Book Review: Before We Kiss by Susan Mallery

Before We Kiss
Author: Susan Mallery
Series: Fool's Gold (Book 15)
Publication: HQN; Original edition (May 27, 2014)

Description: New York Times bestselling sensation Susan Mallery returns to Fool's Gold, California, where it's true that sometimes you have to kiss a few frogs…

Former pro-football kicker Sam Ridge has notoriously bad luck with women—from cheaters to fame chasers. Still, the gorgeous brunette at the bar in Fool's Gold looks harmless—until she takes him home and he discovers a room devoted to securing a man, for life.

Dellina Hopkins never guessed that storing gowns from a friend's bridal boutique would chase away her first and only fling. After her parents died, she skipped her "wild youth" to raise her sisters. She doesn't want forever from Sam, but one night—all night—would've been nice.

His clean getaway gets messy when his firm hires Dellina to plan an event. As long hours lead to late nights, the two succumb to temptation again. Has Sam's luck finally changed? Or this time, will Dellina be the one to run?

My Thoughts: This was another entertaining episode in the Fool's Gold series starring Dellina Hopkins and Sam Ridge.

Dellina is a party planner. She was orphaned at seventeen and at eighteen took custody of her younger sisters. Now all of them are grown. One sister is a professional chef and married. The other is Fayrene who is a girl-of-all-work and in a secure relationship. Though Fayrene is obsessing about getting her boyfriend to propose after she'd told him that she wanted to wait a couple of years to marry. Dellina isn't looking for a relationship. She feels she's already done the parent thing and doesn't really want to take any emotional risks.

Sam Ridge is a famous football player who has had bad luck with women. His high school girlfriend turned into a stalker. And his ex-wife wrote a scathing tell-all about him after their divorce. Raised by parents who didn't recognize any barriers, Sam has become a very private person who really believes that any woman he falls in love with will undergo a personality change after marrying him and betray him.

When Sam's company decides to throw a three-day party for their customers, Dellina is the only game in town for party planning. But he had a one-night stand with her and fled the house when he saw she had a room full of wedding gowns and a whiteboard listing ways to get a man to propose. Note: She was storing the gowns for a friend and the whiteboard belonged to her younger sister Fayrene.

Now, thrown together to plan this big party, they get a chance to really get to know each other and fall in love. But their Individual hang-ups don't make the path to true love run smoothly. Luckily, Fool's Gold is just the place to help them get their lives in order. 

Favorite Quote:

In the scheme of things, he had it easy. His big complaint was that his family loved him too much. And his parents had sex on the brain. Poor, poor him.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book & Audio Review: Three Little Words by Susan Mallery

Three Little Words
Author: Susan Mallery
Narrator: Tanya Eby
Series: Fool's Gold (Book 12)
Publication: HQN; Original edition (July 30, 2013); Brilliance Audio (July 30, 2013)
Length: 332 p,; 9 hours and 10 minutes

Description: Can first love turn into the real deal? Anything can happen in a sizzling Fool’s Gold story from New York Times best-selling author Susan Mallery.

Isabel Beebe thinks she’s cursed in the romance department. Her teenage crush, Ford Hendrix, ignored all her letters. Her husband left her for another...man. So Isabel has come home to dust off her passion for fashion and run the family bridal shop until her parents are ready to sell it. Then she’ll pursue her real dreams. At least, that’s the plan, until sexy, charming Ford returns and leaves her feeling 14 all over again…

Seeing Isabel all grown-up hits bodyguard trainer Ford like a sucker punch. Back when heartbreak made him join the military, her sweet letters kept him sane. Now he can’t take his eyes - or his lips - off her. The man who gave up on love has a reason to stay in Fool’s Gold forever - if three little words can convince Isabel to do the same.

My Thoughts: Isabel Beebe has a plan; she's back in Fool's Gold running her parents' wedding shop and saving enough money to return to New York City to open a business with her friend Sonya. She's also getting over the fact that her husband left her for another man. 

Ford Hendrix is back home in Fool's Gold too. After a successful career as a Navy SEAl, he and some partners have opened a business providing security and protection. 

