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Review
4.5 “Mia Leonessa” stars!
I should have known from the start that this man was going to give me a reason to stay.
Karina Halle continues to amaze me with her ability to write gorgeous romances that have everything I love in a book. She creates wonderful characters that you can’t help but love, moments that are fun and sweet that leave a permanent smile on your face, steam that has you fanning yourself, enough angst that has you flipping pages, and beautiful settings that take your breath away. Racing the Sun has all this and more and is a beautiful tale of two lost souls who find love when they least expect it, and a journey of self-discovery and facing your biggest fears.
Amber has been backpacking around the world for the past several months trying to find herself. She makes it to Positano just as she runs out of money and she realizes that she needs to get a job. To come up with the money needed for a plane ticket home, she interviews for an English tudor position even though she has no experience with teaching. After getting whisked off to Capri for the interview and learning she will be teaching 7 year old twins, she finally meets the boss, Signor Desiderio Larosa.
Derio is an intimidating, good looking, brooding man who Amber is immediately attracted to. She knows little about Derio and the kid’s situation, only that there was an accident that left Derio in charge of his siblings, Alfonso and Annabella. Amber quickly learns that Derio is closed off from the world, never leaving the island and hardly managing to take care of himself let alone his sister and brother. He can not seem to move on from the death of his parents and is drowning in grief. On top of that, he quit his job as a motorcycle racer and lost his wife to a rival racer, leaving him feeling even more alone.
Amber takes the job and begins warming up to the kids and settling into her new routine. Derio is still brooding but slowly starts to come around. The more time Derio spends with Amber, the more he starts to change. He begins to open up to her and trust her as she begins to trust him. He has been so alone that he doesn’t even know if he is living anymore.
“I need to know if I can feel anything. I want to feel something.”
There’s a quiet desperation in his voice. It makes me ache for him.
Then he leans in and kisses me.
…
“Did you feel anything?” I ask softly, hopefully.
He shakes his head ever so slightly, his forehead damp against mine. “No,” he murmurs. “I felt everything.”
The attraction between the two of them is visible and the sexual tension surrounding them grows until it can not be denied. When they finally get together it is intense and all consuming, and for a while everything seems perfect. Dario loves and supports her while she freely gives her love and makes him and the twins happy. As Derio becomes more confident and decides to get back into racing, things start to crumble and they find that relationships are not always easy. The angst thrown into the mix was just enough for me to be worried that things may not work out. It leaves you flipping pages until the very end praying for their HEA.
“You taught me about everything I had forgotten and things I’d never known. And the only way I can repay you is with my heart. You one hundred percent have my heart. It may not be worth much coming from a troubled man like me, but it’s real and it’s yours.”
Derio and Amber are fantastic together. They are both strong characters and I could honestly feel their love. I loved their passion for each other, it was so real and had me truly believing their love story. The hardships they felt were understandable and I felt like they both grew immensely throughout the book. Learning to love, facing their fears, and accepting responsibilities all were important milestones in their relationship. I loved everything about the two of them.
“Where you go, I go,” he says. “To the land, to the sea. Always and forever.”
I adored Annabella and Alfonso. I think their actions and feelings were right for seven year olds. I loved the bond they formed with Amber and how things were not always easy. Amber’s feelings towards the twins and taking care of them were realistic and I could feel her emotions when things were hard.
Karine Halle did such an amazing job with the descriptions of Italy that I felt like I was transported there as I read her book. I have been to Italy and everything she described was spot on, from the beauty of the Blue Grotto to the small pizzerias in town. I, too, have searched out pizzerias that serve true Neapolitan pizzas. The images, feelings, and the smells were all how I experienced Italy. I could close my eyes and imagine myself right along side Amber as she discovered new things about Italy and fell in love with Derio and Capri.
4.5 stars – I loved it!