With a kidney transplant behind her, Avery Adams is determined to channel her inner adventurer and explore everything life has to offer. Only problem is, the closest she’s ever come to a real-life adventure was sixth-grade science camp. So to seize the summer in her rustic Sierra Nevada town, she takes a job as a guide at the local adventure lodge. But Avery doesn’t realize her biggest challenge … challenge will register at six-plus feet of rugged good looks and alpha-male charm.
As a member of the Sequoia Elite Mountain Rescue team, Tyson Donovan has made a life out of cheating death and rescuing weekend warriors from the treacherous terrain. “The world is my home” is more than just a motto; it’s what scares off women who would otherwise try to tie him down. When his dad’s health lands the family’s adventure lodge in serious danger of going up in flames, he moves home—and quickly remembers why he left. Until he meets Avery, the irresistible new guide who makes him want to stay.
Tyson gives the inexperienced Avery a lesson in romance that her books could never teach her. And with her undeniable spirit for life, Avery shows Tyson the healing power of love. But with one misstep, everything comes crashing down, and they’ll both have to take the biggest leap of all—into the kind of adventure that lasts a lifetime.
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Avery Adams is wanting to live her life differently now. Not just because she is 27 but also because she has had a kidney transplant and she is tired of not living. Now she has left her comfortable life like some people would think. Now she has gotten herself a job at an adventure lodge in the Sierra’s. Thinking everything is going as planned and it was until she ran into Tyson Donovan who is a member of the elite mountain rescue team. When he goes on a hike with her when they return he surprises her with HI your fired. Turns out he is the owner’s son and yes there are problems with the facility, but there is also a problem with the owner and his son. This really comes up when he can’t fire her because of her office skills. Now Avery and Tyson are forced to work together and he begins to see her and helps in romance and her wanting to experience life, even if it starts with getting on a mechanical bull. That is something she would not have done before, she also working on hiking the trails. She is giving Tyson the ability to find forgiving and healing, something he needs for himself and his father. A wonderful story. I got this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at http://www.1rad-readerreviews.com
I am on a binge with this author in audio form while working on my house and getting ready to move and this one…oh, this one had me hooked from the start! Avery is a kidney transplant survivor who has learned to live life large and no holds barred. She lives for every minute and does not have a bucket list but a memory journal she is completing for others (be still my heart). She meets Tyson while leaving a note on his truck (unsuccessfully) and this meet cute is perfect when it leads to a dare, a Shirley Temple, and a kiss. Ty is back home on vacation from his search and rescue job to help save his family’s adventure lodge. Watching Avery and Ty come together was wonderful and left me with all the feels. I highly recommend this one and looking forward to moving on to the next book in this series as I continue painting!
A wonderful story that tugs at the heartstrings. Loved the interplay between the hero and heroine. The trauma and hurt that Ty and Avery each needs to overcome is offset by the determination to become the people they want to be. The story is filled with humor and poignancy. Great read from beginning to end.
Oftentimes the first book in a new series doesn’t quite click for me. Sometimes the author tries too hard to lay the groundwork up for future couples. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the author setting up the new geographical setting. Sometimes I just don’t feel the connection quite yet. But Marina Adair didn’t fall into a single one of these pitfalls and instead wrote one of my favorite series starters in a very long time. Immediately after finishing It Started with a Kiss I knew I couldn’t wait to read the second book and was disappointed to discover there wasn’t yet a third.
Everything about this book hit every single mark for me. Right from the very beginning, I knew I was going to fall in love with Avery Adams. Avery spent much of her young life dealing with the fallout of her mother’s death and then being diagnosed with the same kidney disease that killed her mom. But after a kidney transplant a year ago, Avery is more than ready to dive back into living and her new job working for the local adventure lodge is a great way to help make that happen. I loved that despite dealing with tragedy and limitations on her life, Avery is so gung-ho about just jumping into anything and everything. A huge part of her story is fulfilling dreams and wishes for her friends who have either already passed or are too sick to fulfill their own wishes, which really just solidified my feelings towards Avery. Adair did an amazing job of writing a character that was vulnerable and had a difficult past, but was still doing her damnedest to live her very best life. It wasn’t hard to find myself rooting for her to get everything she wanted, including Ty Donovan.
As a member of an elite mountain rescue team, Ty is all about saving people. As a teenager, he failed to save his own brother in a tragic mountain accident, which has tainted his view of his family and his small hometown in all the years since. But when things with his father’s health and management of their family adventure lodge take a sour turn, Ty finds himself back home and dealing with past demons and current trouble. Including Avery, the feisty wannabe adventure guide. She’s possibly a liability, but she’s also definitely someone he absolutely wants to kiss.
