Synopsis:
A weekend camping trip with friends unveils their attraction. What will one week expose?

Brynn Harris lives an idyllic life until love deals her a wicked hand. Crushed, she returns to Seaside Pointe and barricades her heart. The plan works well for two years until a weekend spent around her brother’s former college roommate sparks a complicated attraction.

The tattooed and pierced Hayden Fox is nothing like the men from Brynn’s past, but their differences don’t lessen their chemistry, especially when Hayden spends one week in Seaside helping Chloe Lockwood on her flower farm.

Hayden has no plans for a happily ever after he doesn’t think he deserves, but when the tempting redhead shows up for a dinner among friends, desire wages a battle. Soon, the lines between physical and emotional blur. With relationships on the line, Hayden and Brynn must reconcile their damaged pasts. Pasts not yet finished with them.

This is the second installment in a four-book series. While the romance stands alone, the plot is a continuation of events that occurred in book 1: Blossoms & Steel. It is recommended you read the series in order.

Review:
I did like this book. We had characters that weren’t perfect, and were flawed, and had to work through their past trauma to try to find something for the future. I quite enjoyed getting to know Brynn, and I didn’t expect everything that happened to her especially towards the end. The same goes for Hayden, learning of his past, his life, and why he is how he is. The intimacy was well written and on the border of PG13; nothing too explicitly stated or detailed. That being said, the connection and heat was certainly still there. I do wish there had been more at the end– and perhaps there would be more mentioned offhand if you continued to read the series.

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Star rating: ✯✯✯✯