Series:
Family Renewal (Book 2)
For waitress Dana Peterson, it's now or never.
For a year, she's flirted with her regular diner customer, widower Erik
Reeves. Who cares if he's a little older? He's yummy! So she takes the
plunge and asks him out -- on Valentine's Day, no less.
Against his better judgment, Erik lets this ray of sunshine into his
life. But things quickly spin out of control and now Dana's pregnant.
Erik will do the right thing and marry her. But can he retrieve his
heart from the lost and found to give this feisty beauty the love she
truly deserves?
We first met Erik in Lost and Found Father as the adoptive dad of the daughter that Ryan and Victoria gave up for adoption. He lost his wife to cancer seven years ago and still mourns her loss. With his daughter off at college he eats many of his meals at the diner where Dana works. She is young and pretty and likes to flirt with him when he's there. When she asks him out he is hesitant since he's so much older than she is, but she teases him into it. He doesn't expect the intense attraction that he feels for her, and things get quickly out of control that night. He makes sure she knows that there is no possibility of a relationship and she's okay with that. Neither one expects her to become pregnant from that one night. Now Erik has to face the idea of becoming a father and husband again while trying to protect his heart.
I really liked Dana. She has a great outlook on life, always keeping a cheerful attitude even though her life hasn't been the easiest. She has been interested in Erik for a year, always flirting with him when she waits on him and taking an interest in his life. She knows he's older than she is but it makes no difference to her - she calls him "yummy". She finally works up the courage to ask him out to an art show, figuring that since he's an art teacher it would appeal. I really liked the way that she went after what she wanted and didn't really give him a chance to say no. She made sure he knew what she wanted from him and when that simple kiss spiraled out of control she ran with it. She was upset when she got pregnant because as the daughter and granddaughter of single mothers she hadn't ever intended to go that route herself. When Erik proposes to her in order to do the right thing she knows he doesn't love her and doesn't ever plan to love her but hopes that they can have a good life together. I really loved seeing how her cheerful casual style starts to change Erik's life. She brightens it up, while his steadiness grounds her. I loved the way that she and his daughter became great friends. Dana found that Erik's kindness and care for her quickly changed her feelings from friendship to love, but feared that it would always be one-sided. I really loved the evolution of their romance and how she started to see his actions for what they were rather than just what he said.
Erik had been devastated by his wife's death. He still visits her grave and talks to her on a regular basis. He enjoys his meals at the diner and is amused by Dana and her flirting. There is a certain amount of attraction to her but he considers himself an "old man" compared to her. He is surprised by her invitation to take her to the art show and tries to decline, but she talks him into it. Though he has a good time with her he is disturbed by the attraction he feels for her. When he gives her the promised kiss goodnight at her door that attraction burns out of control and he ends up spending the night. They part ways not expecting to do anything like that again. When she contacts Erik to tell him she is pregnant he is stunned and dismayed. He feels there is no way that he can be a father again. He offers to help her financially but that's all he'll commit to, until his daughter makes him see that that isn't fair to Dana. He goes back and proposes marriage, but lets her know that there is no way he'll ever love her. I loved seeing him fight his feelings. It was obvious he cared but he wasn't going to allow himself to love. He equates love to loss and feels that he can't go through that again. No matter how hard he tries Dana's upbeat personality keeps drawing him closer and closer. I loved the way that they worked together on the garden and also decorating the baby's room. He also got really involved in the pregnancy which was a new experience for him. The ending was so sweet and moving.
When Nathan Isaacs walks suddenly back into Jaci
Williams's life, she wonders if she ever knew her ex at all. Because it
turns out he was a government-trained killer…and the only thing standing
between her and death.
Nathan gave everything to his country -- his life, his family, even the
one chance he had for happiness with the woman he loved. Then the agency
he worked for betrays him, and they're targeting Jaci, too. Now their
only chance of survival lies in finding out why someone wants them dead.
