Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi

Jessi Randal made the biggest mistake of her life getting involved with Lance Proctor as a teenager.  She thought it was love and that he would be her happily ever after until he left her at sixteen, scared, alone, and pregnant.  Now eight years later, her son, Benji, is the light of her life.  And Jessi has sworn off of men so she doesn’t get hurt again, and to avoid being the center of small town gossip.

Holden ‘Hold’ Abbot is visiting Windfall Island to do the genealogy of the town and try to figure out who the Stanhope heir is.  Someone in the Stanhope family will do anything to keep them from coming to light and taking part of their fortune from them.

Hold has set up a little office to do his research in the airport where Jessi works, but he can’t seem to take his eyes of the beautiful Jessi.  She keeps pushing him away, but giving up just isn’t in Hold’s playbook!  But he has secrets of his own.  He is from a wealthy family, but since he nearly married a gold-digger that he thought loved him, he’s wary of others doing the same.  He keeps his family a secret from Jessi as they get to know one another.  But could that omission tear this budding relationship apart?

And, out of the blue, Jessi’s ex, Lance, has come back to town supposedly to build a relationship with his son.  Benji is overjoyed to finally have a father like the other kids, but Jessi knows Lance has an agenda and will only hurt her son.  But she can’t exactly stop what’s happening and can only be there to help Benji get through whatever is coming their way.

I really enjoyed this book.  The characters were fun, engaging, and just plain lovable!  I really enjoyed Jessi and Hold.  Their dance of trying to start a relationship was really fun to watch unfold.  Holt’s constant pursuance of her, never giving up when other more sane men probably would have.  And, her fun, but somewhat gentle ways of turning him down.  But he never gave up and apparently persistence pays off!

I thought both Jessi and Hold were amazing with Benji.  I especially loved watching the father-son relationship form so effortlessly between Ben and Hold.

As, for Ben’s biological father?  You don’t get much more villainous than Lance.  His reasons for being back in town were obviously not as pure as he made them out to be.  But just seeing how ugly they really were and the lengths he would go to just to get what he wants was pretty sickening.

I absolutely loved the ending of this story.  It couldn’t have been written any better and I’m anxiously awaiting the next installment of the series!  Bravo Anna Sullivan, Bravo!