Review: Great addition to the Weldon Series!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2011
It is a very rare occurrence for me these days to start on the next book of a series by an author before taking a break in between. However, I found myself tempted to skip my `rule' and go ahead with the 2nd book in the Weldon series, to find out for myself whether the passion between the grieving widower Jackson Weldon and Nancy Miller would be as explosive in reality as I had envisioned it in my mind after practically storming through the sensuous scenes of passion in the 1st book of the series.35 year old Jackson is the eldest sibling of the 4 Weldon brothers in Savannah, Georgia. Jackson is a man still grieving for the untimely death of his wife Amy and blames himself for her death which prevents him from joining the living world. Jackson creates for himself a rut in which he is more than comfortable in, and lets the music that runs in his soul do the rest for him. With no aim or plans in his life to pave the way forward, Jackson stumbles into each day as it arrives until he meets his sister-in-law's best friend Nan who makes his heart beat in anticipation for the very first time since the death of his wife.30 year old Nan is goal-oriented if nothing else and plans her life to achieve those goals which will take her further and further away from the wanting little girl who lived and grew up in a less than stellar trailer on the backside of a country road. Dedicated to her profession as a nurse, Nan rarely gives herself time to stop and smell the roses, always focused on reaching the next step of her plan.When Nan meets the sexy as sin older brother of Jesse Weldon, her best friend's husband at her wedding, for the first time she finds for herself the lure of sexual attraction though she makes herself walk away from Jackson and his aimless life once she finds out that there is no future to be had with the man.Three months since she walked out on him and the memories of the feverish kisses they shared still linger on, haunting her and teasing her to taste what she never let herself fall for during the brief time they had dated. With her dreams and fantasies escalating out of control each passing day, Nan finds herself saying yes to one weekend of decadent pleasure in the arms of the one man who has the ability to turn her mind to mush and makes her body hum in pleasure.But when reality comes knocking at the door, Nan is once again forced to face the fact that Jackson with his past haunting him is not the man for her though she may have fallen head over heels in love with him. Its up to both Jackson and Nan to want each other and love one another enough to move past beyond the shackles of the past and to face the future that would be the stuff fantasies and dreams are made of if they were to face it together.I have to say that being still on the high left over from Jesse and Alexia's story, I felt a tad disappointed with how Smooth Irish unfolded though this one also made a favorable impression on me. Jackson and Nan were both endearing characters whose passion for each other draws them together, no matter how much Nan tries to prevent herself from walking into disaster with both eyes open.Jackson is a tortured hero, who hides a wealth of pain and guilt behind a facade of charm that refuses to be hidden from Nan who makes short work of opening up his wounds that have continued to fester rather than heal during the 4 years Jackson has tried to forget the pain with which he lives.For me, the passion between Nan and Jackson wasn't as explosive as I hoped it would be, but still Jennifer Saints has added mouth watering scenes of passion that brings out her talent in delivering the readers with sensuous scenes of love that would remain with them for a long time.Its good to know that though this is the last published book in the Weldon Series for now, Jennifer plans on making additions to it which would be well received by its fans.Smooth Irish is a book that goes down like a tall, cool glass of water on a sweltering hot day and leaves you begging for more!Recommended for those who have read book 1 and are dying to get their hands on book 2; for those who love stories with tortured grieving widowed heroes and for those who are fans of Jennifer Saints who writes under the pseudonyms J.L. Saint and Jennifer St. Giles.Reviewed by Maldivian Book Reviewer