Title: Slow Burn
Series: Colorado High Country
Author: Pamela Clare
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: September 19, 2016
Publisher: Pamela Clare
ASIN: B01LYVS8YX
Victoria Woodley is done with men. Fresh off a dating nightmare, she flies from her home in Chicago to Scarlet Springs to take part in her best friend’s wedding. Who picks her up at the airport? Eric Hawke. Of course. She made a fool of herself over him last time she was here. He’s cocky, charming, and sexy as sin. But the fact that she’s attracted to him is all the proof she needs that he’s bad news. She would ignore him if she could. But he’s the best man, and she’s the maid of honor. She can’t just tell him to jump in a lake—especially not when her lips are locked with his.
Eric isn’t looking for a relationship. Between running the firehouse and volunteering for the county’s search and rescue team, he has enough on his plate. He doesn’t need to get tangled up with a woman from the big city, especially one whose idea of roughing it is going without designer coffee. Yet from the moment he looks into Victoria’s big brown eyes, the attraction he feels is too strong to deny. Faster than he can imagine, the spark of desire that has smoldered between them since the first day they met will flare into full-blown passion.
But can Eric convince Victoria to set aside her doubts and trust him with her heart before their time together runs out?
My rating:
After a year, Victoria Woodley is back in Scarlet Springs for her best friend's wedding as the maid of honor. After what happened in the past year, she knows she's not the best judgement in men, so she's not about to strike up a fling with the best man, despite what tradition dictates and no matter how tempting said best man is.
What a difference a year and a shitty experience can make. Even though Vic was a supporting character (and wasn't on the scene much) in the first book, the change between past-her and present-her was obvious. Though a straight-up contemporary romance, this book wasn't all sunshine and rainbows with its dark undertones of what Victoria went through and how it had shaped and changed her. It made the reader so much more sympathetic toward her (because what happened to her could happen to anyone; yourself, a friend, a family member, a coworker) and root for her to find happiness in the arms of the right man. The one of her favorite color. 😉
There's not point in finding the right words to describe her hero, Eric Hawke. Fire chief, paramedic, member of the local search-and-rescue team. He's a Pamela Clare leading man. You can't go wrong with one of those. As a matter of fact, I want one of those. Sexy, sweet, caring, protective, funny...Perfect.
The romance was sweet and sexy, and though it could've been termed as rushed, since it all happened in a matter of days, it was written in a way that seemed a lot more time had passed. They spent so much time together, their relationship progressing from reluctant friends to lovers, that there was plenty of time for them to get to know one another, actually talk about things that matter, and understand each other instead of just burning up the sheets and then calling it a day.
I guess we have to thank Victoria's traumatic experience and the fact they were the bride and groom's best friends to thank for them treading carefully.
The leads were great (though I was a tad disappointed in the first half of the last chapter), the supporting cast (especially the Team) a hoot as expected, and the town and community of Scarlet Springs once more provided a nice little backdrop to the story. Not to mention the rather shameless commercial for all the activities tourists might partake in if they visit the mountains of Colorado. 😜
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