Review: Fantastic Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 21, 2011
Kara Mikos: beautiful heiress, longs for the one thing in life she's never found. Honesty. A man who wants her for who she is as a person and not the title she carries as heiress to a great fortune. Kara has never found a man who would tell her the truth, not even her father. For her, the parable of the poor little rich girl who has never found love is true. Her answer: To don a disguise and secretly set sail on a cruise ship as an anonymous single woman looking for a fling.When Kara meets Harper Long in the ship's lounge, fling doesn't come close to describing how hard she falls for the sexy, muscular and confident man. Soon they are having wildly passionate, raging hot sex in her room. Kara feels in heaven with the freedom she possesses with her anonymous persona. Nothing has ever come close to the amazing lovemaking she experiences with Harper.Little does she know, that Harper is a private security expert hired by her father to guard and protect her because of a kidnapping threat he has received. When her father had warned her earlier of the threat, Kara did not believe him because of his previous deceits. Kara has come to expect her father's exaggerations and overprotection.Harper is usually a professional in every way when he is on the job. But when he sees Kara, all thoughts except his undeniable attraction to her go straight out the window and he does what he has never done before: seduces his client's daughter. In no time at all he has lost his heart to the sexy beauty. The problem is, Harper hasn't blown his cover and Kara doesn't know that he's her father's hire.When it becomes apparent someone is following her and Harper immediately goes into professional mode, Kara realizes who he is and hits the roof. He has deceived her when she believed he was the only man who had ever been honest with her. Not only is she angry, she is crushed and refuses to have anything personal to do with him again. But in light of the escalating danger surrounding Kara, Harper refuses to leave her alone. She has other plans though, and slips away from him as he sleeps.Wynter Daniels has taken the tale of the over-protected rich girl who falls in love with her bodyguard and given it a breath of fresh air. There is exciting sexual tension and real 'edge of your seat' suspense in this sexy-sweet and fast-paced little thriller. She really packed a lot into this short story. I enjoyed this more realistic take on the familiar fairy tale very much. Harper is one hot alpha male who nearly pounces off the pages. I sure liked him!I also was very impressed with the believable and satisfying ending which left me hopeful and pleased. Ms. Daniels has imbued the people in her story with dimension and real character which endeared me to them and had me cheering them on to the end. For, in the end, Kara, Harper and even Kara's father all find the higher ground and are left with the great rewards of overcoming their challenges.I eagerly await the next installments in this new series and hope that they are as entertaining and inspiring as this one is. I recommend, Sizzle at Sea, book one in the Long and Hard series to all romance lovers who want a dose of exciting adventure with their 'sizzle'!Originally posted at Whipped Cream Reviews