Last Kiss Of Summer
Destiny Bay, Book #1
By Marina Adair
ISBN: 9781455562275
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer jerjen
Synopsis:
He’s one bad apple she just can’t resist . . .
Kennedy Sinclair never dreamed she’d own a pie shop and an orchard in a small town like Destiny Bay. But nestled between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean, it’s the perfect place to cross something off her “Life’s short so eat the icing first” list and start her life over from scratch. Her shop, Sweetie Pies, is famous for its hot, flaky apple turnovers and sinfully delicious deep dish pie. For Kennedy though, nothing is more enticing than the tall, strapping slice of temptation who keeps coming back for more.
Luke Callahan is determined to make his hard cider business a success. With his beloved father’s cider recipe and the opportunity of a lifetime in his grasp, he’ll stop at nothing to get this deal done. There’s just one catch: he needs Kennedy’s apples. At first, he thinks it’ll be as easy as pie to charm those apples right off her trees. But Kennedy isn’t falling for his tender charms or his wicked ways. When the negotiations start heating up, so do the feelings they have for each other. And it takes just one kiss to seal the deal . . . (Goodreads)
Review:
Kennedy Sinclair has not had an easy life. She never really knew the love of her mother, who kept entering and leaving her life until she finally left for good. And when she thinks she has found a good guy, who she can spend her life with, she finds him cheating on her. So she has not had an easy time of it and not much love in her life. Except for her grandma. Her grandma gave her the love she craved and almost made up for the lack of love from her mother. Her grandmother tells her about an opportunity to own her own pie shop in Destiny Bay, a place owned by her friend. When she learns about the opportunity and finds out where the shop is located, she knows she has to take the chance at changing her life and making her own destiny.
Luke Callahan has a lot of responsibility on his plate. He is co-owner of a hard cider business, Two Bad Apples Hard Cider. He also feels a responsibility to help his mother, especially now that his father has passed. When he learns that his mother and aunt has sold Sweetie Pies (and the apples he desperately needs) to an outsider, he is not very happy. And when he meets the new owner and sees how feisty she is, he realizes it might not be that easy to gt his apples back. However, the more he gets to know Kennedy and the more time he spends with her, he begins to realize he just might want to share her apples.
The characters are well rounded, well developed and three dimensional. Kennedy is a hard working, intelligent woman who is not afraid to go after what she wants. Except in the romance department, then she is afraid of getting hurt again. She does not believe that there are any good guys left and she sure has never met any of them. But after getting to know Luke, she begins to wonder if he might just be one of those good guys. I really enjoyed the bickering and bantering between Kennedy and Luke, they start out a bit as “frenemies”. Kennedy was not intimidated by Luke in the least and she gave as good as she got. I was laughing out loud reading about her solution for apple picking. One thing I really like was that although Kennedy and Luke were attracted to each other, I was not constantly reading how hot they thought the other was. I get tired of that very quickly. The secondary characters were also very strong and developed and they added a lot to the story. Luke’s aunt Fi was a real pistol but she is not all gruff.
The writing style flows smoothly and the book is a fast easy read. The author is very talented in her descriptive writing and through much of the book I felt like I was right there watching the activities and eavesdropping on the conversations. She is also very talented in bringing out a vast array of emotions in the reader. I laughed, I had tears in my eyes and I wanted to scream at the characters from time to time. I do not think this is an easy thing to do, taking the reader on such an emotional roller coaster, but this author does it expertly.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well crafted women’s contemporary. If I could I would rate this book more than five stars, that is how much I enjoyed this book. I have read other books by this author and I have enjoyed them all. And I am looking forward to reading the next book in the Destiny Bay series. Last Kiss Of Summer was a great beginning to this series.
