Return to Maui in the follow up to the USA Today best seller, Life’s a Beach. Jamie K. Schmidt’s Beach Happens is the perfect Hawaii staycation filled with snarky laughs and sexy romance.Attorney Michaela Harris is on her honeymoon—Alone. After being jilted at the altar, she takes off to Maui, only to lose her luggage and be stranded without a hotel room, thanks to her ex-fiancé canceling the … canceling the reservation. The sympathetic staff at the Palekaiko Beach Resort look the other way when Michaela makes a deal to stay in a room that’s being renovated until a better one is available. She hits the surf to forget about her problems, but when she encounters a shark, she wonders if things will ever get better.
Billionaire Marcus Kincaide is about to lose his resort. No renovations will turn this around, not with his arch enemy out to destroy him. Marcus has got to keep his head in the game, but the mysterious and pretty wahine in the teeny bikini he rescued from a shark is filling his mind with desires that demand his attention. He figures a hot, intense and short affair is in order, so he can get back to the business of saving his livelihood. What he didn’t figure was falling for her and giving his enemy just what he needs to take him down.
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“Don’t let the consequences stop you.” “Honesty is the best policy.” – Zarafina, the tarot card reader
Be prepared to be delighted by this story which immerses us into the surfer culture of Hawaii. It is an adventure and suspenseful sexy love story with a plot that twists and turns, breaks your heart and puts it back together again, stronger for the healed damage.
Our story begins with one of the most painful and devastating nightmares for any woman…Michaela’s fiancée, Gerald, does not show for their wedding, jilting her publicly in front of family and friends. Privately she reads that he does not love her. Further on in the book we find out he was in bed with another woman.
Michaela while shocked and dazed realizes that Gerald was not exactly the love of her life, still she plans on keeping the honeymoon plans for a Hawaiian vacation, if only just for herself.
She faces a host of challenges to include lost luggage and cancelled reservations. She, being a clever and intelligent woman…Did I mention she was a lawyer?…finds a way to take care of herself with the help of caring and sympathetic resort staff. The fact that she meets the sexy, physically beautiful wealthy hotelier resort owner, Marcus also adds to her enjoyment of her Hawaiian surfer retreat.
For a number of reasons, Michaela prefers to, even needs to tell Marcus half truths as their intense attraction begins to develop into deeper feelings. There are other circumstances conspiring around them which only serve to cause them both to draw erroneous conclusions.
We, the reader are practically shouting at Michaela to tell Marcus the whole truth while we read. The reaction from Marcus when she does tell him the whole truth breaks our heart.
It looks like they were star crossed lovers who loved and lived for a moment as surfers and dreamers, when their relationship falls apart and Michaela settles for another wedding day to marry Gerald. She resigned herself to a loveless match to fulfill a business aim of her father.
Now if I tell you what happens next, I would spoil the fun of Michaela’s wedding day. Does she follow the advice the tarot card reader gave her in Hawaii?
The writing is respectable and the author is obviously familiar with the Hawaiian surfer lingo and culture. This adds a nice flavor to the novel. I have one small complaint. The description of all the surfing became a bit tedious to read. I believe a little less surfer content would make the book better. And the author could add more description for the non surfer, so that the action on the water could come alive in the minds of those who never even seen a surf board.
The general point of this story or takeaway theme for the reader seems to be living authentically and with “truth” as a major quality found in your life’s compass no matter the consequences. This point is made by a sexy, more like… super sexy hot, love story wrapped in a twisty-turny suspenseful plot.
Happily, I was gifted this lovely read. My review is entirely voluntary, as well as, my thoughts expressed herein are completely my own.
I rated this story 4.5 but I always round up. As such it is a value for a one click purchase, especially if you like your stories hot!
Fun read. Lovely characters..
I enjoy CR, and love Hawaii, but this one is just plain dumb.