Review: The Last Goodbye

The Last Goodbye
Sarah Mayberry
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin Super/February 8, 2011

From Goodreads ~

Ally Bishop knows the settling kind when she sees one. And Tyler Adamson is definitely one. Ordinarily this never-in-one-place-long girl would stay far, far away. Maybe it's the way he looks in jeans, or the way he looks at her, but suddenly Ally is breaking her own rules with dizzying speed. All that Australian temptation right next door…well, there's only so much resistance one girl can have.

As she dives into a fling with Tyler, Ally assures herself she can maintain perspective. After all, he's only here long enough to care for his ailing father. That gives them a time limit, right? With each passing day, however, she falls for Tyler more. And soon she has the strongest urge to unpack her suitcase and stay a while.

This has been in the TBR pile for a few months and while I love Sarah Mayberry, I didn't pick it up until I requested One Good Reason from NetGalley and realized the hero was the brother of the hero in The Last Goodbye. So of course I had to read this before I read that. Makes sense, no?

This story had a lot of emotional baggage. It was a boatload full for both the hero and heroine. Different, but similar. He's from an abusive home, she's never really had a permanent home. Both are still working through it in their own way. For Ally, it means not putting down roots but staying mobile by house sitting. A few months here, a few months there. Her job as a advice columnist allows her to work from anywhere, so she does. She meets Tyler when she searchers him out to let him know that his father, her neighbor, is ill. Ally is a very positive person - upbeat and kind. She's one of those people that's easy to like. The only thing that really bugged me about her was her insistence in her "gypsy" heritage. Not that her family were gypsies but that her mom traveled/roamed a lot. Never staying in one place. Ally uses that as an excuse to continuing moving. It's an excuse to not form ties with anyone, keeping her chances of pain and disappointment at a minimum. She's a smart woman, so why doesn't she realize she's not her mother?

Tyler is a successful designer of custom furniture. He has a thriving business. The one thing he doesn't have is a family. He was never really close to his older brother who lives in Canada and hasn't talked to his father in ten years. All that changes when Ally shows up and brings Tyler's past to the present. He doesn't make a very good first impression on Ally, telling her that he doesn't want anything to do with his father. Wow. But she leaves an impression on him. Tyler is a hero that doesn't like the spotlight and has is conflicted when it comes to helping his father. Mayberry does a good job showing how Tyler wants to just walk away from his father, who would try the patience of a saint, but Tyler is a decent person and can't walk away. Tyler puts up with a lot while taking care of his father and it helps that Ally's there to ease the way.

Ally and Tyler's relationship gets off to a rocky start. There is something there but Mayberry doesn't make it easy for them. Both have issues to work through before they can have a healthy relationship. Tyler's issues made more sense than Ally's. Her's didn't seem so hard to overcome and I felt like she used them more as an excuse than any great fear of commitment. I did like how she helped Tyler break down that wall of silence. He really didn't like talking about his feelings and his past.

The Last Goodbye isn't one of my favorites from Mayberry. It's a little too dark with not enough lighter moments to balance it out. The romance wasn't the main focus, instead, Tyler's messed up relationship and unresolved issues with his father took center stage.

Rating: B-

Review: Revelations

Reflections
Janice Kay Johnson
Contemporary Romance
Count on a Cop/Book 23
Harlequin/Super #1228/September 1, 2004

From Amazon ~

Ann Caldwell doesn't know who she is. She doesn't really know what she is, either.

Growing up, she wanted just one thing—her father's approval. But she never got it. When she was little she was too much girl and later she wasn't enough woman. She even became a cop to please him. Now he's gone and she realizes how empty her life has become. She'd like to fall in love but doesn't know the first thing about getting a man. Even worse, the one man she wants is her partner, Juan Diaz — who has never looked at her twice.

As Ann struggles to find her way, she discovers a bigger task — figuring out who has begun killing cops. She and Diaz must solve the case before anyone else dies. Is on the job the only place they're destined to be together?

This is a follow up story to Johnson's Mommy Said Goodbye. You can read my review here. The heroine of Revelations, Ann Caldwell, is a cop just like her father. In MSG, Ann followed in her father's footsteps when it came to hounding Craig Lofgren, hero of MSG. Now Ann has realized her father wasn't the cop she thought he was. She's moved on but still trying to come to terms with the father she thought she knew.

