Daisy Lewis is experiencing a relentless string of bad luck.

Fortunately, Daisy has her sister’s destination wedding coming up. A week of sand, sea, and sun in the South Pacific as the maid-of-honor is exactly what Daisy needs to forget her upturned life and focus on the positive.

That is until Daisy meets the best man.

If you take tall, dark, and handsome, and add a dash of rugged, a pinch of brooding, and a whole lot of sexy, you’ve got Tai Wakefield. Unfortunately he’s also a major grump, total alpha, and seemingly out to antagonize Daisy at every turn.

As if being part of the wedding party with Tai wasn’t bad enough, Daisy’s bad luck soon resurfaces when she ends up on a cramped sailboat with Tai and the newlyweds.

Which then shipwrecks on a deserted island near Fiji.

Okay, so they aren’t completely alone. There’s an oddball research scientist who has been isolated for far too long, they have rundown bungalows as shelter, stores of water and canned food, plus a feral goat named Wilson. It’s Lost…without the smoke monster.

But with rescue weeks away, Tai and Daisy realize the only way they’re going to get through this mess is to stop fighting and start working together.

And with their guards down, they get closer.

A lot closer.

Soon, Daisy realizes that the only thing worse than being stuck on a deserted island, is being stuck on a deserted island with a man she hates to love and loves to hate.

A man that can break her heart.

 

 

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Review

4 stars!

Karina Halle’s latest standalone is just what we all need right now – fun, sexy escapism with depth and a lot of heart. Daisy and Tai’s story made me laugh and smile, yet still brought the feels, and I was so captivated I read it in one sitting. I loved it.

Daisy Lewis has just lost her job and her boyfriend, and for a girl who always tries her best to be smiling and positive, it’s hard to keep her spirits up. But that’s exactly what she’s doing as she travels halfway across the world to attend her sister’s wedding in New Zealand. Things are looking up when she meets sexy best man, Tai, but he’s grumpy and broody and seems to hate her on sight, which makes things awkward… especially when, post-wedding, she ends up on a boat with him and the newlyweds sailing to Fiji.

Trapped and alone with three other people all living on top of each other, it’s not an easy trip, but Daisy relishes her moments with Tai as they open up and get to know each other. But things take a dramatic turn when a storm hits and the foursome end up shipwrecked on a deserted island. It’s not all scary imminent death and survival (though that shipwreck scene is fantastically and realistically written) – they have supplies, they have shelter, and they even have a friendly researcher on a neighbouring island. But they are stuck there together until they can be rescued, and that’s when things get really up close and personal.

“How are we going to get through this?” she asks, her voice quiet against the roar of the downpour, the rain running into her eyes, her mouth. “Not just this storm, but all the days ahead of us?”
“One sunrise at a time,” I tell her. “One sunrise at a time, and with me by your side. Okay?”

This is such a gorgeous love story. The romance develops beautifully, with heaps of chemistry, and you can feel the emotion brewing between Daisy and Tai. Of course, they’re attracted to each other from the beginning, but Tai is such a closed-off guy, and he can’t stand Daisy’s perkiness and non-stop chatter. It takes them time to get used to each other and to get to know each other, but as they bicker, banter and flirt, they develop this fantastic dynamic, and their feelings develop naturally and realistically from that, and I loved watching everything build between them.

“You found my vibrator!” I yell…
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, rubbing his lips together. His poker face is still terrible.
“Yes you do! I hid it in my shoe!”
“Gingersnap, there was no hiding that thing. Sweet Jesus, way to give a guy a complex.”
“You know perfectly well that your, uh, that it’s comparable.”
A dark brow arches. “Oh is it?”
“I’m not comfortable complimenting you right now.”
“I see,” he says, taking a step toward me. “It’s hard not to do, isn’t it?”
“Shut up.

As fun and sexy as this book is (and damn, it’s sexy), there’s also some deep emotion as both Daisy and Tai open up about themselves, deal with past hurts and come to terms with their present. They are both hiding a lot of pain, and the intensity of their situation forces all of that to come out, with some pretty heavy scenes where they realise that it’s okay to not be okay. I loved those moments, which not only showed great character development, but that also are very timely with the world being as it is, and is the whole reason that Halle wrote the book in the first place.

But those little hints of our present reality don’t overshadow the fun of this story. Daisy is bright and perky with a great sense of humour, and watching sex-on-a-stick Tai open up to her and come out of his own funk was just awesome, and I loved seeing them come together.

“Gingersnap,” he says, pressing his forehead against mine. “I’ll go wherever you go. All I know is that I’m going to be with you. I told you that. One sunrise at a time, with me by your side.”

This is a really great read. Fun, sweet and sexy with a touch of drama, Karina Halle has delivered a fantastic escape story that had me completely hooked.

4 stars!

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

 

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Meet Karina

Karina Halle is a former travel writer, music journalist and screenwriter, and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of over 55 bestselling novels, ranging from horror and suspense to contemporary romance. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband, and her adopted pitbull Bruce, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.

Halle is represented by the Root Literary Agency and is both self-published and published by Simon & Schuster, Hachette and Montlake. Her work has been translated and published in 20 languages.

Hit her up on Instagram at @authorHalle, on Twitter at @MetalBlonde and on Facebook. You can also visit www.authorkarinahalle.com and sign up for the newsletter for news, excerpts, previews, private book signing sales and more.

 

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