Review: Well written and satisfying love story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 23, 2014
So I'm pretty excited about Christi Barth's new Shore Secrets series and the first book Up To Me.  One thing I've always appreciated about this author is her quirky characters and it looks like this series has a whole town full.  This book had an interesting plot with the hero on a mission to decide if his company should do a hostile takeover of the heroine's family hotel.  The thing is when he meets her, he doesn't know who she is he just knows he wants to know her better and she is smitten, something she hasn't been in three years since her parents died.  It's a somewhat complicated plot made even more entertaining by the heroine's friends and a town who asks and gives advice in a journal held in a mailbox by the lake.  Like I said quirky, the whole damn lot of them and believe me they pull some punches with their advice as the romance between Ella Mayhew and Graydon (Gray) Locke blossoms.From the moment they meet I knew that Ella and Gray were meant to be but man did it take them a while to get there.  The un-dating and no sex until they date rule just about did me in, I'm really not sure how the characters got through it all because I was ready to jump both of them.  I mean seriously there's only so much a gal can take!  There's no doubt they enjoyed themselves as they spent two days pretty much together in a hotel room, but keep in mind this is on the sweet side of romance so if you are expecting graphic recounts of their sexy times, you don't get them.  You do however, get a fantastic love story of a man who has a tough decision to make that will affect more than himself and a woman learning to accept the legacy that was left to her despite her grief and guilty conscience.  In addition you get to meet some really interesting people in their lives and get a feeling that nothing in this series will be ordinary.Gray was one of those heroes that you wanted to not like because while he technically didn't lie to the Ella, he didn't tell the truth.  However, he did so much to help her and make her realize that she was stronger than she knew and had better judgment than she believed.  It's really hard not to like a man who continually bolsters a woman's self esteem.  I liked Ella although I felt like she'd never quite lived her life the way she wanted to because just as she was spreading her wings, they were clipped by the tragedy that took her parents and she was afraid of making another mistake.  So watching her come into her own and realize she was stronger than she thought really was a thing of beauty.Christi Barth delivers another well written and satisfying love story in Up To Me.  The first book in the Shore Secrets series has me hooked and I can't wait to see what happens next at Seneca Lake!Review copy provided for an honest review.