Publisher: Harlequin SuperRomance

Review: After the Storm by Amy Knupp

Posted November 15, 2012 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: After the Storm by Amy KnuppReviewer: Rowena
After the Storm (The Texas Firefighters #6) by Amy Knupp
Series: The Texas Firefighters #6
Publisher: Harlequin, Harlequin SuperRomance
Publication Date: October 30th 2012
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 288
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

With a hurricane heading for the Texas coast, Nadia Hamlin needs to evacuate. Now. Before she can leave, however, there's one more thing she has to do—despite the risk. But that delay lands her trapped in her car in the middle of the storm. Fortunately, firefighter Penn Griffin arrives. Unfortunately, her good-looking rescuer suffers a career-ending injury in the process.

The only way Nadia can think to make amends is to help Penn get back on his feet. Even if he doesn't want anything to do with her, she won't give up. Her determination has an unexpected impact. Because soon he can't seem to get enough of her.

This was a short story that didn’t take me very long to dig into. This story follows Nadia Hamlin and Penn Griffin. There’s a hurricane coming to town and everyone needs to evacuate. Nadia meant to evacuate with everyone else but she really had to do something at work so she figures, she has time. She’ll go really quick and then leave. Only that doesn’t happen because by the time she is ready to go, she’s thrown right into the thick of the storm. She has to call for help so she does and the very last person she wants to come and rescue her, comes.

Penn Griffin isn’t at all surprised that work has kept Nadia from evacuating the city like all other normal people. She’s a workaholic and he knew that after their disastrous date. In the midst of trying to get her to safety, Griffin is injured and it’s the kind of injury that is tough to shake. It’s the kind of injury that ends careers, his in particular and it’s very hard for him to stop being mad at Nadia about that.

Nadia feels like crap on a stick because her carelessness has cost Penn so much and the guilt is eating at her. She wants to help him in any way that she can but he keeps barking at her to stay away. Only, she can’t. She can’t stay away from him because 1) she holds herself responsible for what happened to him and 2) she’s attracted as all get out to him. Staying away just isn’t in the cards for her and she wants him to understand that. So she keeps showing up. She shows up to feed him and he yells at her. She shows up to help him and he yells at her…and yet, she keeps going back.

The sexual chemistry between Penn and Nadia is there for all to see and I liked seeing him thaw out. I loved seeing him come to terms with his future and I loved seeing him fall for Nadia. It wasn’t a hard story to get through because he really did blame Nadia for ending his career, even though he knew that it could have been anyone but he needed to be mad at someone and he was already mad at Nadia for running out on their only date the way that she did (for work of all things) so he held onto that anger and let it consume him until he was spent. And wanting nobody but Nadia.

Watching the two of them come to terms with their guilt, their grief and then their feelings for each other made for an entertaining read. I enjoyed getting to know them both and I enjoyed watching them fall. I’ve never read anything by this author before but you can bet the farm that this won’t be my last. I liked the story, the characters and was surprised at how in depth the story was for such a short story. I didn’t feel like the story was rushed or the romance was rushed. I thought it was a great story with charming characters and a hero that was freaking hot. I enjoyed the secondary romance between Coop and Penn’s sister (I’m drawing a blank on her name right now dangit) and I really liked that Penn was able to fix his issues with his Mom and that Nadia was able to work things out with her Mother and the hotel business.

Overall, this was an engaging story with characters that I came to love. I enjoyed it and would recommend this book to fans of contemporary romances and authors like Carly Phillips, Helenkay Dimon and Linda Howard.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin Super Romance. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

four-stars

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Review: Within Reach by Sarah Mayberry

Posted September 10, 2012 by Rowena in Reviews | 3 Comments

Review: Within Reach by Sarah MayberryReviewer: Rowena
Within Reach by Sarah Mayberry
Publisher: Harlequin, Harlequin SuperRomance
Publication Date: August 7th 2012
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 288
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars

Being a single dad was never on Michael Young's agenda. Yet with the sudden loss of his wife, that's exactly the role he has. On his best days, he thinks he can handle it. On his worst... Luckily, family friend Angie Bartlett has his back, easily stepping in to help out.

Lately, though, something has changed.

Michael is noticing exactly how gorgeous Angie is, and how single she is. She's constantly in his thoughts and he feels an attraction he never expected. Does he dare disrupt the very good thing they have going? If they have a fling that goes nowhere, he stands to lose everything - including her. But if they make it work, he stands to gain everything!

This is the first book by Sarah Mayberry that I’ve ever read and I picked it up because Ames said that it was a good book and because I work with a guy that shares the same name with the hero. Ames said that she stayed up until 3am to read this book and so I just knew that I was going to love this book…and I did.

This book had me weeping like a school girl with a broken heart. When the book starts off, Michael is married to Billie and they’re celebrating her birthday. Her best friend, Angie comes by for the party and you can feel how close she is with this family. Her friendship with Billie is more like sisters than best friends and she loves Billie’s kids like they were her own. When the unthinkable happens, your heart is torn apart and you’re almost afraid to keep reading because you just know that there’s going to be a whole lot of angst thrown in.

And there is.

For such a short story, this book packed a punch. From Michael trying to get by after losing his wife and wanting to be there for his kids to dealing with his grief and then there’s Angie and her grief and her need to help Michael with the kids to keep Billie close to her. You can’t help but wish for the two of them to fall in love with each other, even though you know that there’s a lot of things that they both need to work through before they can be together. Because, it wasn’t like Billie was this evil person that you wanted Michael to break up with. She was a good person with a great personality and in the brief part of the story that she’s in, you liked her. She was a likeable person and when she’s gone, you feel it.

I really enjoyed getting to know Michael. I really enjoyed seeing him try to move on from his life with Billie for the sake of his kids and then later on, for the sake of his sanity. He came a long way from the beginning of this book to the end of this book and I enjoyed seeing him come into his own. I really enjoyed seeing him forge a friendship with Angie and then to see him struggle with his grief, his love for his wife and his feelings for Angie…it was an emotional roller coaster that I would have kept paying to stay on. I loved that his relationship with Angie wasn’t something that they both jumped into, I loved that it grew over time and that they struggled with what they thought was the right way to handle it.

This was a sweet romance that pulled at my heart strings and squeezed them tight until I was all choked up. I really enjoyed it and I definitely recommend this to everyone!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5

This book is available from Harlequin. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

four-half-stars

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