And there is a bit of a mystery at the end to figure out who, besides Sebastian wants the band to fail. My biggest disappointment is that no beat up Sebastian at any time in the book since he was so obnoxious and really deserved a beat-down. I would have enjoyed spending a little more time gloating at his downfall. I liked the set-up of the problems the band faces as it tries to make it. I liked that this wasn’t some big-time successful band, but one on the rise trying to find its way. I got a bit frustrated with Jackson for not shutting Sebastian down and asserting himself in the band. He spends too much time yearning for Kerri while she yearns for him so that the mid-part of the book dragged a bit. Once they decided they loved each other and then had to work together to help the band overcome all its challenges. I also liked the secondary characters - the other band members, one member’s girlfriend and then Jackson’s brothers who show up to help out at the end. So I ended up feeling very positive about the book. I’ve enjoyed reading all three books in this series and I appreciate the opportunity to read a review copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest interview.

Making a Comeback by Kristina Mathews

I always like sports romances, but this book is a bit different from your usual hunky athlete finding love. In Making a Comeback, both the hero and heroine are damaged and have to learn to deal with their frailties while they find love. Nathan Cooper is a former star relief pitcher whose career went into the dumpster when he was caught taking a banned substance. He’s faced with trying to make a comeback into the sport that he loves when he’s almost paralyzed by shame and fear of what will happen to him again once he gets back to the pitcher’s mound. He just so happens to be the next-door neighbor of the beautiful supermodel on whom he has had a crush since her first Sports Illustrated cover a decade ago.

Mild SPOILERS ahead:

Annabelle Jones is a long ways away from those days, but she is trying to make a comeback. She’s left her husband and taken her adorable twin daughters to make a new start. Unfortunately, she’s involved in a car accident that mars her beauty. Her good-looking neighbor steps in to help take care of her and her little girls while she’s recovering.

The twin daughters are adorable and the scenes between Nathan the girls are very sweet.

So both the H and h have problems they need to confront. Nathan is so ashamed of his behavior that he is afraid to let Annabelle know who he really is. Mathews does an admirable job of drawing these characters. They’re wounded, but also strong enough to fight their way through to finding love. They’re not clichés and are more fully rounded characters than we usually find in romance novels. Despite his past transgressions, Nathan comes off as a very good person who just made a regrettable mistake. Annabelle is much stronger than you would imagine a woman known as one of the most beautiful in the world would be once she is permanently scarred. That is one reason why I wouldn’t give the book five stars; I just found her reaction too accepting of what has happened to her.

Don’t be put off by the thought of two wounded people. I found that seeing them cope with what life has given them was more rewarding than a sports romance where the guy is just a perfect physical specimen earning the big bucks and whose only weakness is that he hasn’t yet fallen for the heroine. Nathan was more of a three-dimensional character and I really enjoyed cheering him on for his recovery.

I was given an advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.