Brave the Heat with Sara Humphreys

Brave the Heat is the debut book in Sara Humphrey’s new contemporary romance series The McGuire Brothers.  While known for writing paranormal romance, Sara Humphrey’s does not disappoint readers with Brave the Heat.

It is an emotionally driven tale of a pair of old flames who reignite their teenage love.  As an abused teen Jordan McKenna runs away from home only to marry an equally abusive man, but after putting an end to her abusive marriage Jordan returns to her childhood sea town to raise her girls and deal with the reasons she ran away from home and Gavin. Gavin McGuire is the town’s fire chief, who has his own share of emotional baggage including dealing with his feelings from Jordan’s flight when they were teens.  Heat ignites as this pair of lost loves rekindle they’re old love and deal with the hurtful feelings of the past.  Throw in a pair of precocious girls and a mysterious arson investigation, and you will find one blazing delightful read.       

Brave the Heat is an emotionally charged roller coaster ride.  Readers will cheer as Gavin and Jordan stumble their ways through a rocky path back to each other.  It’s beautifully written with well flushed out characters that one cannot help but fall in love with.  Brave the Heat is one book romance reader’s don’t want to miss!

4 ½ Stars.

Heartbreaking and Heart Healing Must Read!!

Books that touch heart are often keepers and Return to Me is one of those keepers! Kelly Moran’s Return to me is an emotional roller coaster that will touch even the coldest of hearts. It’s one of those books where you sit down and the pages just flow until you have discovered that it’s over.

It’s the story of Cole and Mia; young lovers who are torn apart by circumstances beyond their control.  Cole is the son of the Covington’s an up an up and coming political family, Mia is the daughter of a house keeper who was born on the “wrong side of the tracks”. Their summer time love story comes to abrupt end when Cole’s scheming mother makes a veiled threat against Mia’s family including her young sister Ginny who has Downs Syndrome. Though Cole has no desire to end their blooming relationship, he quickly puts an end to it in order to protect Mia and her family from the threat that is his mother. With a broken heart Mia leaves the Covington’s residence, which results in a tragedy that alters all of their lives.  When the young Mia leaves for college, Cole does the only he can do….joins the army.  Ten years later they come together when Cole’s sister Lacey reaches out to Mia for help with her wounded brother.  Years of hurt and guilt have taken their toll on the young lovers, but can they find a way to meet in the middle to forgive and find each other again?

The book is written in both the past and present tense and simply flows well together. It draws readers’ right in and keeps the attention span flowing. It will make you laugh and cry, and believe in the healing power of love.  For this reader, many tears were shed, and yet I still fell in love with the book. Return to Me has found its permanent place on my keeper shelf and is a must read for any romance lover. Books that earn that coveted five star reviews are rare, even rarer still is a book that should and would earn more than five stars, Return to Me is that book!  I cannot wait for book two in the Covington series.

5 Stars……

Beverly Barton's Just the Way You Are......

How to write a review on a beloved author, whose final book was bad, just awful;  I felt no connection to this book what’s so ever and I was hard pressed to even hear the author’s voice in this books. I have long been a fan of Beverly Barton’s…there are few of her books that I wouldn’t suggest to someone but this book lacked in so many ways. It felt like it had been finished just to be finished.

What I did like was the overall idea of the tale…..I also liked Mary Beth and Parr, I liked the sudden spark in the early pages of the book and I liked that each had stories to be told but I feel those stories were not told or not completely fleshed out so to speak.  They met at Mary Beth’s engagement party to of all people Parr’s younger brother. Mary Beth had just discovered Bobby Joe’s indiscretion with a former flame and is heart broken when she meets Parr. Parr is the kind of guy who does right by his family no matter the costs to him.  When the two meet it is a case of instant attraction for both.  Yet when push comes to shove she forgives Bobby Joe.

Bobby Joe throughout the book continues to walk a thin line of almost cheating, and Mary Beth continues to forgive him. There is however several times when Parr and Mary Beth almost give into their attractions yet something keeps stopping them; namely Bobby Joe.  The entire book becomes a do they or do they not push pull thing between Parr and Mary Beth. When Mary Beth finally realizes she is with the wrong brother the fizzle in my opinion has left building. That instant spark that drew me into the book was long gone and it simply fizzled out.

The book had potential, but the problem stems in that it lacked in story, it lacked in character connections, and it just did not feel like a romance. The heat that was there in the early stages of the book simply disappeared and the ending felt rushed. Nor did it feel like a Beverly Barton book......I know she passed a couple of years ago (on my birthday at that) and I have to assume someone else finished this book because it's simply not her voice.  If you want a quick tame read then this might be the book for you, but if you’re looking for more…….I would actually skip over it.

3 ½ Stars.