Ford and Isabel have a long history. He was once engaged to her older sister Maeve. When Maeve dumped him for his best friend, Isabel was heartbroken. Once Ford went off to join the service, Isabel, then fourteen, began writing him letters. She faithfully wrote to him for ten years despite the fact that he never once answered her letters. 

When Ford needs a fake girlfriend to stop his mother from trying to marry him off, his first thought is Isabel. Isabel is okay with the idea since she knows she has one foot out the door heading to New York City. Ford is sure that he is unable to love. After all, he hasn't fallen in love since Maeve and he got over that relationship suspiciously fast.

While their relationship is growing and deepening, Consuelo, one of Ford's partners is beginning her own relationship with Ford's brother Kent. He's a mild-mannered and divorced math teacher; she's a former undercover operative who did many difficult things for her country. He's a hometown boy with a strong secure family and she's from a much harsher background. 

This was a great story with two great relationships. I love the whole Fool's Gold series because of the small town vibe and the many friendships among the people in the town. Now, I want to keep reading to watch some of the other characters find their own happy endings. 

Favorite Quote:

She found that she and exercise had a much better relationship if they avoided each other. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Book & Audio Review: Two of a Kind by Susan Mallery

Two of a Kind
Author: Susan Mallery
Narrator: Tanya Eby
Series: Fool's Gold (Book 11)
Publication: HQN; Original edition (June 25, 2013); Brilliance Audio (June 25, 2013)
Length: 382 p.; 9 hours and 6 minutes

Description: Felicia Swift never dreamed she'd hear a deep, sexy voice from her past in tiny Fool's Gold, California. The last time Gideon Boylan whispered in her ear was half a world away…on the morning after the hottest night of her life. Her freaky smarts have limited her close friendships, and romance, but she came to Fool's Gold looking for ordinary. Gorgeous, brooding Gideon is anything but that.

Black Ops taught Gideon that love could be deadly. Now he pretends to fit in while keeping everyone at arm's length. Felicia wants more than he can give—a home, family, love—but she has a lot to learn about men…and Gideon needs to be the man to teach her.

As these two misfits discover that passion isn't the only thing they have in common, they just might figure out that two of a kind should never be split apart.

My Thoughts: Mallery is back with another excellent entry into her Fool's Gold series. I laughed and I cried and loved this "feel-good" romance.

Felicia has always been a misfit. She is a genius who was given up by her parents when she was four and raised in a university laboratory setting. She became an emancipated minor when in her early teens and faked her age to join the Army when she was sixteen. She is a genius at logistics and worked with Special Ops teams whose members became her substitute family. Now she has moved to Fool's Gold with some of her Special Ops friends who are setting up a business to train bodyguards. Felicia wants more than anything else to be normal, to fall in love, and to have a family.

Gideon has also come to Fool's Gold after serving in Covert Ops, being captured by the Taliban, and surviving more than two years of captivity. He watched his fellow captives and brothers-in-arms suffer and die and feels that the only reason he survived is that he had no emotional connections with anyone. He is convinced that he is irretrievably broken and is just a shell. 

Felicia and Gideon had met four years earlier in Thailand where she approached him. They had a brief sexual encounter, her first, and haven't seen each other since. Now back together in Fool's Gold, Felicia wants to resume the relationship and have Gideon teach her how to be normal so that she can find someone to love and fulfill her dreams.

Things get even more complicated when a twelve-year-old son Gideon didn't know he had shows up. Carter's mother had told him about his father when she was dying of cancer. Carter had been living with friends of his mother but, now that they were getting a divorce, Carter feared that going into the foster care system was in his future if he couldn't find a way to make Felicia and Gideon his new family. 

Part of the joy of this series is the strong relationships among many of the characters. Felicia has developed a close group of women friends. Gideon has a good group of men friends too. The community is also close and caring.

Tanya Eby does a great job narrating. Romance lovers won't want to miss this one. 

Favorite Quote:

"Love makes you strong. If you're brave enough to hand over everything you have and take that leap of faith."

I received the paperback November 22, 2013 and read and reviewed it through Amazon Vine in 2014. I got the Kindle and Audible copies recently when I decided to catch up on the Fool's Gold series. You can buy your copy here.

