Review: 4 Smoldering Stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 9, 2014
Tatum receives devastating news about her parents. Life changing, numbing, bring you to your knees news. She runs straight for her boyfriend Josh's apartment. He will make it better, he will hold her tight. Only when she gets there, he is already holding a big breasted, skank tight from behind. How much can she handle in one day? He sees her, yells that it isn't what it looks like. (really?) She doesn't stop, she goes to the home she shared with her parents and finds her best friend Leah waiting for her. It's with her that she finds the center of her gravity, her rock. Tatum tells her what happened. She is lost and doesn't know how to go on when everyone is gone from her life. Leah and her pediatrician fiance, Brent, are moving to Murfreesboro, Tennessee in a few weeks for his new practice.Slowly, Tatum tries to put together her life. Leah and Brent want her to move with them. Josh is harassing her, and she doesn't have any reason to stay in town. So it's a new chance at a new life and she agrees to go.Meanwhile in Murfreesboro, Blaise is a volunteer firefighter (his dad is the chief) and a co-owner of a Tattoo shop with his twin brother Asher. He has a close knit family; his mom is the administrative assistant to the mayor and his sister Ember is going to be starting her new job as a teacher. Blaise was burned (pardon the pun) by his ex girlfriend, Beth. He was about to pop the question when she told him she was pregnant by someone else. He's avoided any long term relationships since. He's no manwhore, he respects and enjoys the company of women. He just won't let himself enter into anything serious. He looks at his brother, Asher's relationship with his girlfriend Grace and he's envious. He wishes someone wonderful would come in to his life, someone worth taking a chance on.The town is looking to place someone for the marketing/PR position. By way of Brent, Tatum finds out about the marketing job. Since that was her major in college, this would be perfect for her. She runs into Blaise on her way to her interview and both are pretty taken with the other. She ends up getting the job and working with his mom, puts Blaise is close proximity with Tatum. His sister, Ember (another name connected to fire) has just moved into her first apartment but she would like a roommate. Guess who that is going to be?The connection between Blaise and Tatum is wired with electricity, both are very aware of the other. Blaise wants her and isn't about to let anyone else in this town make a move first. He is constantly touching her and whispering sweet things in her ear. She thinks she would be interested in a fling, a one night stand with him, but that isn't what he has in mind. Can Tatum take a chance with her heart again?This was an easy read, except for the heartbreak early in the book with Tatum's parents, there is little angst. I thought Blaise moved a little too fast, it seemed like he immediately made up his mind to pursue her and then seemed almost stalkish with the way he was constantly touching her when they barely knew each other. Theirs was one of those instant love situations that feels a little unnatural to me.In spite of those drawbacks, the characters were well developed and the friendship between Leah and Tatum was particularly heart warming. The secondary characters all supported the main hero and heroine and each had a story line of their own. I can easily see this becoming a series, as there is plenty of material to support more books.