In Heart’s Landing, Evelyn wants to prove she’s a good manager of the Captain’s Cottage by the bay—a favorite place for weddings. Meanwhile, Ryan has invested his life savings to remodel the town’s old boatworks into a brand-new wedding venue.
When a Marine and his bride win the Wedding in a Week contest, they have seven days to put together a romantic, all-expenses-paid event. It’ll be written up in Weddings Today magazine. But will they choose Evelyn’s cottage or Ryan’s boatworks?
The rival business owners cozy up to the bride and groom, helping them plan their military wedding. And even though Evelyn and Ryan both grew up in Heart’s Landing, they learn they never truly knew each other until now. But can they trust each other when only one of them can win?
Evelyn is one of my favorite characters in this series so far. A bit of a work-a-holic, super competitive, incredibly caring and empathetic, but struggles to figure out where her place is going to be in the future. As she leads the Wedding in a Week couple through their preparations, she finds out that her biggest competitor may be the man of her dreams.
I would really like Ryan to come to my house and do some work. The description of The Boat Works after he completes renovations sounds so beautiful. He’s also a pretty nice guy, but need to win the Wedding in a Week competition to get his new venue off the ground – but how will that affect his simmering relationship with Evelyn?
A Waterfront Wedding doesn’t have just one romance either. The Wedding in a Week couple is just the most adorable pair I’ve seen in a long time. But things aren’t perfect, and the stress is getting to them. So Ryan and Evelyn make it their mission to help this super adorable and perfect couple through the stress and get them down the aisle.
But the big question is – will their budding relationship survive one of them losing the competition to the other? This whole dynaimc was handled brilliantly. There are hard feelings when you lose (and I’m not telling you who, but one of the does), and those hard feelings are difficult to deal with. But how things eventually work out – sigh – it’s romantic s all get-out and I want some more.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
Rachel Ferrer thinks she’s already hit rock bottom, but then the ground crumbles beneath her feet. Alone, she is finally forced to face the darkness she’s been avoiding. Rachel doesn’t dare hope the spark of light in the distance might include Nicolas, even when she can’t forget the feel of his lips on hers.
Nicolas Rivera has always been the stable one. He is who others come to when their worlds shatter, but suddenly his life is the one in ruins. He doesn’t hope to connect with Rachel in the aftermath, but he discovers her in the last place he expected to. Uninhibited at last, the electricity between them finally ignites.
Is their flame enough for Rachel and Nicolas sift through the rubble, rebuild, and finally emerge, together, into the light?
Absolution is Volume 2 of the Lightning Crashes Duet and should be read after Temptation. Melt into this forbidden, slow-burn duet with a guaranteed happily ever after today.
Rachel lifted the quilt covering Nicolas and slipped beneath it. He made as much room for her as he could, but his legs were already hanging over the far arm, his back pressed against the cushions.
Rachel didn’t need much room as she snuggled into his side, tucking the quilt back around them. “It’s freezing in here,” she said, her voice husky and low, her breath feathering against his neck.
“You need to check your insulation,” he said. “And probably get new windows.”
“I’ll get right on that,” she said in a voice that implied the opposite.
She shivered, and Nicolas allowed himself the indulgence of pulling her closer against him. In the name of keeping her warm. “What are you doing up?”
Rachel’s hand found his waist under the blanket, her fingers icy against his bare skin, but he didn’t dare flinch, lest he scared her off. “I wanted to see if you showed up. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“It’s good you got some rest.”
“More like I sobbed myself to sleep in Naomi’s bed, but yeah, sleep was good. How are you?”
He sighed, at a loss for words to describe how he was feeling. His face ached, his body felt drawn, like he’d worked out too hard without enough food afterward. Nicolas couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten. He wasn’t even sure he had a digestive tract anymore. Who had room for food when they were filled with heartbreak and betrayal? Was it possible to be yawning open with emptiness and full of dread and darkness all at the same time? It felt like the same thing, and yet entirely different.
Rachel’s hand was playing over his torso in a way that she probably didn’t even realize she was doing, but in a way that was distracting, allowing temptation to edge in on the periphery.
Marla Holt believes in second chances, romance, and the radical notion that everyone deserves a happily every after. She’s living her own fairy tale, writing contemporary romance novels in her Kansas farmhouse with her husband, three boys, three cats, and flock of imaginary sheep. Follow her at marlaholt.com or on Instagram as @marlaholtauthor
Rescuing love is never easy… Veterinarian Dr. Louisa Coldiron comes from a long line of hardworking, rough riding, straight-shooting cowboys. Her father and brothers are cowboys and nearly every male in the small town of Santa Camino, Texas, is, was, or will be a cowboy. And experience has taught her that when a cowboy gets thrown into the mix, something gets broken. Falling in love with the horses she helps to rescue is easy. Pretending she isn’t falling for the sexy cowboy who teaches them to trust again…? Not so much. After years of roaming, Brody Vance feels he’s finally found a home at the Promise Point Horse Rescue Ranch and a woman he could easily love. But he knows a wounded heart when he sees one. Louisa has more in common with her patients than she’s willing to admit. Coaxing Louisa’s skittish heart into letting him take the reins of passion will take Brody’s tender expertise.
Brody hung up, shifted the truck into drive, and after checking his side mirror, guided the truck back onto the road.
When he’d gotten the call from Heather saying that she’d gotten pregnant during their one-night stand, Brody’s world had flipped upside-down. Those long months when she didn’t call, he’d nearly worried himself to death thinking about her and his unborn son’s welfare.
After Riley arrived, he’d learn how to work while worrying, and he’d learned how to deal with missing his son. He pushed through the heartache and focused on the job he had to do. Brody was pushing now, but he wasn’t making much headway.
He turned off the main road and followed the five-mile gravel road to Darby’s place. He parked in the shade of a juniper tree and slid out, making sure he had the satellite phone and his slicker before reaching to the back for his rifle.
As he headed towards the horse trailer, he saw a gnarled finger hook around one of the yellow, sunbaked curtains hanging over a dingy window. A second or two later, the front door opened, and Darby’s unmistakable form filled the shadow. A dingy gray pinch-front hat, a bushy ocher- colored beard, thin ribs, and bowlegs that resembled a wishbone clad in dirty jeans.
By Brody’s estimation, the man was near seventy. He’d never married and the only children he had were the bedraggled Australian cattle dog he called Fred and a horse that looked to be as old as Darby.
Darby let the screen door slam shut, nearly clipping Fred’s tail as he trotted out the door behind him. He stopped at the edge of the porch and bit into the half of a sliced sandwich, chewing slowly like a cow enjoying the first taste of spring grass. “You alone?”
Brody opened the trailer door. “Yeah, I’m alone.” Now was not the time for brooding reflection or an in-depth analysis of how accurate the old man’s words were. His impatience had destroyed one of the best chances he’d had at building intimacy with a woman he was in love with, and his son was in another state.
Mina is the author of the Coldiron Cowboys series and the Rough Creek series (2020 IMADJINN AWARDS FINALISTS).
She and her husband live on a farm in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. Along with reading and writing, she enjoys painting, photography, baking, and spending time with her rescue dogs, miniature horses, and donkeys. https://www.instagram.com/minabeckett/
Life in her corner of the world consists of long winter nights curled up by the fire, cheering on her favorite football teams in the fall, enduring March Madness in the spring and walking barefoot through her garden with a cold jar of tea in the summer ─ fireflies at sunset accompanied by a serenade of crickets and frogs, and lazy nights in the porch swing.
