Susan's Review of Bayside Heat by Melissa Foster

Bayside is bring the HEAT in this sexy, fun and
oh-so romantic friends-to-lovers romance!

BAYSIDE HEAT

Bayside Summers #3

Melissa Foster

Releasing Aug 8, 2018

World Literary Press

Drake Savage has always done the right thing, especially where beautiful and fiercely determined Serena Mallery is concerned—even when it means keeping his feelings for her to himself. Serena has always wanted more than what their small town of Wellfleet, Massachusetts has to offer, and Drake’s roots are so deeply entrenched in the Cape, it’s all he can do to watch her pack up her life and move away.

Serena has always had big dreams. As a teenager she dreamed of becoming an interior designer and marrying smart, musically inclined, sexy-as-sin Drake Savage. Now she’s finally landed a killer job with a top interior design firm, but though she has spent the last four years working side by side with Drake, he’s never made a move. Four years is long enough for her to accept reality, and her new job in Boston is the perfect way to move on.

A weak moment leads to sizzling, sensual kisses, opening a door through which they’ve both been aching to walk. But Serena’s determined not to give up her shot at the career she’s always dreamed of, and Drake has loved her for too many years to stand in her way. With true love at their fingertips and a world of unstoppable passion igniting between them, can the two star-crossed lovers find their way to their happily ever after?

Don't miss the other Bayside Summers titles

Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming contemporary romance and new adult romance with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Melissa’s emotional journeys are lovingly erotic and always family oriented–perfect beach reads for contemporary romance lovers who enjoy reading about wealthy heroes and smart, sassy heroines.

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Thirty-one year old Serena Mallery has watched her friends find successful, fulfilling careers and fall in love in the past few years. Serena has been attracted to Drake Savage since she was a teenager. Drake has decided that he and Serena are friends-no more, no less. Serena realizes that she needs to move off Cape to find romantic and professional happiness and accepts a position with an interior design firm in Boston.

Serena’s decision to move to Boston is the catalyst in this passionate friends to lover’s romance. Drake is blindsided by Serena’s news. He thought she would continue to work at the resort, help him with his music stores and take interior design jobs from time to time. Serena’s moving to Boston has rocked Drake’s comfortable world. At first, I thought that Drake was a broody, self- centered guy. The honest, thoughtful back and forth banter between Drake, Rick and Dean changed my mind. I realized that Drake was a complex, caring man. Drake had to acknowledge the depth of his feelings for Serena. I never doubted that Drake loved Serena with all of his heart as he did not want Serena to choose between him and her dreams.

In Bayside Heat, Melissa Foster tackles several important relationship issues—honestly, trust and believing in yourself. Serena and Drake have a great working relationship; they understand each other, Drake relies on Serena’s organizational skills and trusts her trusts her design sense. The couple faces a few challenges when their long distance relationship heats up. Commuting, work obligations and personal promises test the couple.

I loved reconnecting with the Bayside couples and Violet. Violet’s unfiltered remarks are hysterical and spot on. Her character adds a lot of humor and honesty to the storyline. The friendships between Drake and Serena and their friends is so important in this series. The Bayside characters support, laugh and listen to each other. I adored the scene when Drake cruised to Boston with Matt, Mira, Hagen, Dean Emery, Rick and Desiree and picked Serena up at the Seaport dock.

Bayside Heat is a heartfelt, sensuous, romantic novel. Melissa Foster creates a friends to lover’s story with a twist. Both characters grow during the story. Drake acknowledges his feelings for Serena and trusts Serena with his heart. Serena learns to stand up for herself professionally and figures out her path to balance her professional and romantic desires.

Bayside Heat is one of my favorite novels of 2018. And the epilogue? Perfect – it’s full of love, happiness and romance!

Reviewed by Susan Gorman

ARC provided by the author

Susan's Review of Tie the Knot in Good Hope--Good Hope 7-- by Cindy Kirk

Love always finds a way…

Lindsay Lohmeier’s life is no bed of roses. After struggling at a job she loved, but ultimately lost, she opened her own florist shop in Good Hope. Her budding business won’t be her only new addition. Lindsay is pregnant. While she’s happy to open her heart to her baby, opening up to the father is another story.
The last thing Owen Vaughn expected to hear was that he was going to be a father—again. He’s been down this road before and it ended in pain so devastating he thought he’d never heal. Still, he won’t abandon his child or Lindsay, the woman who--before they broke up--had been a bright spot during his darkest days.
Owen proposes, but Lindsay wants her child to grow up in a family built on love, not obligation. As they spend time together preparing for the baby, old feelings resurface. Owen encourages Lindsay to find her own way, hoping she’ll see this pregnancy has given them something special…a second chance at love.

Tie the Knot in Good Hope is Lindsay Lohmeier and Owen Vaughn’s story. I have been waiting to read this story; as their friendship was a side story in both Forever in Good Hope and Say I Do in Good Hope. I adored this second chance romance with a twist and the chance to revisit with some of my favorite Good Hope friends.

Lindsay is at a cross roads personally and professionally. Her decision not to be second best at work or in a relationship gives her the courage to fulfill her dreams of owning her own floral business and having a child. Although she loves Owen, Lindsay knows that he is grieving the loss of his young daughter and can’t see his way through his grief to love her. I admired that Lindsay stood up for herself in both situations and became a stronger person with each chapter of the novel.