Juan Diaz is an older, more experienced cop who finds himself partnered with Ann Caldwell, a newly minted detective. He's intrigued by her. She tries to dress to hide the fact that she's a woman but Diaz can't help but notice that his partner is a woman. Diaz has already lost one marriage to his job and he doesn't see his kids as much as he would like. We hear how divorce rate is high among cops so I'm glad Diaz had that baggage of a divorce, made it far more realistic. His kids were well done - having enough page time to establish his relationship with them but not too much since he didn't see them that much.

Ann Caldwell is a grown woman yet she hasn't had many of the experiences that most women have had. She doesn't date much and her work has her primarily around men all day. What she really needed was some confidence in her femininity. I do think that Diaz helped bring that out in Ann. You could tell she wanted to change and become who she wanted to be and not who she thought her father had wanted her to be. She just needed a catalyst to make that change.

The suspense plot I found somewhat boring at times. Maybe if it had been more graphic or I had felt Ann or Diaz were in greater danger, then the tension would have been higher. As it was, the villain was fairly easy to identify and I much preferred time spent with Ann and Diaz getting to know each other. I liked seeing Ann come out of her shell, shedding her nervousness and gaining confidence in her power as a woman.

I liked Ann and Diaz, seeing them take their professional relationship and turn it into a close friendship and eventually a romantic couple. The mystery/crime solving was simply okay. I do like Johnson writing style, she does well in the short format. Fortunately, she has a long back list and continues to publish with Harlequin.

Rating: B

Review: The Best Laid Plans

The Best Laid Plans
Sarah Mayberry
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin Super/November 2010

From the back cover ~

On the edge of something big!

Boundaries. The key to how corporate lawyer Alexandra Knight manages her busy life. However, lately all her precisely drawn lines are getting blurred. Blame it on her out-of-control biological clock that is ignoring her single status... and on Ethan Stone.

Because her sexy, no-strings colleague has posed an outrageous solution to her dilemma - he'll be her baby daddy. This from the guy who avoids all commitment? Okay, so they're attracted to each other. Really, really attracted. But crossing the line from coworker to co-parent with Ethan could ruin Alex for all other men. After all, when you've had the best...

I have a confession to make -hero/heroines as lawyers - not my favorite. In fact, I'm less likely to pick up a book if the hero or heroine is a lawyer. The one exception is a Julie James book. I like her lawyers. :) Anyone else, unless it's a romantic suspense, I can do without them. In Sarah Mayberry's latest, an author I adore, both the hero and heroine are lawyers. I wasn't crazy about that but it's a Mayberry so an auto-read for me.

Alexandra Knight is a smart career woman who, up until 18 months ago, was in a long term, committed relationship. She's now single and feeling that baby clock ticking away. Her ex made it clear that he didn't want kids but Alex thought he would eventually change his mind. He didn't, they split and now she's running out of options. After doing some research, she decides to use a sperm bank. She finds out that you can basically order the sperm on line. Isn't the internet grand? Alex is intelligent and practical. She wants to fall in love, get married and have a kid or two but she doesn't feel that time is on her side. I liked that Alex was realistic in her plans to have a child. She didn't completely give up on her dream of a traditional family, she simply modified her plans to fit her reality.

Ethan Stone is a partner in the same law firm as Alex. He's an older hero, 42, which I thought was a nice change. I suppose Mayberry could have gone with a younger guy but I'm glad she went a few years older than Alex's 38. Ethan has a reputation as a player, one that he doesn't rightfully earn but doesn't do anything to correct either. He does date but nothing serious. He not looking for serious. He's been there, done that and has no desire to try again. He did have hopes of having children but those hopes were put aside when his wife left him. When he finds out about Alex's situation, he sees the possibility of having a child of his own.

Alex and Ethan are not only partners in the same law firm, they are friendly outside of work. They have the occasional lunch together and play racquetball every week. They're not close friends, Ethan has a reputation and Alex doesn't want any involvement with a player. I'd say they're comfortable in each others company, talking of work and life in general. No sharing of secrets or any intimate details. They're both aware of the attractiveness of the other but neither chooses to act on that attraction, preferring to remain just friends.

