Rowena’s review of Love Me if You Dare by Carly Phillips.

Hero: Rafe Mancuso
Heroine: Sara Rios

The perfect catch is about to fall for the the one woman he’s always resisted … until now! When hostage negotiator Rafe Mancuso takes a bullet to save Sara Rios, his ex-partner, his actions make him a bona fide hero—and New York City’s newest most eligible bachelor. Then Rafe admits that Sara is much more than just another woman he’s rescued. Suddenly, a firestorm of gossip turns him into exactly what he doesn’t want to be: the Bachelor Blog’s newest new hottest topic. His only solution is to leave town and get himself out of the spotlight… and sexy, jaded Sara out of his mind.

Have you ever had a brain fart where your brain just refused to see what was directly in front of you? Yeah, that’s what I had while I was nearing the end of my reading adventure with this book. I kept putting up dumb questions when the answer was staring me directly in the face (even after I was finished with the book). I blamed my lack of sleep when I was reading this book. LOL.

Anyway, this is the second book in the Bachelor Blog Series and it’s Cooper from Kiss Me if You Can’s best friend Sara’s book. At the end of KMIYC, Rafe Mancuso saves Sara from getting shot, earning him the new face for the Bachelor Blog. Rafe isn’t at all happy about all of the attention he’s getting just for doing his job so he runs away and hides out from all of the media at home with his family in Hidden Falls.

Sara, on the other hand is thrown into her own little drama when she’s called up as a surprise witness in a murder trial and has to lay low herself because the guy she’s testifying against wants to shut her up and where else could she go to hide out, lay low and stay safe but to wherever Rafe has gone?

When Sara shows up at Rafe’s parents house for dinner, she sees a side of Rafe that she never knew before and inevitably, they’re drawn to each other and the chemistry that was simmering just below the surface when they were partners comes to a boil and a relationship ensues. Watching how easy it was for these two to be together was totally believable because of the shared history they had being partners and being friends. Rafe has always had a thing for Sara but because they wanted different things in life, he never pursued a relationship for fear that 1) she didn’t return his feelings and 2) he didn’t want to ruin their friendship.

But when Sara comes to Hidden Falls for his protection, he can’t walk away from her and soon, he can’t stay away from her. Watching Rafe fall in love with Sara was great fun because he made it easy to fall in love with him and you just wanted him to get his happy ending with Sara.

For me, it was all about Rafe. Sara was good and all but her issues with relationships and commitment made me roll my eyes and because she came around, I was able to forgive her quite easily.

I enjoyed the secondary story between Rafe’s brother Nick and his wife Angel. I thought that was a cute addition to the story but the whole drug storyline with Uncle Pirro was silly enough to make me laugh. Phillips did a great job writing a fluffy, contemporary read that is perfect for the beach in the summer. I enjoyed this addition to the series and am sad to see that it’s all done. I would have enjoyed getting Amanda’s story since I enjoyed her character in both books. I loved seeing Coop again in this book and I thought it was a cute story all around.

Final Grade: 3.75 out of 5

The series:

This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here.

Rowena’s review of Kiss Me if You Can by Carly Phillips.

Hero: Sam Cooper
Heroine: Lexie Davis

Sam Cooper (“Coop”) has just become the most eligible bachelor in New York City. Now that he has foiled a jewelry-store robbery and has been rewarded with the ring of his choice, single women all over the city are fawning over the crime reporter. But Coop isn’t interested in the admirers sending racy underwear his way. His attention is centered solely on Lexie Davis, the only woman in the city who claims not to be interested in his bachelor status.

Instead, free-spirited Lexie is interested in Coop’s antique ring, and its – potentially scandalous – history in her family. But Coop is quickly becoming more than just her route to the ring. When his investigation starts to uncover the truth, will she trust her heart – and her family secrets – to this most eligible bachelor?

It’s been such a long time since I’ve picked up a Carly Phillips book to read. I’ve had some good Carly Phillips reads and some not so good ones but I haven’t disliked her work enough to give it up.

When I picked this up, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was I going to get something like Hot Number (which I loved) or was I going to get something like The Playboy (which I could never get into, let alone finish), I’m happy to say that I finished the book and actually enjoyed getting to know the main characters.

In this story we have Sam Cooper, the local hero who stopped a robber from getting away with stolen jewelry from a jewelry store. He’s a crime beat writer for the newspaper and now he’s the city’s most eligible Bachelor on The Bachelor’s Blog. For his troubles, he gets his pick of a bunch of jewelry that’s thrown in his face and because he has to pick something or look like a dummy, he chooses a ring at random and flees.

Lexie Davis watches all about Coop saving the day on the news with her grandma and when they see the ring that he chose as his reward, they’re both intrigued because the ring looks like it’s a perfect match to Lexie’s grandmother’s necklace and since Grandma Charlotte’s 80th birthday is coming up, Lexie thinks it’ll make the perfect gift for her so she plans to track this hero down and try to buy the ring from him. She thought it would be a simple business transaction kind of thing but she should have known better.

Things start to get a little crazy when Coop brings the ring home with him. A very sexy woman wants to buy the ring from him and waited outside his office for him to come out to ask him for it. The owner of the jewelry store, who wasn’t at the shop when it was being robbed and therefore, wasn’t the one who gave Coop the ring calls and wants Coop to bring it back then his house is broken into and things just kept right on getting crazy because after a little digging into the background of the ring in his possession, a lot of questions start coming up.

Coop agrees to let Lexie in on his investigation of the ring, mostly because he wants to jump her bones and spend more time with her. The more they find out about the ring, the less Lexie wants to know but has to know because well, she’s got to clear her grandmother’s name.

The whole story flew right on by, it was easy to get drawn into the story because I enjoyed Coop and Lexie so much. Coop was one of those sexy heroes that you can’t get enough of and Lexie was one of those smart heroines who you want to be your friend. They both have issues that make them absolutely wrong for each other and yet you couldn’t help but cheer them on anyway. I adored both Coop and Lexie, together and apart, they were just so much fun. They were my favorite part of the story. Usually for me, it’s the secondary characters that draw me into a story. I’m a fan of the underdog but that wasn’t the case with this story.

The secondary characters in this story, I either loved or I couldn’t stand. I mean, everyone from Coop’s side (his father, brother, best friend and neighbor, etc..) were great, I thought they were great additions to the story but Grandma Charlotte, Sylvia and then her mother, I just couldn’t like them.

The whole mystery thing behind the jewelry came off as silly to me. I wasn’t a big fan of it and then at the way that whole thing came to a head felt forced but I didn’t pay too much attention to that because I still enjoyed the romance that blossomed between Coop and Lexie. Grandma Charlotte was a total fraud for Lexie’s whole life and even though she had her reasons for what she did, I just couldn’t understand why she couldn’t be upfront about this with Lexie. Everything that her and Sylvia got into didn’t come off as cute and funny, it was more eye rolling than anything else.

The romance between Coop and Lexie is what drew my attention and then kept it and while it wasn’t the most perfect romance, I still enjoyed it and it totally made up for the rest of the book. This book did its job because I’m more than a little intrigued by the next book which I’m definitely going to read. I can’t wait get to know more about Sara and Rafe. At least I hope that Sara is Rafe’s partner. This was a light and fluffy read and if you don’t take it too seriously, it will entertain you.

Grade: 3.25 out of 5

This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here.