Review: Really good romance. <3 Willa & Shane
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 9, 2014
4-4.5 starsThis was a really good story. I liked Willa and Shane and enjoyed their story very much. I have to admit, the story pulled me in from the beginning and I was fully engaged until the end.Willa is a photographer and the sister of Ginger (the heroine from Protecting What's His). Willa and Ginger grew up with a mother that was a drug addict and a prostitute (who brought her clients home with her). They managed to escape that life and moved to Chicago when Ginger met a police detective named Derek and they fell in love and got married. Willa had a much better life after that but she still felt like there was something broken in her, something that would never be fixed. Her boyfriend, Evan, thought he could fix her but ended up just pushing her in to behavior that wasn't her. Eventually Willa couldn't deal with what Evan expected from her and they broke up. Now Willa is trying to get over the loss of the relationship and find herself again.Shane is a Formula 1 race car driver. His family owns an Inn (with an attached pub) in Dublin and he's helped run it since he was a kid. Shane grew up with a harsh and demanding father who could never seem to give anyone credit for doing anything right. When Shane was a teen and started taking race car driving lessons on his days off, which his father demanded he stop. The conflict ended in Shane leaving his home and family to start Formula 1 racing. He doesn't return until his father dies and he has to take time off from the racing circuit to go home to help handle things.Willa felt like she needed to get away from Chicago for a while after her breakup with Evan. She entered a photography contest and won a trip to Ireland for a month and this seems like a good way to "find herself" again. She arrives in Dublin and is seeking the baggage claim when she finds that a driver has been sent to pick her up. She wasn't expecting a pickup and quickly wishes one hadn't been sent when the driver makes a few rude comments that just annoy Willa. She decides to sneak off and make her own way to the Inn, only to find out that her drive is actually Shane, the owner of the Inn. She's offended even more when Shane decides to tell her to stay away from his sister, Faith, because Faith is too friendly and might make friends with Willa only to have her leave and Faith would be upset. Their father just died 6 months before and Shane will be going back to racing once he sells the Inn so he doesn't want Faith attached to someone else that wont stick around. While I can appreciate Shane looking out for his sister, I thought this was a little messed up because it puts Willa in the situation of having to push Faith away and be mean to her but I don't think Shane thought about it that way. Willa spends the first week checking out the town and avoiding both Shane and Faith as much as possible. Total avoidance isn't possible though and considering how Shane acts towards her, Willa's torn between thinking that Shane hates her and wants her.Regardless of Shane's warnings, Willa and Faith do end up spending some time together and get along very well. Shane and Willa have some encounters and it soon becomes evident that there's a heat between them that wont go away and they can't ignore. Shane acts like a jerk some of the time but he does unexpectedly nice things at times and these things touch Willa and make her start to like him (as in really like him). Shane ends up admitting his need for Willa and asks her to engage in an affair with him. One that they both know will end in a few weeks because she's going home and he's going back to racing. Willa realizes her feelings for Shane have started to morph and if they get more deeply involved, she'll have a hard time letting him go at the end of their time together. It quickly becomes apparent that Shane's starting to feel the same and they both ignore the ending coming up and tell themselves they'll worry about everything later. Shane and Willa are able to carve out some happiness with each other and they think they have time before they have to face life but an unexpected issue arises and it brings everything to the fore immediately. Willa is convinced that she can't ask Shane to give up everything for her and instead lets her fear cause her to push him away. Willa realizes she made a mistake though (this being proved by something Shane left for her to find, something that shows just how well he knows her) and soon is rushing after him to make things right. I really liked how the ending turned out as Willa and Shane are reunited and ready to start their HEA together.This was a really enjoyable story. I liked Willa in Protecting What's His and was very happy to see her get her own book and HEA. Shane started out acting like a jerk but soon I couldn't help liking him as he started showing that there's something more to him. Shane and Willa ended up being great together and I couldn't help rooting for them from page 1. I'd recommend this book. Thumbs up! :D