Mayberry could have gone either way with this. She could have had Ethan try to wine and dine Alex into having a child with him. Ethan could have made Alex think he wants her when all he really wants is a child. But she didn't go that route and I'm so glad she didn't. Ethan, it turns out is an honest man and approached Alex with his plan that they become co-parents. It would be set up like a divorce without the marriage. They would arrange custody and financial obligations in the same way divorcing parents would, except without the drama. It made sense but it also came across as very cold, certainly not romantic. And that was the main problem I had with the story, not enough romance. I think I would have been happy had they gone ahead and became co-parents. It would have been interesting to see them remain as friends throughout the pregnancy and after the baby was born. Instead I kept waiting for the romance to happen.

The first approximate two-thirds of the book is about the process Alex, then both Alex and Ethan, go through of having a child through non-traditional means. We see Alex and Ethan get to the point where they are ready to go to the lab, undergo the process necessary to have a baby through in vitro. It was all very clinical with them trying to keep it more like a business transaction without all the emotional baggage that goes with creating a child with someone you love. Since this is a category romance, it's short, just under 250 pages. If it had been longer I'd have been okay with the amount of page time devoted to the process but it took time away from the romance.

But this is a romance so Alex and Ethan become romantically involved. This turns their relationship upside down and pulls some great emotional moments from both characters. I absolutely loved the last third of the book. Alex is still hoping for a man to love and who loves her. Ethan doesn't think he can give her that. He's afraid of taking the chance at anything permanent. It's a real roller coaster of a romance with neither Alex or Ethan sure of the others feelings.

So, not my favorite Mayberry but it still had well developed characters and an emotional ending. If only there had been more romance. . .

Rating: B-

Reveiw: Her Best Friend

Her Best Friend
Sarah Mayberry
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin Super/April 2010
Purchased

From the back cover ~

Will it be friendship or romance?

What's a girl to do when she's secretly in love with a friend and he's married to someone else? She gets over it. That's what Amy Parker has done. Rather than lose her best bud Quinn Whitfield with an ill-timed, crazy confession of affection, she's taken the smart route. She's eased away from him. Just enough to get past the unrequited bits. And you know, it's working.

Until the day Quinn announces he's now single. That's right. He's single. And he wants to hang out. With her. Get reconnected the way they used to be.

Oh, this is so not good for Amy's equilibrium. Daily doses of Quinn remind her of everything she loves about him. But if he's free.and she's free.well, maybe the time has come for one of those crazy confessions.

One of my favorite romance tropes is friends to lovers, especially when they've know each other all their lives. Often one will stay on in the home town and the other will leave for greener pastures. This time around it's the heroine who stayed in the small town and the hero who left. He not only left, he left with the friend of the heroine. Quinn married Lisa who was a good friend of both Amy and Quinn. It was the three of them in their teens, the Three Musketeers. Amy had a crush on Quinn for years but he always treated her as his best friend. Then Lisa came along when they were all fourteen and changed the dynamics.

Quinn and Lisa have married and move to the city to pursue their legal careers. Amy has stayed in the hometown, working in her parents hardware store, saving up for her dream. Years have gone by and at the age of 30, Amy is finally realizing her dream of owning the town theater her great grandfather built. She runs into some legal difficulties and calls Lisa but instead gets Quinn. He not only offers to help but comes home for a visit.

The feelings Amy had for Quinn are still there. She's fighting the attraction, then Quinn drops the bomb - he's separated and getting a divorce. Amy has so many conflicting feelings. She sorry for Quinn, but now he's single! What the heck is she suppose to do? On top of that, she doesn't think she's Quinn's type. She thinks that Quinn only sees her as a friend, not as an attractive and potential girlfriend. She's just his Ames, his buddy, his pal. Drives her crazy! LOL I did like the tension this brought to the story. She's attracted to him, he's attracted to her, but neither thinks the other thinks of them as anything more than friends. So they both hide their feelings until... the kiss.

Quinn is really messed up. This is not where he thought he would end up when he said "I do" six years ago. You really can't help but feel sorry for him. He's a genuinely nice guy who's now trying to put his life back together. He decides to take some time off work and return to his home town. Seeing Amy again gives him a kick in the pants and makes him realize she's far more than just his best friend from childhood. The problem is that he doesn't know what to do. He wants her but his life is really screwed up. I think going home was the best thing Quinn could have done at this point. Going back to that small town where he grew up really gave him the perspective he need to see where he wanted his life to go. Mayberry does a good job showing how Quinn comes to terms with the choices he's made and the choices he now has to make. The way she had Quinn seeing Amy in a different light - she's still his best friend but he begins to see her as something/someone more. Quinn's biggest fear is losing Amy's friendship. Which is understandable since he's recently lost his wife and marriage.

