I was a little disappointed in this book. I'd previously enjoyed most parts of the first book in the series, A Kiss in the Wind. It had drama, action and adventure, and a really great heroine full of grit and tenacity. I just had a teensy little issue with the male lead character being a total womaniser with a predilection for using burning hot wax in his love play....indeed.

So, I figured that was likely just a one-off occurrence, and that I'd have better luck this time. Well, there was no wax involved, thank Davy Jones, but unfortunately, I didn't really like either the hero or the heroine this time.

I'm all for flawed characters, but I found Gilly's flaw(s) very grating and tedious. She's one of those women that twitters incessantly and rambles on when she's nervous. She's also got a substance addiction, which wasn't really an issue in and of itself, but when you learned of the root cause of the addiction and what a weak doormat she'd been in the past (and still is) it didn't help endear her to me any further. And the grovelling and pleading towards the end... ugh! Grow a backbone, love.

The hero, Thayer, was...okay. A hellish past has left him cold and aloof, reluctant to care about anyone or anything. Pretty standard tortured hero stuff. He's also a raging alcoholic, which wasn't particularly appealing but at least his backstory warranted a need to block out painful memories.

And again, just as I was turned off by the sex scenes last time, this time was no better. It was disastrous, really. What happened certainly added drama, but in doing so it completely ruined the romance for me.

The end of the book, perhaps the last 30 or so pages, I largely skimmed as it was so predictable.

2 Stars ★★
Review Copy: Received from the publisher for an honest review.