Welcome to the bestselling Diamond Creek, Alaska Novels – a sexy and steamy contemporary romance series set against the wilderness and beauty of small-town Alaska! Sometimes love happens in a crash—or at least that’s how Risa and Darren met.
Risa Holden often feels like her life is spinning beyond her control. On the heels of an emotional betrayal, she’s more committed than ever to making sure … making sure she doesn’t hope for too much, especially not love. When Darren Thomas, a smoldering and oh-so-sexy cop, helps her after she crashes her car, she thinks a fling is in order. Her heart has other ideas.
Darren Thomas looks dangerously delicious in his uniform—with a smile that melts hearts and a body to notch up the heat. When he meets Risa, the spark between them burns so hot and fast, he can’t think straight. After facing a tragedy in his career, he retreated home to Alaska with plans to keep to himself. Risa tests his convictions by rattling the cage around his heart.
The sensual passion between Risa and Darren weaves a spell beyond their control. Both are tumbling far and fast—love the only thing that might break their fall.
*All novels in this series are full-length standalone novels with an HEA.
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Lots to like in this story. I really liked the 2 art gallery owners. Very good story line. About 30% of length is describing leads having sex. A bit repetitively.
I usually enjoy this author but this book was nothing but typos, missing words or too many, poor grammar. Very distracting. Really needed an editor and proof reader.
Great read
In the series all the Heroines had self confidence and self esteem and ‘he’s out of my league, why is he attracted to me??’ issues and it got annoying after a while. I was also surprised how quickly these couples moved to intimacy at inappropriate places.
Another instance of a USA Today bestseller that just doesn’t work for me. Like, on any level.
Plot overview: Darren pulls Risa from her car after she wrecks it, and it turns out he’s her brother’s friend. She’s one of those “I’ve been betrayed so I only want a fling” types; he’s one of those “I usually only do casual but she’s so super special I can’t fight this thing between us” types. Cliche land, in other words.
At 6% of this story, after Darren has pulled Risa out of her car and says he’ll take her to her brother’s house, he pulls the car over on a deserted stretch of road says he just HAS to kiss her. They’ve only just met, and she is quite probably concussed after the accident. I had to go back at that point and check to make sure I hadn’t inadvertently downloaded a romantic suspense novel, because I’m pretty sure I’ve seen that EXACT storyline on Criminal Minds a time or two, and I can’t remember it ever working out in the heroine’s favor. But no, it’s not a romantic suspense. It’s just a totally unbelieveable amount of weird instalust.
Now, I don’t normally mind instalust, but pulling the car over because you just HAVE to kiss a woman who was just in a car wreck? A woman you JUST met? Are you INSANE, Darren? This makes you look like a crazy sicko stalker or something!
But Risa isn’t as paranoid as I am, I guess, because she was totally into the kiss. I guess I’m supposed to think, “aw, aren’t they sweet? Isn’t it hot that they’re so attracted to each other at first sight?” That’s not what I think, though. Not at all. I think it seems like everything is moving strangely fast for Darren and Risa for no good reason, and that even if the cop who pulled me from a car accident was the second coming of Hugh Jackman, I would probably still think he was going to kill me when he pulled the car over and insisted on kissing me. It was so strange to me that I couldn’t get past it, y’all. I DNF’d. I DNF’d with extreme prejudice, and I haven’t looked back since.
Romance Rehab: book recs, author services, general badassery: http://www.romancerehab.com/
So much doubting between main characters about themselves and each other.
I have read almost all of J.H. Croix’s books and each one is as good as the next.
This is Risa and Darren’s story. If you have read the other books in the series you know that Darren is the town sheriff. He’s had a cameo role in each book, especially in Emma and Trey’s story where he helps to get rid of Emma’s ex. He is not only the town sheriff who looks really hot in his uniform but also a forest firefighter! How much better can it get?!
Risa is Trey’s sister and has a tendency to get in car accidents throughout the story which is quite funny.
The story starts out with Risa getting in a car accident and Darren arriving to help her out. There is an instant attraction and a steamy kiss all in the first chapter!
Both characters have some emotional damage and neither thinks they are good enough for the other. The author makes her characters completely believable with real pasts and real problems. We’ve all made decisions in the past that we wish we could take back and situations that are completely out of our control that we still feel responsible for.
Through time and friends they come to both realize they need to move beyond their past.
Through the author you can vividly see the sunsets and the beauty of the mountains.
You won’t regret reading this book.