A wounded soldier needs her own hero…
Treats to Tempt You, Book 6.
A friends-to-lovers poignant, sexy romance.
Carrying out the goals on someone else’s Bucket List might seem like an odd thing to do, but for Genie it’s the perfect way to honor her best friend, Ciara, who died in the bomb blast that blew up the Army truck carrying them both across Afghanistan. Genie’s come home to the Bay of … Afghanistan. Genie’s come home to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand to rest her injured knee, and she hopes that by fulfilling Ciara’s list of wishes she can also heal the grief and guilt that goes deeper than her physical wound. Spending some time with Ciara’s gorgeous big brother just happens to be an added bonus.
Niall Brennan has always been attracted to Genie, but when he offers to join in with the Bucket List idea, he tells himself it’s purely out of a desire to pay homage to his sister. That’s fine when the first goal they pick at random is taking cooking lessons. It becomes less easy to hide his desire when they spend an afternoon on a nudist beach, and by the time they take part in the body painting event, Niall has no chance of keeping his desire a secret. Luckily, Genie reciprocates his feelings—a hundred and ten percent, and soon it’s not only the weather that turns hot and sultry.
Conscious that Niall’s mother, Sinead, blames Genie for her daughter’s death, they decide to keep their sizzling but brief fling just a secret between friends. But although Genie’s knee is on the mend, her emotional wounds refuse to heal. Sinead continues to refuse to forgive her, and even Ciara reaches out from beyond the grave to warn Genie against dating her big brother.
The final wish on Ciara’s Bucket List brings everything to a head. Genie knows she has to end the fling. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and besides, Niall has other ideas…
Warning: this sweet and sexy romance is best read with a fan on standby. Adults only.
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In the Treats to Tempt You series, Books 1-5 (the Treats Quintet) follow the stories of a group of friends who own a chocolate and coffee shop in Doubtless Bay in the sub-tropical Northland of New Zealand, and the men they fall in love with. Books 6-10 (the Between Quintet) follow a new group of friends based in the Between the Sheets cocktail bar in the Bay of Islands, but the characters from the Treats Quintet make frequent appearances. The Treats Tasters are shorter sexy adventures revisiting some of the characters from the series.
The correct order is as follows (although the books are all standalones that can be enjoyed in any order):
1: Treat with Caution (Tasha and Kole)
2: Treat her Right (Maisey and Joss)
3: A Rare Treat (Elle and Stuart)
4: Trick or Treat (Fox and Caitlin)
5: A Festive Treat (Skye and Owen)
5.5: No Way to Treat a Lady (Hayley and Jed – Taster)
6: A Secret Between Friends (Niall and Genie)
6.5: A Taste of Things to Come (Tasha and Kole – Taster)
7: An Ocean Between Us (Danny and Hermione)
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This one pulls at the heartstrings. It’s a very emotional story with so many layers. It reminds me of why I love Serenity Woods books She is a talented storyteller and transports the reader to New Zealand where we fall in love with the place and the people. A Secret Between Friends is no different. Genie and Niall are simply wonderful. Genie is a sympathetic character whom I truly felt her sorrow as she struggles to come to terms with the death of her best friend Ciara. Both were victims of a IED explosion in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, Ciara didn’t survive. Genie returns home broken, not only physically, but mentally. Niall is there to help her through her struggles. He also happens to be Ciara’s brother. Both not only have to come to terms with their grief, but also with their growing attraction to each other. Not everyone is happy about their relationship. Their journey is not easy, but the challenges were so worth the fight.
I absolutely adored Niall. He’s patient, kind, empathetic, and really sexy. Genie is a force of nature with beauty and confidence and yet very vulnerable.
I loved this book and the ending was just perfect!
Heartwrenchingly Beautiful. It was different to read about a heroic wounded female with PTSD and survivor guilt. I loved the idea of Niall and Genie fulfilling Ciara’s bucket list and the way the two of them fell in love over it. Cried buckets over the HEA.
Read 2016
Oh, my!! What an amazing romance novel. This is the kind of story that I could happily read again and again and again and never grow tired of it.
First off, we have Genie who came home from the war when her best-friend, who was more like a sister, did not. Ciara parents blame Genie for her death – but they have absolutely no idea about how hard Genie had tried to save her.
This only member of Ciara’s family that goes out of his way to speak to Genie is Niall, Ciara’s brother. Genie has been in love with Niall since she was a young teen, although she has always tried her best not to show it. Now, he is helping her complete Ciara’s bucket-list and the more time she spends with him, the more her love grows.
Likewise, Niall has always secretly longed for Genie and the buck-list challenge gives him a chance to get really close with her.
This novel is sensual, but the love scenes are beautifully portrayed. Likewise, the emotional turmoil, the regret, the guilt and the desperate longing is also played out between the pages of this remarkable book.
This novel has a big thumbs up from me because it is truly brilliant.
A romantic read. Niall and Genie have held a secret crush on each other for years. She is home after an accident in the army; where she lost her best friend, Ciara, who was also Niall’s sister. There is a lot of fraught tension and blame towards Ciara. Niall, however, shows compassion and they start to fulfil Ciara’s bucket list.
Through this journey they rediscover each other and themselves. Romantic with some raunchy sexual content.
Learning to forgive yourself
I am yet to find a book by the wonderful Serenity Woods that I haven’t loved and A Secret Between Friends is another book to add to my list of faves! Genie and Niall’s story deals with some pretty heavy stuff from death to post traumatic stress disorder, as well as obsessive compulsive disorder and fragile familial relationships. But at the same time, this story is balanced out with love, laughter, some incredibly sensual and sexy scenes and the beautiful setting of the Bay of Islands in New Zealand that I can’t get enough of.
Genie and Niall share a brother/sister type bond after Genie lived with Niall’s family for 12 years (due to her own mother passing away and her two brothers and father moving for work). However, despite being four years his junior, Genie always had a crush on Niall … she just never got the chance to pursue it. When Genie arrives home from the army, broken and wounded in more ways than one, it looks like she might just get her chance with Niall.
I loved this couple and I can’t wait to read the next two books (the third is out later this month – May 2018). Serenity is a master of the interconnected standalone series and I always manage to fall in love with any character she writes about. Couple that with the fact that the Between the Sheets series is a bit sexier and steamier than her usual books and this was a story I could not put down.
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Amazon/Goodreads
It is a complete story. I was disappointed that there was not more to the characters.