Owen’s story was revealed bit by bit in the past few novels. I liked the plot choices the author chose as Owen’s story was deeply emotional and heartbreaking. Cindy Kirk chose to have this character grieve until he came to accept Mindy’s death. Owen accepted help from Fin, Lindsay and other neighbors as he sorted through his emotions and feelings.

Cindy Kirk weaves two important themes in Tie the Knot. She carefully balances Lindsay’s desire to raise her child and own her own business with Owen’s grief over the death of his daughter. Lindsay wants a marriage where she is loved and desired, not one of obligation. Owen doesn’t believe in love anymore. His first wife left him and his daughter Mindy died of a brain tumor. Owen withdrew from his friends and buried himself in his work. The baby changed the course of Owen’s life; he needed to decide if he wanted to choose his future or stay stuck in the past.

Tie The Knot in Good Hope is my favorite book in the series. I loved that Ruby Rakes and her friends Gladys and Katherine scheme to get Owen and Lindsay back together. The three senior citizens take their job very seriously and add lots of laughter to the novel. The author weaves in two marriages and plenty of small town events which allow fans of the series to catch up on their favorite characters. The poignant friends to lovers romance and importance of family and friendship make Tie the Knot in Good Hope one of my favorite novels of 2018.

Tie the Knot in Good Hope has all the feels—it’s an emotional, loving journey through heartbreak to new beginnings told with humor, honesty and compassion.

Reviewed by Susan Gorman

ARC provided by the Author

Cindy Kirk is a lifelong Nebraska resident who started writing after taking a class at a local community college. But her interest in the written word started years before when she was in her teens. At sixteen she wrote in her diary, “I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t be a writer.”

Not until her daughter was heading off to college did Cindy return to her first love---writing. Unlike some writers, Cindy wasn’t interested in newspaper or magazine articles, short stories or poetry. When she decided to start writing, she jumped feet first into book length fiction. She loves reading and writing romance because she believes in the power of love and in happily ever after. An incurable romantic, Cindy loves seeing her characters grow and learn from their mistakes and, in the process, achieve a happy ending.

Someone once told Cindy that to know a writer you just have to read what she's written; she hopes that once you read her books you can tell she is an eternal optimist, one who truly believes in the power of love. She invites you to kick off your shoes, pick up one of her books and get to know her. Cindy and her high school sweetheart husband live on an acreage with two dogs and two cats—Oreo--a friendly feline who loves to sit next to the computer and supervise her writing and Leo, a white devil with a raccoon-like tail.

Susan's Review of An Affair with a Spare by Shana Galen

He's turned seduction into an art form...
Rafe Beaumont, fifth son of an earl, uses his irresistible charm with the ladies to glean dangerous war secrets. Now he's putting those skills to the ultimate test: capturing an elusive assassin by seducing his daughter. The problem? She's entirely immune to Rafe's flattery.

Never before has Collette Fortier met a man as attractive as Rafe. But her father's life is at stake, and succumbing to Rafe would be disastrous. But when Rafe turns the tables on her, offering support and friendship instead of a fleeting affair, Collette finds herself tempted in ways she never could have imagined..

Rafe Beaumont is a war hero and a member of an elite group of military men who fought in the Peninsular War. The team was comprised of second and third sons of the nobility. These men were viewed as expendable and were given the most dangerous assignments; except for Rafe.

He used his good looks and sexual charms to get information from the wives and daughters of Napoleon’s generals and advisers. He’d snuck out a few bedroom windows during the war but, he’d never had a challenging assignment. Rafe is thrilled when his former commander, Lt. Colonel Draven, approaches him with a mission. His assignment? To charm information from Collette Fortier; the daughter of one of Napoleon’s assassins.

Shana Galen’s descriptive writing style adds so much to the romance between Rafe and Collette. Ms. Galen deftly provides insight into both characters during the suspense filled novel. I loved it when Rafe was exasperated by Collette. I could imagine his frustration as he’d been introduced to Collette several times. Instead of pursuing him; she is so flustered by Rafe that she starts talking to him about the mating habits of hedgehogs! Loved the honest, poignant dialogue between the couple. Through their conversations, Rafe learns about Collette’s childhood and he begins to understand her fierce loyalty to her father.

One of my favorite scenes is when Rafe and Collette hide in an empty stable to avoid a confrontation with the neighborhood watchman. Rafe admits that he cares for Collette and she admits that she may love him. Rafe is faced with a life changing decision. Could he help Collette and her father escape and commit treason? Or did he love her enough to let her go?

Shana Galen weaves a complex story in Affair With A Spare. The perfectly executed spy vs spy plot, the characters and the smart dialogue drew me into the story. Rafe and Collette’s dangerous journey kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed that both Rafe and Collette were strong complex characters—both were resilient than they appeared to be. The secondary characters of Thomas Gaines and Lady Haddington were superbly written. Shana Galen is known for her perfectly executed conclusions and Affair With A Spare does not disappoint. The ending is full of emotion, suspense and has a few surprises!

Reviewed by Susan Gorman

ARC provided by publisher