This one definitely kept me turning the pages. Jaci is still in a funk after Nathan's rather brutal break up with her. When she and her best friend are stopped while leaving a bar Jaci is horrified to see the thug shoot and kill her friend right in front of her. Just as she is in the crosshairs Nathan appears out of nowhere and saves her. She resists his statement that she's in danger and has to go with him so he drugs her and takes her away. Once she comes to, he tries to convince her of the danger she is in. Jaci isn't sure she believes him at first and she certainly isn't happy that her attraction to him is just as strong as it was. As she and Nathan try to find out who is trying to kill them and why, Jaci has to decide if she can trust him with her life and her heart.
Jaci starts out pretty naive but gets an education in the seamier side of life. When she and Nathan had split a couple months before she had been devastated. She was deeply in love with him but had never seen past the shell he allowed her to see. When Nathan came to her rescue she made sure he knew that she was still furious. As the danger increases Jaci gets more involved. She refuses to stay behind when Nathan wants to go off on his own. She also starts to see more of the real Nathan as she doesn't let him hide any of the things that he has hidden from her. She insists on getting the whole truth from him. As she does she begins to see that Nathan's actions had been his way of trying to protect her. I loved the way that she took an active part in Nathan's investigation and stood up for herself against his protectiveness. I also liked the way that she had him figured out and knew how to push his buttons to get information out of him.
Nathan had been tagged to do special ops for a secret government group. As a sniper he was the one to take out bad guys. When a couple of missions didn't sit right he started asking questions. He was told to take some time off because they thought he might be headed toward burnout. This was when he met Jaci. He fell hard for her and thought that maybe he had a chance at a normal life, until he became a target for someone. In order to protect her he broke off their relationship in a way that he thought would keep her safe, but he still kept an eye on her. When he found out someone wanted to kill her he leapt into action. I loved the way that he was intent on keeping her safe but also wanted to protect her from the truth about his life. His love for her was still as strong as ever but he understood her bitterness toward him. He was completely unable to deny her when she started poking at his life and demanding answers. His jealousy over her friendship with James was fun to see, especially when they needed James's help. He was also surprised at how much she had changed in the two months they had been apart but the changes only made him love her more. I loved how those feelings kept him going at the end.
Series:
Project: Passion (Book 1)
Undercover Fashionista
When her designs keep showing up on a rival's runway, heiress and
fashion designer Lily Zaccaro vows to catch the thief. She comes up with
the perfect plan-run off to L.A. and go undercover as personal
assistant to the other label's CEO, Nigel Stratham, aka the sexiest Brit
alive.
As long work days turn into sizzling nights, Lily struggles to stay
focused on her secret mission. She desperately hopes that Nigel is
innocent because their relationship is anything but. In the face of so
much deception, pretty soon their newfound love is hanging on by a
thread....
Good book with some interesting peeks into the fashion industry. I liked both Lily and Nigel. Lily and her sisters had their own designing business that was starting to do well. She was furious when some of her designs showed up at another fashion house and was determined to find out who the thief was. She came up with the brilliant idea to go undercover as the CEO's personal assistant and use the time to snoop around. She fully expected to dislike him and discover that he was behind the theft. She didn't expect him to be irresistibly sexy and a nice guy on top of that. I liked the way that Lily put everything she had into her mission. She was pretty clever to be able to take on a PA job without the experience. The more time she spent with Nigel the more she believed he was innocent of knowing where the designs came from, but the more her guilt over her deception grew. By the time their trip to Miami was done she knew she had fallen for him and had to find the truth and the courage to tell him about her presence.
Nigel was a nice guy. He knew his business and wanted to make a success of it, but was fighting the unrealistic expectations of his father. Not being able to keep a PA wasn't helping anything. Lily's arrival was both good and bad for him. It was good because she obviously knew what she was doing and was able to keep up with him. It was bad because he was intensely attracted to her and knew that sex and the workplace did not mix. I loved the way that his growing feelings for her caused such a dent in his self confidence that he kept putting his foot in his mouth. I didn't expect to see the awesome Brit that shook up. When Lily came clean with him about who she was and why she was there he was hurt and furious and felt betrayed.
I loved the way that the two of them were eventually able to overcome their obstacles. While part of the mystery has been solved there is still no resolution. I don't know whose story is next, Juliet or Zoe, but I think I saw a hint of things to come for Juliet. Now if I just knew when the next book is due to come out - I hate to wait!