It was fun seeing Quinn getting hot and bothered over his best friend. One minute he's thinking of her as Ames, his childhood friend, the next minute he sees her as this hot, sexy woman that he's dying to get naked. It's like Quinn had an angel and a devil on his shoulders, trying to be good but desperately wanting to be so bad!

Amy for her part had a crush on Quinn for years. It nearly broke her heart when he and Lisa married. You could feel Amy's sadness when she thought back to when she, Quinn and Lisa were teens and she realized that Quinn was attracted to Lisa. Then when Quinn was about to marry Lisa, Amy felt she had to be there for her friends even though it was tearing her apart. Now it's years later, Quinn is free and they've come full-circle. It's that fear of failure that holds Quinn back and fear of rejection that holds Amy back. As they wind there way back to each other we get to see snippets of their growing up years and how close they once were. I'm not a fan of big, long flashbacks but these worked to show Amy and Quinn's strong history.

Once again Ms. Mayberry has written another fulfilling love story. There were outside forces causing more friction and tension between Amy and Quinn but the focus never ventured far from their story. There were a few parts that moved a bit slow for me. I got a little tired of Amy's self doubt when it came to Quinn's attraction to her but it still proved to be an enjoyable story.

Rating: B+

Review: What the Librarian Did

What the Librarian Did
Karina Bliss
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin Super/March 2010
Purchased

From the back cover ~

Is Rachel Robinson the only one on campus who doesn't know who Devin Freedman is? No big deal except that the bad-boy rock star gets a kick out of Rachel's refusal to worship at his feet. And that seems to have provoked his undivided attention. Devin, the guy who gave new meaning to the phrase 'sex, drugs and rock 'n roll'. Devin, the guy who somehow becomes wedged between her and the past she's kept hidden for years.

It's up to this librarian to find out first-hand just how 'bad' he really is. Because her secret - and her growing feelings for a man who claims he's bent on redemption - depend on his turning out to be as good as he seems. Which is really, really good.

It looks like I'll be hunting down another author's back list. If What the Librarian Did is any indication, then Karina Bliss is an author who can give the reader a well developed plot and characters in the shorter format. I've come to treasure that ability since I started reading Harlequins with any frequency about a year ago.

The librarian and the rock star, a case of opposites attract. Our librarian, Rachel, is a single, 34 year old college librarian with a couple of ex-boyfriends but not much luck in the love department. Our rock star, Devin, comes to college by way of a recent stint in rehab. His life hasn't been his own for years but he's trying to change that. They meet in the library, of course. :) Rachel, to Devin's amazement, doesn't know who he is. This is a new experience for him and so is Rachel. She like no one he's ever known before.

Rachel takes her duties as the librarian very seriously. She enjoys helping students and is always willing to help the new students learn their way around the library. The new student that walks into the library the day before classes begins is not her usual first-time-away-from-home teen. He's projecting bad-boy vibes all over the place. With his stubble and purple boots, throw in a bit of arrogance and he's got Rachel's hackles up. But she is a professional so she dons her librarian cape and offers to help him.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Bliss since this is the first book of hers I've read. I thought she did well with building and making the attraction between Rachel and Devin believable. They both had ghosts from their pasts come back to haunt them which added tension to their developing relationship. It's possible to think of Rachel as having a couple of TSTL moments but the more I thought about it the more I had to concede that Rachel didn't have the perspective of the other characters like I had. So she didn't have the full story. I do understand why she chose to keep her secrets, she was doing what she thought would be the best option available at the time. And she was scared. Scared of rejection and scared of screwing things up.

Devin exuded this air of sensuality, had women chasing him but wanted to be as inconspicuous as possible. He wanted to blend in, or try to at least. He was so well known, especially with the college crowd, that he had a hard time remaining anonymous. The novelty of someone not only not knowing him but not bowing down to him, is not lost on Devin. He finds himself enjoying teasing the proper librarian. Bliss writes smart and funny dialogue with her characters trading spirited comments while getting to know each other. Devin has a wicked sense of humor and relishes matching wits with Rachel. For me, the best scenes were of Rachel and Devin teasing each other and relaxing with each other.

