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Review

Blaire is a 19 year old country girl from Alabama. Having spent the last three years looking after her terminally ill mother, she is left completely alone upon her death. With no house, no money and no job she travels to Florida, to the father she hasn’t seen since he deserted the family 5 years ago, hoping that he will be able to provide her with some stability so that she can find work, make herself some money and find her way forward.

She arrives to find that her father has taken off to Paris with his new wife, without leaving word for her or telling anybody she was coming. His house is also in full on party mode, and the man behind the party is her new step brother, Rush Finlay. HOT DAMN!!! Gorgeous, rich, spoiled, and a sexy, man whoring bad boy, he is everything she shouldn’t want, but she is hooked immediately (and who can blame her! *fans self*). He tries to dismiss her, but begrudgingly allows her to stay for a month while she finds work and makes enough money to get her own place.

I love Blaire! She has been through so much, but she doesn’t whine and complain, she just takes it all in her stride, and keeps moving forward. She is honest, and determined to make her own way in life, and works her butt off to get there. Although she can’t hide her feelings for Rush, and when his snarkiness turns to flirty banter and meaningful looks, he hits her with the standard bad boy line…

“Blaire, I’m not a romantic guy. I don’t kiss and cuddle. It’s all about the sex for me. You deserve someone who kisses and cuddles. Not me. I just fuck, baby. You aren’t meant for someone like me.”

But the chemistry between then is undeniable and as much as Rush tries to keep his distance, he actually does a really poor job of it (thank God), and the UST explodes. And OMG, these two are HOT together!

“You just came wild and sexy all over my hand and even left some claw marks on my back to prove it. Don’t go getting shy on me now. ‘Cause baby, before the night is over you will be naked in my bed.”

Just… DAMN! I love Rush! That’s no great surprise, but seriously, he is amazing. There is a reason he is the way he is, and there is a reason why he was a jerk to her in the beginning. And the more he gets to know her, the deeper he falls and the more he shows his softer, protective side, and it’s absolutely gorgeous.

“I don’t know what this is that is going on between us but from the moment I laid eyes on you I knew you were going to change my world. I was terrified. The more I watched you the more you drew me in. I couldn’t get close enough.”

…and this…

“Rush closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes the desperate look in them startled me. “I need you. Right now. Let me love you right here, please.”

There is more to the story though. Rush has a complicated family life, with siblings and step-siblings playing a big part. His step brother Grant, is absolutely gorgeous, while his sister Nan is the devil. What an absolute BITCH! Luckily Blaire has a fantastic support group to stand by her side – the hilarious Bethy and arrogant rich boy, Woods (I was unsure about him to begin with, but he absolutely won me over).

Throughout the story, hints are dropped about a big, secret ‘thing’, and I was wracking my brains trying to figure out what the big secret was, and why everybody was acting weirdly whenever ‘it’ was mentioned. When all was revealed, it was unexpected, but I actually didn’t actually think it was as huge as it was made out to be. But Blair’s reaction was extreme, and threw the entire ending of the book into turmoil.

We learn more in the final pages to put the puzzle together, and my heart broke as the full story unfolded, and I finally had a full picture of everything that had gone on. And then the fall out following that conversation… absolutely freaking brutal. I was chanting ‘no, no no’ the whole time while reading it and the ending left me screaming FUUUUUCK… WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

I loved this book. It made me swoon, and it made me squee, and after that cliffhanger I’m so glad I was a wussy reader and timed my read of this to coincide with the release of the second book. Which I am starting… NOW!

Rosemary Beach