Book & Audio Review: Just One Kiss by Susan Mallery

Just One Kiss
Author: Susan Mallery
Narrator: Tanya Eby
Series: Fool's Gold (Book 10)
Publication: HQN; Original edition (May 28, 2013); Brilliance Audio (May 28, 2013)
Length: 379 p.; 9 hours and 21 minutes

Description: He won’t hesitate to put his life on the line...but will he ever risk his heart?

Falling for Justice Garrett was a high point in Patience McGraw’s otherwise awkward adolescence. Even after he disappeared, Patience never forgot the boy who captured her heart. Now, he’s back in Fool’s Gold, California, and her passion for him is as strong as ever. But how can she trust that he won’t abandon her again - and her daughter, too?

When bodyguard Justice Garrett was a young man, witness protection brought him to this idyllic town and he never forgot its warmth, or the sweet beauty of his childhood friend. He’s returned to open a defense academy, and the Patience he once knew is all grown up. He can’t resist her smile, or her curves. But Justice’s past doesn’t make him husband, or father, material.

Patience and Justice think they’ll succumb to just one kiss.... Then one more.... Okay, just one night together. But they might learn that falling in love is beyond anyone’s control.

My Thoughts: Patience McGraw fell in love with Justice Garrett when she was sixteen. When he disappeared on day, her heart was broken. 

Justice Garrett was eighteen when he entered the Witness Protection program because his career criminal father had vowed to kill him. Posing as two years younger than he was, he made friends in Fool's Gold including Patience. When his father was spotted nearby, he was moved.

Justice joined the military and served in the Special Forces. After leaving the Service, he became a bodyguard. Now he and some military friends are coming to Fool's Gold to open their bodyguard school. 

Justice and Patience, who married, had a daughter, and divorced, reconnect. They both remember the friendship and are heading to a romance. But Justice is afraid that he is too like his father and wouldn't be a good bet as a husband.

Patience is building a new business after an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt and Justice is building his business too. But the past isn't finished with them. Patience's daughter Lillie's grandfather wants to get to know her. Although he abandoned his family like his son abandoned Patience and Lillie, he says he's a changed man. But can Patience trust him with her daughter? And maybe Justice's father isn't as dead as he was believed to be.

This was a great story with intriguing characters and a wonderful cast of supporting characters. Tanya Eby did a wonderful job narrating. 

Favorite Quote:

Somehow dreaming was a whole lot easier than facing the possibility of trying and failing.

I got the paperback from Paperback Book Swap in December 2013. I recently added the Kindle and Audiobook. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Just One Kiss by Susan Mallery

 Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:

Fifteen years ago...

Patience McGraw couldn't breathe. She placed her hand of top of her chest and wondered if it was possible to have a heart attack and die from fear. Or maybe anticipation. Her mind raced and her throat was tight and here she was, on possibly the most significant day of her life, and she couldn't catch her breath. Talk about lame. 

Friday 56:

"Justice?"

Justice turned at the sound of his name. Patience stood on the other side of the street, waving at him.

The sight of her - worn jeans hugging curves, a T-shirt featuring a white cat with a martini in one paw, long, wavy hair fluttering in the light breeze - hit him in the gut. And lower.

This week I am spotlighting Just One Kiss by Susan Mallery. I got the Kindle and audiobook January 17, 2022 even though I've had the paperback since December 2013. Here is the description from Amazon:

He won’t hesitate to put his life on the line…but will he ever risk his heart?

Falling for Justice Garrett was a high point in Patience McGraw’s otherwise awkward adolescence. Even after he disappeared, Patience never forgot the boy who captured her heart. Now, he’s back in Fool’s Gold, California, and her passion for him is as strong as ever. But how can she trust that he won’t abandon her again—and her daughter, too?

When bodyguard Justice Garrett was a young man, witness protection brought him to this idyllic town and he never forgot its warmth, or the sweet beauty of his childhood friend. He’s returned to open a defense academy, and the Patience he once knew is all grown up. He can’t resist her smile, or her curves. But Justice’s past doesn’t make him husband, or father, material.

Patience and Justice think they’ll succumb to just one kiss… Then one more… Okay, just one night together. But they might learn that falling in love is beyond anyone’s control.