Licking her wounds after a bad relationship, San Diego accountant Caitlyn Summers travels to Willow Springs to help her friend gear up for the annual Maple Sugar Ball. She isn’t planning on staying long, but one encounter with the delicious Corey Duncan has her re-evaluating her plans. Corey swore off love when his wife Annie died from breast cancer. Caitlyn is too young, too citified, and … vibrates with a passion and energy that will upend the safe, comfortable rhythm of his life. Corey has to choose between playing it safe and taking a risk on love. Caitlyn needs to find the patience to let Corey lead. If not, the Maple Sugar Ball might end in a sticky mess, instead of a slow dance with the man who has captured her heart. Will their fire burn hot enough to erase doubts and past hurts?
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In this Deerbourne Inn series book, accountant Caitlin Summers is visiting Willow Springs to help her friend Annette with the annual Maple Sugar Ball. Even though she’s been traveling the world for a year, she still hasn’t gotten over her bad breakup with her ex-boyfriend.
Widower Corey Duncan lives his life around his feed store and avoids entanglements with women, but he can’t deny the instant attraction he feels for Caitlin, no matter how much he wants to. As their mutual friends play matchmaker, he and Cat are roped into working together to perform a special Chinese lion dance at the Christmastime festivities.
Cat and Corey are great characters. Both of them were suffering from loss and they helped each other heal. Cat, especially, was very understanding and considerate when Corey talked about his deceased wife. Love and romance bloomed from friendship and sexual attraction.
Cat’s Lao Lao (grandmother) was hilarious, and I would’ve loved more scenes with her! I found the history of the lion dance very interesting, and the lion costume and dance moves were described so vividly that I easily pictured it in my mind.
The townsfolk play a big a role in the story. Even though Annette, Lynn, and Stan are series stock characters, Ms Boon really brought them to life and made them interesting in their own right.
Overall, I enjoyed the characters and the romance. The sex scenes were both hot and heartfelt, showing the healing process. I would definitely like to read more books by Ms. Boon.
4 Stars
— I received this book from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed it
Lion Dancing for Love by Laura Boon, is the first book I’ve read from this author. It is the latest addition to the Deerbourne Inn series. I thoroughly enjoyed her tale of love after loss and second chances. The character and plot were realistic and relatable. The descriptions of the fictional town Willow Springs, it’s shops and delectable food made you feel like you were there sharing Cory and Caitlyn’s experiences and their connection to the townspeople. I delighted in their quirky families’ antics. I love a HEA story. This heartwarming story is a quick read but very satisfying. I give Ms. Boon a well-deserved 5-star rating and highly recommend her book.
This was my first read from this author and I thoroughly enjoyed her writing style. This book was a bit steamier than my usual (I fall somewhere between sweet and steamy, in the spicy zone), but I enjoyed the characters immensely and they were quite attracted to each other from the get-go! Ms. Boon did a great job creating genuine and likable characters. Caitlin and Corey both have complicated pasts with their respective exes and are hesitant about starting over at their ages (35-40), but they make a believable, passionate couple. I’ve been enjoying the books in the Deerbourne Inn series, and the author lays out the town really well — from the food (so much yummy food!), coffee (ditto!), to friends and that whole “small-town” feel, to the stores. You feel like you are there. I love a good HEA, and I’ve got a sweet spot for a well-written romance steeped with a compelling, natural voice. This one leaves me going “ahhhh.” Well done!
LION DANCING FOR LOVE by Laura Boon, the latest addition to the Deerboune Inn series, is a novel filled with emotion, decisions, dance, and love.
I love a moving on after loss story so much and LION DANCING FOR LOVE hit all the emotional points for me that I look for in a well told, emotional romance in this trope. But the one thing that Boon did exceptionally well in her book was something I don’t see often in tales of loss: having a protagonist NOT want to move on. Corey Duncan loved his wife unconditionally and in the 5 years since her loss he still feels exactly the same way for her as he did when he fell in love. He doesn’t want to meet another woman, start a new family, find a new love. He had perfection – in his eyes – and wants to continue honoring the memory of his wife and marriage. And more, he’s resigned to this way of life despite the best laid efforts of his family, friends, and the town of Willow Springs, VT
Without giving too much of this lovely story away, Ms Boon discovers just exactly the emotional tether that needs to be cut in order for Corey to move on.
The heroine, Caitlyn Summers, has her own tragic past with love, but it’s not as heartwarming a tale as Corey’s.
Both of these people are so stuck in their lives, pasts, and ways, that getting them to move forward is a monumental job – something Boon tackles perfectly.
I loved this story, the characters, and the way Ms. Boon used dance to help the two of them heal their broken hearts. It was a perfect metaphor for moving forward – and backward – in life and in love.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Wild Rose Press for allowing me a sneak peak at this next book in the Deerbourne Inn series. It gets 5 well deserved stars from me because it’s a really good read!
This is a really enjoyable story, set in the small town of Willow Springs, it is cold and time for the local Maple Sugar Ball, the lovely Caitlin Summers has come to town to help her friend out in her shop, and she is not looking for love, but small towns and friends tend to want everyone to be happy, and when she meets local Corey Duncan, well her heart is starting to flutter.
Caitlin was hurt badly when her last relationship broke up, she left her family and her home state of San Diego and traveled through Europe trying to get her life back together, she is now on her way home and makes a short stop in Willow Springs to help her friend Annette out, but when she meets Corey she is starting to have second thoughts about where she wants to live and with her pulse beating faster whenever she is with Corey change needs to happen.
Corey has lived in Willow Springs forever, he was happily in love and married but he lost his Annie five years before and swore that he would never love again and would spend his life single, but when he meets Caitlin he feels very drawn to her, being single does not hold the appeal it used to and as they get closer practicing the lion dance so does the sensual pull.
Two people who had pretty much decided to stay single, two people who are loving and caring and when they find each other the sparks fly and they fall into each other’s arms in a sensual and loving journey to find a beautiful HEA, I do highly recommend this quick read that is sure to leave a smile, and it is the first in a series yay. Thank you MS Boon for a wonderful happy story.