New from MaryAnn Clarke Scott, Award-winning author of The Art of Enchantment.She welcomes any risk, as long as it doesn’t involve her own carefully guarded heart.Adrenaline junkie, Niki Ballantyne is a risk-taker at work and at play. Haunted by guilt over her brother’s tragic death, she’s devoted to saving others in trouble.While on an adventure holiday in the south of France, she meets handsome … south of France, she meets handsome and charming traveller Luc and his shy friend, the gentle giant Didier.
Helping the bullied blacksmith win the love of another woman is not a typical rescue project for Niki, but she’s driven by compassion for her lonely new friend. Bittersweet memories of her brother’s life compel Niki to stay and support the star-crossed giant.
Their forged affair is perfectly safe.
There’s no risk of getting emotionally involved, but teaching him about intimacy comes with consequences, and lesson to be learned.
Particularly when it comes to Luc. On the cusp of a life-altering decision, Luc is drawn to daredevil Niki, though she upends his carefully laid plans for a perfect future. Despite instant chemistry and a powerful connection, Niki pushes him away.
But when a sudden emergency brings Luc to her rescue, the way he sees her vulnerability scares her more than anything. Now she has to decide if the last thing she ever wanted might be exactly what she needs.
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A picturesque French town serves as a crossroads for 3 souls needing more
June 7, 2019
Format: Paperback
4-4.5 stars
This story has some deep themes and, after a rocky start, ended up a really worthwhile read. The descriptions of the glories of colorful summer sunsets and French village life made me want to be there. Heroine daredevil Niki is a young woman cycling, running, jumping, and sommersaulting her way through life to avoid getting too close and depending on anyone. Luc is having trouble executing his plan to create a perfect family to replace the loving family life he lost with his parents’ death. Giant local ironmonger Didier is afraid to take any steps toward romance with the woman he’s pined for. The three eventually face their biggest fears and go for what they want, leading to a rosy finish but with some surprise and painful details along the way. It took me some time to like Niki but she grew on me, especially as she championed Didier and Amelie.
There’s romance, some not too explicit steamy moments, lots of action as Niki careens around the town and countryside, and a touching backstory revealed in small bits and pieces for Niki and her well-loved younger brother Sam. There’s also a lot of bullying and I, like Niki, was angered by the way the townspeople allowed the bullies to act without any push-back.
I read a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.
MaryAnn Clarke, ‘A Forged Affair’, (Life is a Journey, book 2).
As an ARC reader I received this book for free. And promised an honest review. Here it is. English isn’t my first language. Sorry for errors.
Rating: 4,5 stars (of 5).
In general: Discovering real love in the South of France.
Main characters:
– Niki Ballantyne (26).
She lives in Vancouver, Can., working in a mountain search and rescue team. She loves her job so much that she forgets to take holidays. So her boss forces her to do so.
Now she’s traveling on her MTB in southern France discovering some famous MTB trails and adventure spots.
– Luc Ehrenskjold (29).
Teacher in Social Studies in Vancouver. Since his youth he spends – with family and friends – every summer vacation in Bergeron, Aquitane. In southern France he has a girlfriend with benefits, the sister of his best friend Charles, where he stays during his vacation in Bergeron. Like Niki he’s an experienced mountainbiker.
Luc meets Niki when she travels to Bergeron looking for a place to sleep. That’s difficult for in the little city just starts the annual medieval festival and during a week all the hotels and inns are crowded. Niki and Luc arrive in the middle of the opening festivitities and she gets involved in an act of acrobats (a la Cirque du Soleil) and a play with amateur actors. There she meets Didier, a nice, big and intelligent artisan, who is bullied because of his lenght by some inhabitants of Bergeron. Niki wants to help him for Didier reminds her of her somewhat autistic brother she tried to protect against bullying by other kids. But at the same time she feels attracted to the gorgeous looking, caring and athletic Luc, a friend of Didier, who understands her so well. But she’s afraid to show her feelings for him; she has fear of commitment.
At last she finds a place to sleep in Didier’s guestroom. She discovers that Didier is deeply in love with Amelie, a lovely shopowner in Bergeron. But he’s is too shy and too much lacking in self-confidence to declare his love to her.
The author, MaryAnn Clarke describes in an interesting plot how Niki tries to help Didier in getting more self-confidence while accepting that she loves Luc. The story is well written, gives interesting insight of the life in a small town in southern France and a lot of info about mountainbiking. At the end Niki’s doubts and self-confidence are perhaps a bit too precariously for such a independent woman, but all in all the book was a pleasure to read.
R. Huiszoon.