Devin is basically told that if he has another drink it will kill him. That's one heck of a wake up call! He leaves America and heads to New Zealand, the place of his birth. It's also where his mom still lives. I found his mom amusing with her straight forward way of talking and her obvious love for her sons. The relationship between Devin and his mom is one of love, affection and concern. Devin is worried about his mom, she's had some health scares, and she's worried about him. About his career and his future.

I did like the conflicts thrown at Rachel and Devin. How they deal with their past, mistakes and regrets, rounded out the romance of this unlikely pair. The ending might have been a little too neatly wrapped up and it might have bothered me if I hadn't already come to like this couple so much. But the overall story was a winner for me. Looking forward to reading more from Karina Bliss.

Rating: A-

YotC Review: Baby Makes Three

Title: Baby Makes Three
Author: Molly O'Keefe
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Series: Mitchells of Riverview Inn/Book 1
Published: Harlequin/
December 2007
Source: Library/ebook

Year of the Category Challenge

From the author's website ~

Alice Mitchell has seen better days. But that was before the heartbreak of infertility, divorce and losing her trendy New York restaurant. Then, after five long years, her ex-husband reappears in her life. Gabe needs a chef. Alice needs a job. The attraction between them is still undeniable—and just as impossible. Even if sparks fly again, she can't give him what they once wanted more than anything: a baby.

Creating a family, however, doesn't always mean creating a child… Sometimes it just means allowing love to survive. But will they realize that before it's too late—a second time?

While this may be the last book for the Year of the Category Challenge, it certainly won't be the last category I'll read. Going into the challenge I had thought I would read some of the earlier works of authors whose full length books I've enjoyed - Suzanne Brockmann, Nalini Singh and Jessica Bird to name a few. But what happened is that I tried some new to me authors who write category romances and found them quickly added to my "need to read" list. I really never thought I would enjoy the shorter format as much as I do. It was truly a pleasant surprise! Thank you KMont for hosting the challenge and giving me some wonderful reads and more to look forward to!

The cover ~ I think it's a pretty cover. I like the colors and thankfully there's no baby in the clouds, grinning down at them or something. You know how silly some of the Harlequin covers can be. :)

Molly O'Keefe is a new author to me who writes complex characters with real life problems. Baby Makes Three was not a light, easy read. It was a quick read because I had a hard time putting it down, or in this case, closing the laptop.

This is an emotional story dealing with loss, grief and alcoholism. The pain Alice feels comes off the page and hits you right in the face. She's such a mess both emotionally and physically. Alice has fallen off into the deep end and grabs hold of the life preserver Gabe throws her. I just wasn't sure if she could hang on. Her drinking I thought was realistic in that many people turn to alcohol or drugs for the temporary escape they offer. Alice is set in her less than stellar job and drinking herself into oblivion. It's what she wants because if she dares to want more she believes it will only lead to more pain and disappointment.

Gabe has been trying to get his life back on track ever since his divorce five years ago. He has undertaken the enormous task of opening an inn, complete with a restaurant and wedding facilities. His father and brother are there to help him but he is having a hard time finding a chef. All roads lead home or in Gabe's case back to Alice. He finds her working at a chain restaurant and coming off a hangover. Not a pretty sight. Gabe needs a chef and he is desperate enough to offer the job to Alice. He is also stubborn in his determination that he will keep their relationship professional. As far as he's concerned it will be strictly boss and employee. And believe me, Gabe can be very stubborn! There were times when I wished he had given in a bit quicker to his feelings for Alice, had a little bit more compassion towards her.

When Alice sees Gabe again she wants nothing to do with him. Seeing him makes all the pain and loss fresh. But she's desperate and decides to take Gabe up on his offer of becoming the chef for the inn. It's only temporary and Alice figures she can handle being around Gabe for a couple of months. Plus, she doesn't have much choice, she has to work or she'll lose her home.

What surprised me about this book is how much I got into it. Into the characters' emotions and actions. It's not a happy/light book. There were some funny and light moments, mostly between the men. I got some of that smart ass male banter that I enjoy but overall the story dealt with some serious issues.

The one problem I did have is that Alice is portrayed as having what I would consider a serious drinking problem when Gabe finds her. She basically works and then drinks until she's blind drunk. Then gets up and goes to work hung over. The impression I got was that the drinking was part of her daily life, you could say she practically scheduled it in. Once she gets to the inn she is still drinking and this causes problems. Then she stops. And that's it. There's mention of some cravings for alcohol but it's minimal. And it's not like there isn't booze around, it's a restaurant and the guys drink beer so Alice certainly had access. Maybe it was the short format and the author didn't have enough pages to devote to a more in depth look at the effects of stopping cold. Whatever the reason, I was expecting the alcohol to play a larger role in Alice's relationship with Gabe.

So while this wasn't a light read or a holiday one for that matter, I found myself enjoying getting to know these flawed people. There is a sub-plot with Gabe's brother Max. He was shot and is still recovery from it emotionally. And that's about all we know. He's likable enough but distant. His story is in the second book, A Man Worth Keeping. I know I'll be reading more from Molly O'Keefe. You can find out about her books on her website.

Rating: A-

YotC Review: Home for the Holidays

Title: Home for the Holidays
Author: Sarah Mayberry

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Published: November 2009

Harlequin Super Romance

Year of the Category Challenge

From the back cover ~

Joe Lawson has a thing for his new neighbor Hannah Napier. As a single dad, he shouldn't be thinking what he is about her. Still, that doesn't stop them from getting close. And the way she connects with his kids, it's as if they're a family.

Turns out it's too good to be true. Seems Hannah has plans that don't include staying in Melbourne. Joe won't stand between her and her dreams, even though letting her go is nearly impossible. The holidays are looking grim, with him and his kids missing Hannah like crazy. But it is the season of surprises, and Hannah may have one for them!

The cover ~ I like it. It's not too sugary sweet. The people look "real" and although most of the book doesn't take place during the holidays it still gives the feeling of the book.

So what is going on? Someone who used to shun Harlequins is now buying them when they are released? The world has tilted on it's axis and life as we know it has cease to exist. Okay, not quite that dramatic but still... a category author is now an auto buy for me is not something to sneeze at. Sarah Mayberry has become one of my favorite authors for 2009. I've yet to be disappointed by her books. I relish the chance to read her and will no doubt be sad once I've read her entire backlist. Then I'll have the long wait for her next release.

Home for the Holidays isn't a typical romance. There's a deceased wife, two kids - one's a teenager, an ex-fiance and a strained sibling relationship. Add to that the rocky start Joe and Hannah get off to and it certainly doesn't seem like they have any chance at becoming friends much less a couple. But Mayberry works her magic and Joe and Hannah get beyond those bad first impressions and get to know each other.

Joe Lawson is still feeling his way through the rough waters of single parenthood. He moves himself and his two kids, Ben and Ruby, to Melbourne to start over and be near his mum. In doing so he puts himself next to a woman who is so not his type. His first encounter with Hannah does not go well and he doesn't look forward to seeing his new neighbor again. Hannah isn't too happy about the "jerk" that has moved in next door. They almost subconsciously notice the attractiveness of the other but squash that down because how could they possibly be attracted to someone so exasperating?

Hannah Napier could not be described as a "delicate flower of womanhood". I can practically hear her snorting at the thought. LOL She is a mechanic and enjoys working on restoring a classic motorcycle in her spare time. Most comfortable in jeans and t-shirt, she is out of her comfort zone when dealing with dresses and make-up. But even in jeans and t-shirt Joe can't help but notice Hannah's curves. Even while being irritated by her, he still notices that she is all woman under her grease monkey exterior.

The conflicts, and they are many, are well developed for such a short format. Joe and Hannah must not only deal with their growing feeling for each other but also with the feelings of Joe's two kids. Ben is a teenager (13) who's unhappy with the world and is under pressure from school to try and fit in. Ruby is a precocious 10 year old that quickly takes to Hannah. At first, Joe isn't happy about Ruby hanging around with their "biker chick" neighbor. As Joe gets to know Hannah, he realizes what an important part of his family she is becoming.

I really enjoyed the dynamics of the characters. The way everyone kind of shifted and moved into place to create a new family. The moves weren't always smooth, there were definitely bumps along the way. Sometimes more shifting needed to be done but eventually two people became a couple and four people became a family.

So chalk up another win from Mayberry. Once again she's given the reader a romance couple different from the usual fare. With a heroine who can rebuild an engine and a hero who does laundry and washes dishes. The love scenes were sweet, sexy and funny. Two people who resort to getting hot and heavy in a car because they have no privacy at home makes for some hot and frustrating scenes. And the way they overcame their past pains to get to the point where they could trust and hope again was well written and left me, once again, happy to have found Sarah Mayberry's books. (Thanks KMont!)

Sarah Mayberry's website can be found here.

Rating: A