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Synopsis

“Sometimes love happens when you least expect it.” That was what my husband’s mistress told me the day I found out about their affair.

I didn’t believe it until five minutes later when mouth-watering celebrity chef Tanner Reese walked up, tossed his arm around my shoulders, and told my cheating husband to take a hike.

Tanner and I couldn’t have been more different. He spent his weekends at clubs, rubbing elbows with fellow A-listers. I spent mine in yoga pants with cheese boards and a glass of wine—or six.

Our relationship shouldn’t have worked, but it did. That is until Tanner proved to me that even though love happens when you least expect it…

So does heartbreak.

 

 

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Review

“Sometimes fate brings you to a place in life for a reason. It’s not up to you to figure out what that reason is. It’s only up to you to decide what you’re going to make of it.”

4 stars

Another great read from Aly Martinez! A romantic comedy with lots of heart, and a hilariously charming hero that you cannot help but completely fall for!

Tanner and Rita’s love story originally played out in the background of The Darkest Sunrise Duet (Tanner is Porter’s brother, Rita is Charlotte’s best friend). To be honest, when I first heard that Aly was writing a book for them, I didn’t actually think their story needed to be told since we’d already seen them together, but it’s Aly Martinez, and there’s no way I was not going to read this one, and I loved what she did with this story! She’s written it in a way that although it connects with the duet, it can be read as a complete standalone and it doesn’t give away any spoilers for the original story. It’s really cleverly done, so you can read this on its own, and if you have already read the duet, this will be a great bonus!

Tanner Reese is a celebrity chef with two restaurants that he owns with his brother, and his own TV show where he is forced to go shirtless for at least part of it so that he can show of his abs to his admiring fans. He doesn’t love that part of his job, but it’s created his fortune and made him a household name – though that also isn’t always a great thing as women only seem to want him for either the notoriety or what he can buy for them. He’s jaded, and yearning for something real.

Rita has just discovered that her husband has been having an affair. She’s hurt and angry and in the beginning stages of what could be a messy divorce seeing as though her husband wants her back, and they work together, and his affair was with a colleague. Ouch! So when her husband approaches her at a work function demanding a second chance, what’s a girl to do to but throw herself at the nearest available man and pretend that she’s already moved on.

“Are you married?”
“Not that I know of.”
Her nose scrunched adorably. “Fiancee? Girlfriend? Friends with benefits?”
My gaze fell to her plump lips. “You offering or asking?”

Tanner and Rita’s first meeting is one of those moments that has romance book lovers like me squeeing with delight at the fun and intensity of it all. Tanner is all over playing his part as the besotted lover, but both of them are taken back by the very real spark of attraction between them. And when their scene is over, Tanner has no intention of letting Rita go – though the timing couldn’t be worse for her.

“I’m not ready to date yet,” I confessed.
“Don’t say that,” he grumbled. “Come on, Rita. There’s something here. I know you feel it … Maybe it’s nothing and it will all fizzle over the next few weeks. But dammit, I want to try.”

There’s something awesome about a man who openly and eagerly pursues the woman of his dreams. Tanner has never fallen for a woman like he does for Rita, it doesn’t matter how fast it is, he knows his heart, and he knows that she is his. His determination to be with her is sweet, heartfelt and so much fun, and every text, phone call, and moment with them together is full of fantastic flirting and banter. I laughed out loud at the witty back-and-forth between them and I loved their playfulness.

“Are you ever a dick?” I asked.
His eyebrows furrowed. “I…um, I’m pretty sure it happens on occasion. Why?”
“Because it’s going to be really annoying if you’re this great all the time. I’m warning you. I’ve been known to get a tad bitchy sometimes, and it’s going to be no fun at all to take it out on you if you always say the right thing.”
A Tanner Reese masterpiece split his mouth. “I will definitely keep that in mind and do everything I can to step up my dick game.” He paused, twisting his lips. “Wow, that did not come out right at all.”

But it’s Tanner’s openness that I love the most, the man wears his heart on his sleeve and the way he puts himself out there for Rita is just gorgeous!

“She’s the right woman … I feel it in my bones every time she looks at me. But the timing? It’s like fate’s cruel joke. She’s got so much to deal with over the next few months. Hell, I do too. But I don’t want to let her go.”

