Sunday Spotlight is a feature we began in 2016. This year we’re spotlighting our favorite books, old and new. We’ll be raving about the books we love and being total fangirls. You’ve been warned. 🙂
Jessica Lemmon has cemented herself on my auto-buy list and that list isn’t that long, not anymore, at least and she made her way onto my list by writing such fantastic contemporary romances (my jam) like this very book, Man Candy. I’m really enjoying myself with this series and I think what makes me swoony over these is because they’re real, they’re cute and the steam meter is off the charts. These characters have totally won me over and Dax??? Yum. Just freaking yum and that is why I’m featuring this book today. It deserves to be featured. happy sigh
Man Candy by Jessica Lemmon
Series: Real Love #3
Also in this Series: Eye Candy, Arm Candy
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: January 9th, 2018
Publisher: Random House, Loveswept
Is there room for two in that sleeping bag? When it comes to love, a chiseled loner takes the scenic route in this irresistible standalone from the author of Eye Candy (“Truly the perfect romantic comedy.”—Lauren Layne).
Dax: After spending the summer buried up to my eyeballs in my family’s affairs, I’m ready for a break. The kind of break where I can spend two solid weeks camping and fishing in the company of absolutely no one. Then I find myself directly in the path of a drop-dead gorgeous tornado by the name of Becca Stone. Who can resist a night with a damsel in distress? Especially when she happens to be a leggy blonde? The last thing I expect is for Becca to show up on my cabin doorstep the next night, shivering in the rain and ready for seconds.
Becca: One minute I’m admiring the rock-hard jaw of the Magic Mike lookalike who walks into my bar, and the next I’m getting fired by my own brother. Loudly. In front of everyone. Luckily Dax Vaughn is a gentleman who aims his white-hot smile at me. Oh, it’s on. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am. Then a torrential storm washes out the main road and causes a massive power outage, giving us two whole weeks to enjoy each other’s company. At which point Dax will go back home, leaving “us” in the rearview mirror. That’s the plan. Or it was . . . until I started falling for him.
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Excerpt
MAN CANDY by Jessica Lemmon – 1/14/17
Becca
Dax sets the sleek silver laptop on the counter where I’m leaning and slides it in my direction. “Are you Mac friendly?”
“Yes. I took graphic design classes before I went to dance school.”
His grin spreads slowly, and the southerly parts of me tingle.
“Of course you did.” He steals another kiss and pats my ass before moving to the living room and retaking his seat on the couch.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He doesn’t answer, so I open the laptop. I’m met with a password box. “It’s locked. Did you want to—”
“Eight-zero-eight-four-seven,” he says.
I type in the number and like that, I’m in. I watch the back of his head for a moment, wrestling with the idea that he rattled off his password to a virtual stranger.
He trusts me with his five-digit code.
I mean, it’s not access to a vault containing millions of dollars, but a password is significant, right? I only recently met Dax, and he’s handed me the keys to his virtual city. Meanwhile my brother doesn’t trust me to execute even the simplest of tasks.
Like my job.
I’m not the fastest keyboardist, but I peck out the recipe, trying to guesstimate the amounts of the ingredients. As I type, my mind reels back through each knife slice, ingredient, and spice I pulled out of the cabinet. I had access to a full kitchen at the main office, so I brought fresh cilantro, lime and avocado, and seasonings like cumin and smoked salt.
I sneaked a few extras onto the order last week when I was craving some really great Mexican food. There’s only so much barbecue a girl can eat before she wants lighter fare.
At one point I stop what I’m doing and measure a teaspoon of cumin. Then a half teaspoon. I never measure, just sort of throw it in. After rifling through the drawers, I determine that there is no quarter teaspoon, and the tablespoon measure is missing too. I’m forced to guesstimate, but I’m pretty sure I have it.
I carry the laptop into the living room, rest it on the coffee table, and sit next to Dax on the sofa.
“Do you have a grill at McGreevy’s?” I scroll through the recipe to the numbered instructions.
“Ideally you would have a grill and get those great char marks on the chicken. You could even use blackening season for a Cajun flair if you wanted to. . . . Oh! Cajun seasoning . . .”
When I notice his smile, my words taper off. He’s so good-looking that it hurts a little to look directly at him.
“What?” I ask.
“In between dancing, graphic design, and rental cabin management, did you also take cooking classes?”
I shake my head.
“Interesting.” He goes back to fiddling with the items in his tackle box.
“Did you ever take a fishing-lure-making class?” I shoot back.
He lets out a soft laugh. “If my dad’s instruction counts. He taught me.”
My heart squeezes. Dax’s face softens whenever he mentions his dad. He misses him.
“That counts,” I reply quietly.
Dax watches me, his eyes bluer in the lamplight. The room is dim, thanks to the constant cloud cover and never-ending rain.
“I’ll test the recipe again if you don’t mind eating more quesadillas. How’s that sound?”
He answers by leaning forward and capturing my lips in a warm, slow, drugging kiss. As my eyes sink shut, I’m hyperaware of him—of the tickle of his fingertips along my cheekbone before he sifts them into my hair. Of the firm heat of his tongue as it slides along mine. I lean forward to claim more of his incredible mouth.
When he breaks away, I whisper, “This feels a lot like wooing.”
“I thought this was you coming to me.” His voice sounds as dazed as mine.
“Agree to disagree?”
Teaser
Real Love Series
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Are you a fan of this series? How about Jessica Lemmon? What books are you excited about this week?
About the Author
Jessica Lemmon
| GOODREADS
Jessica Lemmon is the bestselling author of over twenty novels. Her work has been honored with awards such as RT Top Pick!, iBooks Best Book of the Month, and Amazon Best Book of the Month. She has also been recommended by USA Today and NPR.com. She has achieved the rank of #1 bestseller on Nook as well as earned a seal of excellence nomination from RT Book Reviews.
She tackles tough relationships and emotions in her books, delivering a deep, satisfying experience for readers while still maintaining humor and fun.
I so want to read this series! I’ve been doing that weird ocd thing I do about collecting the whole series before reading it.
I don’t believe I’ve read a book by Jessica Lemmon, but I’m definitely interested in doing so!
Love Jessica Lemmon books