After having the most adorably fun meet cute of all time involving lipstick scrawled notes on windshields, a stuck climbing harness, and a ton of innuendo, I knew I was going to love Avery and Ty as a couple. There was instant attraction, but there was also instant connection and you could tell right away that their story was going to be the perfect combination of fun and emotional and filled with off the charts chemistry. There was plenty of romance and tension-ridden scenes, but their relationship also felt honest and true. And a huge plus for me was that their issues and the things that drove them apart and then pulled them back together didn’t feel contrived. It never felt like there was a breakup just for the sake of a breakup, instead it just felt like two adults battling their own demons and eventually coming out the other side more emotionally ready to deal with their new life together.
But beyond just the spot on romance, I also absolutely loved the small town and all the plot that came along with that. The plot wasn’t just driven by the love story of Avery and Ty. They each had their own really interesting stories- Avery dealing with life after surgery and helping her large group of friends from her support group, Ty dealing with his painful family dynamic while trying to save the lodge. And then when their stories intersected in dealings with the lodge, it provided the perfect opportunity to see that they were a great fit for each other outside of just the bedroom. The supporting characters helped build the world of Sequoia Lake and the Lodge and didn’t just help me love Ty and Avery even more, they also left me intrigued and excited about future books in the series.
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Avery Adams has been given a second chance at life and she fully intends to grab it with both hands, live it to the fullest, and squeeze every drop of adventure out of it while she can. She patiently waited after her transplant for her body to heal and for the time when doctors would tell her she was free to return to a normal life again outside the walls of the hospital, and the minute they did she was gone, armed with a list of adventures from fellow patients that she has every intention of completing. Her adventures take her to a local lodge where she takes a job as a guide, and before long she is crossing items off her list, and living the life she dreamed about… but the one thing she didn’t account for is a man like Ty Donovan to walk into her life. The minute they meet the sparks start to fly, and they share a kiss that lights up her world, but things start to dim a little when she meets her new boss…
When his fathers health takes a turn for the worse, and the family lodges livelihood is at stake, Ty Donovan has no choice but to return home and get things under control. But it means returning to a past that he’s not wanting to face, and the very demons that drove him away. He figures he’ll get in there, fix what needs fixing and get out, but once there and he meets one of his families newest guides, he finds himself tempted to stay… and wanting to fix the wrongs of his past.
Avery and Ty’s story is a touching read that warmed my heart, made me laugh, and had me swooning like a fool. Avery was a breath of fresh air, and never to cease to amaze me with her bravery, whit, and strength, she is truly an inspiring character for us all to look up to. And don’t get me started with Ty, he was a dream come true, I mean what is not to love about a sexy, outdoorsy man armed with the skills to swoop in and save the day!! I loved spending my afternoon getting to know these two, and I cannot wait to make a return visit to this series and get better acquainted with more of these endearing folks! I think it is safe to say Ms. Adair has another bestselling series on her hands, definitely some of her best work to date!!
This is the first book that I’ve read by Marina Adair. I’m not totally for sure if I’m a fan or not … something just missed the mark with me on this one and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
When you start reading, you’re dropped into Avery’s life after she’s had this life-altering kidney transplant. It’s made abundantly clear that Avery has a new lease on life. And that’s great! This chick is learning to live in the moment and more power to her. But even knowing that … her character didn’t seem consistent. I imagine going through something like Avery has, it really changes your perspective on things and maybe you do start to honestly change. And maybe with that comes some wavering within a persons character. Even still, Avery didn’t seem like a complete character. Something was just off about her and it lasted the entire novel for me. It does make me think that maybe it was intentional on the author’s part for Avery to come across like that but it didn’t sit well with me.
The story itself was … okay. For being an outdoorsy book with this hero leading male, I thought that he would have a personality that was larger than life to go along with it. And he did sometimes. But it wasn’t consistent. While I liked most of the characters in the book, none of them really stood out as people I will remember in the coming months. I won’t be reading my next book and then still thinking about the characters from this book. And that’s okay, I just prefer to have characters that stick with me. I want to WANT to know more about them and miss them when I’ve moved onto something else.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think that the plot was any more engaging than the characters were. It was okay but it didn’t grab my attention and refuse to let go. There were parts where I felt like I should have been empathizing with the characters or at least feeling some sort of sad emotions for what was going on but that didn’t happen. I think that feeling emotional while reading this was the intention but apparently, my heart is made of stone. And then the ending … for the love of all things fluffy. The ending was sugary sweet and it was a tad too much. The rest of the book hadn’t been that way and it just felt odd and ill placed.
While I didn’t hate the story and/or author, I don’t know if I will read another book by her. There are tons of awesomely high ratings for this book right now, so I apparently missed something.
* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *