Review: Fantastic new series from Cate Ashwood!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 28, 2013
Oliver Parrish is a formidable chef. He feels most at home and calm when he’s in the kitchen. An orphan that was tossed from foster home to foster home when he was younger, was under the impression that he had no family. The tall, handsome stranger he finds sleeping on his doorstep one morning changes everything.Owen Macklin, Mack for short, is the town sheriff in Hope Cove, Maine. His best friend died recently and to honor her memory, Mack has set out to find her brother, the brother she never knew. Mack makes Oliver a proposition. An open ended ticket for Oliver to accompany him back to Maine to appreciate the memory of the sister he never knew.Day by day Oliver learns more about Maggie, and Mack. From the plane ride to the bakery his sister owned to the journals she chronicled her life in, Oliver meets Maggie. At the same time a growing mutual attraction between the orphan and the sheriff is brewing. The harder Oliver falls for Mack, the more he wants to stay in Hope Cove and he starts making plans to do just that. Then a stunning revelation during Maggie’s autopsy uncovers a dangerous disease. A disease that is hereditary. Just when Oliver found his place in life, a place where he’s wanted and loved, he faces the risk of losing everything… literally.This book made me laugh, cry and swoon! Mack is a big, bad ass alpha male but just every now and then, he needs to be the one that follows. And Oliver is the perfect leader, just every now and then. The balance between these two characters was amazing and evident. Where one pushed the other pulled and Ashwood conveyed that give and take perfectly throughout the story. I think my favorite aspect of this story was Maggie’s journals. She and Oliver never got to meet before she died, but she left behind dozens of journals that chronicled her life and it allowed him a glimpse into her mind. The journal entry where she talked about finding out she had a brother and how happy she was, to imagine Oliver reading that, I was full on snot slinging crying. Just beautiful!This is Ashwoods third book and all three are a must read for fans of the genre. She can really nail the sexy and passionate side of a relationship. The way her characters play off of each other’s emotions, and love each other so thoroughly is a wonderful thing. I definitely recommend you read not just this book, but all her books. I’m quite excited that this is the first in a series. I’m hoping for something for Declan, the deputy, in the next installment. We shall see!*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through MM Good Book Reviews*[...]