In high school, Bianca
Charleston was a nobody. An overweight wallflower, so invisible that
Cole, the boy she had a crush on, never even knew she existed.
Things have changed, and she's finally ready to show off her new bombshell look. Sort of. Maybe. After a one-sided pep talk with her cat, she takes a deep breath and flies home to help out with the annual hospital carnival. Cole is there, too-and he still has no idea who she is.
FBI field officer Cole Johnson doesn't have an easy job, and his nights are usually booked solid. Then in walks Charlie, a blonde with killer...everything. Suddenly he's mentally clearing his schedule for a rare night out.
While Charlie doesn't do one-night stands, somehow after-dinner dessert is served up against the wall of her hotel room. But happiness will have to navigate an emotional minefield of preconceived notions-and a couple of not-so-secret stumbling blocks.
Things have changed, and she's finally ready to show off her new bombshell look. Sort of. Maybe. After a one-sided pep talk with her cat, she takes a deep breath and flies home to help out with the annual hospital carnival. Cole is there, too-and he still has no idea who she is.
FBI field officer Cole Johnson doesn't have an easy job, and his nights are usually booked solid. Then in walks Charlie, a blonde with killer...everything. Suddenly he's mentally clearing his schedule for a rare night out.
While Charlie doesn't do one-night stands, somehow after-dinner dessert is served up against the wall of her hotel room. But happiness will have to navigate an emotional minefield of preconceived notions-and a couple of not-so-secret stumbling blocks.
I was really excited to read this one and it was difficult to wait this close to its publishing date but I made it! And I really wish that I had no self control because this was a good one and I'm a bit irritated with myself that I held out.
I'm not usually a big fan of those romance novels where there is this insta-lust (as some people call it) or love at first sight. I don't know why that is. Maybe it's because it took me meeting the man who would become my husband twice before I was just totally sure that I would spend the rest of my life torturing with him. Maybe I'm just a little jealous that it can happen sooner. Who knows. Anyway, I usually don't like romance novels that go that route. But this one was different. A lot of people are calling it insta-lust but I disagree. These two characters went to school together and therefore, I think that completely puts them out of that insta-range. But that's just my opinion ... there are quite a few others that disagree with me.
Anyway ... the characters were great. I absolutely loved Charlie from the very first page. She's blunt and it's quite refreshing to see that from a female lead in a book. And by blunt, I mean she basically has verbal diarrhea. If it came to her mind, it was coming out of that mouth. It felt a bit reminiscent of myself actually. I tend to fly off at the mouth and I don't think people appreciate it as much as they should, so I'm going to fully support Charlie and her affliction. It made her endearing, actually. And then when Cole found it amusing ... it made her inadvertent sassiness that much better. The Cole character was one that I wish I could have more of. I just wanted every single page to have him in it and every single word to be about him. I found myself insatiable for his character. But ... I did find him a tee-niney bit too perfect. I won't go through his list of accomplishments and wax poetic about him but once you pick this one up, you'll get it. It's not a bad thing ... I don't think that the author created him this way so that he could be put up on a pedestal or anything and I'm sure that there are some guys out there that are just THAT perfect but I usually prefer to read about a guy who is a little more gritty, with a little more of a past and maybe just a tad bit more flawed.
The story (while short ... VERY short) was enjoyable and I'll be honest, I wish that it was longer. I could have read about these two characters for at least another 150 pages. Then again ... maybe their love story wouldn't work as a longer book because this shorty one was pretty successful and it made me decide to put Jennifer Kacey on my list of TO-READ authors that I'll keep checking on for new work. Definitely one I'll read again and I'm excited to see what the next book in the series has to offer and I have a feeling that it will be just as good as this one.
* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *
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