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Blurb

Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South.

Olivia

When you find out that your fiancé is arrested for swindling over ten million dollars from his clients, you do what any sane woman would do. You escape reality and go undercover, trading in your city-girl Louboutin’s for country-pumpkin cowboy boots.

It wasn’t a forever change—it was temporary. I only had to stay here until things back home got straightened out, or so I thought.

Casey

I was riding horses before I was walking, or at least that was what they told me. I always knew I would take over the family farm. It’s in my blood.

Country boy at heart, the minute I saw her dragging her luggage up the gravel driveway I knew she was out of my league.

I shouldn’t have started anything with her, because I knew she was just passing through.

I couldn’t stop it, I fell in love with her. Even though I knew, in the end, she would leave me.

 

 

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Review

4.5 stars!

The second book in Madison’s Southern series, this is a surprisingly emotional, beautifully romantic love story with great chemistry and lots of swoon. I loved it!

Casey and Olivia’s story started in the first book of the series, Southern Chance. They met when Olivia found herself in trouble due to her shady ex-fiance, and her best friend, Kallie (heroine of the first book) brought her to her small home town to hide out. Casey is Kallie’s older brother, and from the moment he laid eyes on Olivia, he was smitten. Their relationship in the first book was all protectiveness and flirting, with a few Casey-led kisses, and then he promptly moved her into his house on the family’s farm to keep her safe. Love it! Olivia’s wit and smartassery was a great match for Casey’s alpha cowboy, and I was expecting this book to be a sexy comedy. But instead, we get up close and personal with these two characters during a really intense time, and we get an emotional, suspenseful, heartfelt story with a slow burning romance that kept me on the edge of my seat.

The threat that Olivia is facing is very real, and that becomes apparent from the very first chapter. I was sucked right in to the excitement as it all unfolds, and we get to see a whole different side to cowboy Casey as he goes all alpha protector over the woman he has come to care deeply about.

There’s a very obvious attraction between Olivia and Casey, but with all that Olivia is dealing with, they’re not in a position to go diving into exploring all that they are feeling. So instead we get this slow-developing emotional connection that is beautiful to watch. The sexual tension is definitely there, but it’s alongside something so much more that is real and organic, and it unfolds beautifully.

 

 

In the midst of all of the intensity, it’s all very emotional, but there are moments of sweetness, lightness and fun, with great flirting and banter between Casey and Olivia, and of course there’s sizzling sexy times.

“I want to save the horse and ride the cowboy.”

Olivia is a great heroine. Brave and bold, she is in an unbelievably intense situation and understandably has moments where she falls apart, but she allows Casey to be there for her, which I really liked. She goes through a lot in this book, and she has some moments where she truly shines, and I loved watching her journey as she deals with it all.

And Casey absolutely stole my heart! For a tough guy, he is gorgeously caring and sweet with Olivia, and his possessiveness is highly entertaining! There’s so much more to him than we initially thought, and I loved the surprising reveals as we get to know him, and God, he’s so beautifully swoony! Every time he calls Olivia “Darlin’”, I swear my heart skipped a beat.

I don’t even know when it happened. I don’t even know how it happened, but just like that, I fell in love with her. Not just any love, the love that everyone tells you about. The all-consuming, you’re never going to love another one like this kind of love.

There’s a mystery element to the story as we don’t know who is after Olivia or why, and that adds a great sense of suspense to the story, as does the way that Casey deals with it all. We learn more as the story progresses, and I was captivated as it all unfolded.

This is a great read that works well as a standalone, but also fits into the series with quite a bit of character crossover. I loved seeing Kallie and Jacob from the first book, and there’s a bit more build up to the next book, Southern Storm. Just beware spoilers for the series if you’re going into this one first.

Another winner from Natasha Madison, I loved this one so much!

4.5 stars.

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

 

Southern Series

 

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About the Author

When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…

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