Book review: Hotshot (Buchanan-Renard #11) by Julie Garwood

Available August 6, 2013
Peyton Lockhart and her sisters have inherited Bishop’s Cove, a small, luxurious oceanfront resort, but it comes with a condition: The girls must run the resort for one year and show a profit—only then will they own it.

A graduate of a prestigious French culinary school, Peyton has just lost her job as a food critic. Out of work and in a bad place personally, a year doing something completely different sounds wonderful.

There are countless challenges and too many people who want to stop the sisters from succeeding. Among them are Peyton’s contentious cousins, who are outraged that they didn’t inherit the resort, as well as a powerful group of land developers who have been eyeing the coveted beachfront property.

It’s soon apparent to Peyton that their efforts are being sabotaged, but she refuses to let the threats scare her—until she’s nearly killed. She calls on her childhood friend and protector, Finn MacBain, now with the FBI, and asks for his help. He saved her life once; he can do it again.


Finn MacBain meets Peyton Lockhart when she's a little girl in the beginning of this book. He's 14 and she's 6. Peyton's family is the MacBain's new neighbors and because of a incident with the Lockhart's pool Finn and his 2 brothers aren't allowed over there.  Just so happens the evening the Lockharts are having a party Finns observes a little girl wander out to their pool and sit down and in a matter of minutes she falls in. Finn runs to the rescue when he bursts into the party knocking Mr Lockhart down in the process and dives into the pool and saves her. From then on Finn has a fan for life in Peyton.  Years later Finn is with the FBI now and home for one of his twin brothers wedding. Peyton walks right up to him and says hi and he has no idea who she is until she calls him the knickname she gave him years before,"Hotshot".  Peyton  has just gotten a job at a foodie magazine and uproots herself from  her home to move to another state only to find out her new boss is a major sexual predator. After getting some evidence against him she takes off only to be chased in a snow storm and almost run off the road and shot at.  When Finn notices the bullet holes in Peyton's car he starts looking into what's going on. In the mean time  Peyton and her two sisters are offered a deal by their wealthy uncle who owns a bunch of resorts.  They can run Bishop's Cove in Florida for one year and make a profit they can keep it forever. While Peyton and her sister Lucy move down there to start working on the resort and getting it ready they have to deal with a cousin who is hell bent on ruining their chances. All the while this is going on someone is still trying to kill Peyton or at the very least scare her to death.  Finn is on the job and although they become close he's in denial that he he loves her can't leave her alone. He can't although he does try it just doesn't work.   This book has  a lot going on. Peyton and her sisters trying to fix up the resort while someone is trying to sabatoge the whole thing and then Peyton nasty ex-boss  trying to silence her from exposing what he's been doing  to his father in law. Peyton comes across as a strong female character trying to do the right thing by exposing her boss and protecting other women from him and trying to run a resort while dealing with her crazy family. Finn is this larger than life good guy, former Olympic champion and now super FBI agent. The man is saving the world one day at a time.  I love how Julie Garwood brings back past characters in small ways.  You'll find a few previous characters mentioned in this book and hearing tidbits about past characters always gives me a thrill.  This is a fast read and i enjoyed the main characters as well as all the secondary characters. Another win for me from Julie Garwood. 5 out of 5 stars for Hotshot!

Find out more about this book and everything Julie Garwood on her website here www.juliegarwood.com

Book review: Midnight Secrets (Wildefire #1) by Ella Grace

AT THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT, THE HEAT BEGINS
 
On a hot southern night, with a storm on the horizon, a family is shattered. Three beautiful daughters—Savannah, Samantha, and Sabrina Wilde—go on with their lives, each significantly changed, as they bear the memory of the murder-suicide that killed their parents. For years, they have stayed away from Midnight, Alabama. Until Midnight calls them home.
 
Savannah is the first one back, when a grueling case in Nashville leads the young prosecutor to seek shelter in the quiet of the once grand Wilde mansion. But when she finds letters casting doubt on her family’s dark, shameful past, she realizes that peace in Midnight is a shallow façade and sinister secrets lurk beneath the surface. Zach Tanner, once the town’s bad boy, is now the new police chief and still has a wild hold over her. Zach can feel it, too, but he hurt Savannah once. As teenagers, they broke every rule together. Now it’s his job to keep her safe, even though he isn’t sure who her enemies are—or which ones might be his own

This is book one in the Wildfire Series by Ella Grace.  It serves as a intro into the series and the 3 Wilde triplets get introduced whom the series will be about. It all starts with a murder/suicide. The girls are just young kids at age 10 when it appears their father murders their mother and then kills himself.  Later as teenagers of 18 years Savannah falls for bad boy Zach Tanner. She sees in him what most other people don't. He's sweet and sensitive and takes care of those he cares about. Then right on the cusp of him leaving for the military it all falls apart. The promises he makes to Savannah are shattered overnight. Ten more years pass and when Savannah is forced to go back to Midnight, Alabama to take a break from her job as a prosecutor and close up and sell her family home she finds herself running into Zach again.  Zach is now a war vet and the town's police chief.  The chemistry is still there and things begin to sizzle between the two again. When Savannah finds some letters from her grandfather which indicate her father might have been innocent and murder victim as well Savannah and Zach start investigating a 18 year old murder case which starts a mess of terrifying incidents that tells them they are on to something. While trying to find a killer Savannah and Zach get close and have to learn to trust each other again and let go of old hurts and tell secrets that might end their fragile new beginnings. Lots of things going on in this book because you have to intro quite a few characters and yet tell the story of Savannah and Zach.  The couple have a long way to go to finding their love again. The suspense keeps you guessing. The guilty party was a big surprise to me. Never would have guessed it. I think this was a solid intro into the series and i loved the love story here and it hurts the heart to know that Savannah and Zach wasted ten years of happiness they could have had. Definitely looking forward to book 2 in this series. 

Find out more about Ella Grace (AKA Christy Reece) on her website here www.ellagracebooks.com