Review: Yours to Keep

Yours to Keep
Shannon Stacey
Contemporary Romance
Kowalski Family/Book 3
Carina Press/June 3, 2011

From the author's website ~

Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he’s recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiancé. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother’s upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn’t like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma’s offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there’s no chance he’ll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he’s not planning to call home.

Emma’s not interested in a real relationship either; not with a man whose idea of home is wherever he drops his duffel bag. No matter how amazing his “pretend” kisses are…

The Kowalskis are back! This time around it's another branch of the family that's in the spotlight. It turns out there is a Maine branch of the Kowalski family and they have some potential leading characters in their family tree. But first up is Sean. He heads to his cousin's place in New Hampshire to crash for a while and decide what to do with his life after the army. Instead of something long term, he decides to help out a stranger, a very sexy, with a little crazy thrown in, stranger.

Emma Shaw sure knows how to dig a hole. She own her own landscape company but the hole she dug is based on lies. It started with a boyfriend then progressed to a fiance'. Now Emma's grandma is coming for a visit and Emma has to produce this man that's she madly in love with. Enter Sean Kowalski. Why Sean? Well, it turns out Emma is friends with Lisa who is the wife of Sean's cousin Mike and that's how she heard about Sean. She needed a name and it was Sean's that popped into her head. Then Emma has the guts to go to Sean, explain the situation and ask for his help. LOL Loved it! He thinks she's "batshit crazy" and she knows it but I couldn't stop myself from cheering her on. What does she have to lose, right? Yes, she should have just come clean with her grandma but then, she wouldn't have met the sexy Sean Kowalski.

Of course after thinking it over, and thinking about how attractive he finds Emma, Sean agrees to be the pretend fiancé and work for Emma. This puts them together nearly 24/7 since he'll also be living in her house. And with Emma's grandmother Cat visiting, Emma and Sean find their pretending sliding into reality. I loved how they got to know each other, sometimes in an almost reluctant way with both thinking that it's only temporary until Cat goes back to Florida. In the beginning, Emma gives Sean a file about her likes, dislikes etc. Sean doesn't have a file but ends up using post-its in what turns out to be very romantic, not that it started out that way. They are this really cute couple that you want to see together because you just know they're meant to be.

There's a sweet secondary romance between Cat and her gentleman friend. I'm so glad Stacey included this romance. It showed how Cat had her own life to lead and didn't want to intrude in Emma's life but only wanted her granddaughter to be happy.

The Kowalskis are Sean's family and they are not at all shy about letting him know what they think of his current situation. I love this family! They are a humorous, boisterous, close family that have more than enough love to go around. While they are close with Sean, they didn't overtake the romance but they might have helped speed it along. Which was good since both Emma and Sean could be quite stubborn.

If you're looking for a contemporary series with sensational romances, laugh out loud humor and characters you come to love then this is the one to read. The whole series is a wonderful addition to the contemporary romance genre. I do hope we see more of Sean's siblings in future books. There is something about those Kowalskis that you can't help loving.

Rating: A

Books in this series ~

Exclusively Yours
Undeniably Yours
Yours to Keep