But Rita’s life is so complicated. She knows she’s not ready for all that Tanner is offering, but she can’t resist him, and who could blame her? But she finds herself falling hard and fast, even though she knows she has a mountain of issues to overcome.

What I wouldn’t have given to be free to fall in love with this man. He was pretty perfect for me.
But right then, I was not perfect for him.
Maybe one day though.
And maybe, if I was really lucky, I wouldn’t ruin us both trying to get there.

Tanner and Rita both have soul searching to do, and it’s a beautiful, functional ride as they figure it all out. I thought the way they handled everything was sensible, I love how honest they are with each other throughout, and the way it all plays out brings a nice amount of emotion to the story. It all leads to a beautiful ending with a fantastic epilogue, and I finished the book with a big grin on my face.

This is such a gorgeous read! Funny and emotional with some profound messages and a gorgeous love story, I loved it!

4 stars!

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Darkest Sunrise Duet

 

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Excerpt

I shifted the phone to my other ear and asked her, “Did you just get in bed?”

“If, by bed, you mean carrying a glass of wine out back to swing in the hammock, maybe.”

I bit my bottom lip, my head falling back against the headrest. For most men, this would have been an
innocuous statement. But for a hammock connoisseur like myself, this was the normal guy equivalent of
her saying that she liked to give blowjobs during halftime.

“You have a hammock out back?”

There was a delay in her response, which was followed by a subtle kiss of her lips on what I assumed
was a wine glass. “Don’t knock it until you try it. It’s one of the most underrated luxuries in outdoor
furniture.”

“Oh, I’m not knocking anything. Rope or quilted?”

“Mayan, actually.”

“Oh, sweet heavenly baby Jesus, she’s beautiful and knows her hammocks. I’ve never been so turned on
in my life.”

She giggled, pausing for another sip. “You know, if you leaked this hammock fetish to the press, you
could probably increase demand by five million percent and singlehandedly lower the country’s
unemployment rate.”

Okay, so at some point during the day, she’d figured out who I was.

But! Even with this knowledge, she was trying to avoid a date with me and was not elbow-
deep in planning our televised wedding. This was a definite plus in my book.

“Yeah, but then, when I talked to beautiful women like yourself, I’d have no idea if the hammock was
your idea or a ploy to impress me.”

“Jeez, that’s sad, Tanner,” she said, her sweet Southern accent like a wave rolling over my name.

I’d meant it as a joke, but it was the absolute truth when it came to dating. Early on in my career, I’d
done a rapid-fire interview about my personal life. One of the questions had been: What would your
ideal woman order on the first date? Truth be told, the only thing I hoped my ideal woman would order
was something she wanted. I didn’t factor into that. But I’d been on my last question in my
last interview of the last day of a month-long press tour. My face had hurt from fake smiling, I’d been in
desperate need of a shower, a smoke, and sleep, and my mind had been mush, so I’d prattled off the
first thing that had come to mind: shrimp and grits.

That one little answer somehow made it onto my Wiki page, and after that, every woman I’d taken out
ordered shrimp and grits. One of them even had a shellfish allergy and nearly ended up in the hospital.
And this insanity was not limited to women outside of the spotlight.

I’d once gone on a date with America’s princess of pop, Levee Williams. We’d hit it off at a charity event.
For one of the most famous women in the world, she was a surprisingly nice girl, gorgeous, and funny as
all get out. But the first time I took her out? One guess what she ordered.

I was at the end of my rope with dating and lost my freaking mind before storming out like an asshole.
That night, as I was reporting shrimp and fucking grits as an error to Wiki, I noticed that her page listed it
as her favorite food. I’d never had the balls to contact her again, and I once hid behind a palm tree on
Rodeo Drive when I heard the clamoring of paparazzi calling her name. But that’s neither here nor there.

In short, while finding a woman was all too easy, dating was hard.

But that wasn’t about to stop me from trying with Rita.

 

 

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About the Author

Originally from Savannah, Georgia, USA Today bestselling author Aly Martinez now lives in South Carolina with her four young children.

Never one to take herself too seriously, she enjoys cheap wine, mystery leggings, and baked feta. It should be known, however, that she hates pizza and ice cream, almost as much as writing her bio in the third person.

She passes what little free time she has reading anything and everything she can get her hands on, preferably with a super-sized tumbler of wine by her side.

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