Love in a Snow Storm
by Zoe York
Series: Pine Harbour, #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: December 16, 2014
Never fall in love with your best friend's little sister...
Contractor and army reservist Jake Foster fell in love with Dani Minelli when she was a colt-legged high school senior. He knew he was too old to even look at her, let alone touch.
Dani’s been trying to get his attention since returning to Pine Harbour a grown woman—and failing miserably at every turn.
This winter, everything is going to change. And when the snow stops falling, Jake and Dani won't be able to hide from their attraction any longer.
Jake stood on the porch for a minute, replaying the conversations—the night of the funeral, and when she arrived at Ryan’s today. Where could he have turned it around? What could he have said differently? He hesitated there, and before he could depart, Dani stepped outside and joined him.
“I owe you an apology,” he said in a hurry. Might as well get it over with.
“No, you don’t,” she muttered, heading down the stairs toward her car.
He followed her. “Listen…” he trailed off, but damn it, they needed to clear the air. “I wasn’t hitting on you.”
She lifted her brows, giving him a bland, disinterested look. “Pardon?”
“Cut it out, Dani. You know what I’m talking about.” Shut up, said a small voice inside him. This isn’t the way to go. He ignored it.
“I haven’t the foggiest.”
“When I suggested we have coffee. That wasn’t a come-on.” All the ways he’d imagined confessing how much he wanted her, telling her over coffee wasn’t even on the list.
“You asked me if I’d have a different answer if you hadn’t had a girl waiting for you. Don’t forget that part.” She stopped beside his truck as if to say, you stop here. Don’t follow me to my car. She was smart to do that, because he would have. Now that they were talking, they weren’t stopping, even if they were standing on Ryan’s lawn.
He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “She’s a friend. You could have come inside.”
“So you haven’t slept with her?” She finally met his gaze and the fire in her eyes almost knocked him over.
Damnit. This was not how the conversation was supposed to go. “I didn’t sleep with her that night.”
“Oh, gross.”
“That’s mature,” he snarled. As soon as he said it, he hissed, wanting to take it back, but it was too late.
I am quickly becoming a big fan of Zoe York and her Pine Harbour characters. There’s just something about her writing that brings the characters to life, convincing you that this small town exists and these people really live there and wishing you could take a road trip to go hang out with them. And the fact that this book had tons of the all things I love – small town, best friend’s little sister, a bit of an age difference, an alpha male who can talk dirty when he has to, and a heroine who keeps that angst level to a minimum – just made me love Jake and Dani’s story even more.
This story picks up where book 1 – Love In a Small Town (Rafe & Olivia’s story) – left off and now we get to watch Jake and Dani dance around their attraction for each other. Jake has wanted Dani for a long time but has always kept his distance since Dani was so young, not to mention the fact that her brothers would probably kill him for touching her! Even now that Dani is all grown up, they continue to dance around each other, until it seems that there may never be a “good” time to see where the attraction between them can go. And when Dani decides to give it one last try to catch Jake’s attention before she gives up on him for good, well, let’s just say her plan does just that!
I just loved both of these characters separately, but together they really made me smile. Between all the banter and the years of built up sexual tension between the two, they were a really fun couple that had me laughing and fanning myself – sometimes at the same time!
What I love most about Jake and Dani’s story though was that once they committed to seeing where their relationship would go, they were both all in. And even though they both had a hard time trusting that the other’s feelings were just as deep, when issues came up the drama was kept to a minimum and never dragged on. I loved that they both really did wear their hearts on their sleeves and weren't afraid to put themselves out there when it mattered, and they truly believed in one another – even though at times they didn't realize it. And when they are faced with a potentially relationship ending situation, I loved the way that they both handled the situation – not that there wasn't a bit of angst and a bit of drama, but there was a maturity in dealing with the relationship issues that I really appreciated.
I cannot wait to read the next installment in this series – as I said, Pine Harbour is my kind of town and this book and series are my kind of reads!
Book 1: Love In A Small Town
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Zoe York is a busy working mom of two young boys, wife to a very understanding soldier, and creator of modern, sexy, small town contemporary romances. Her debut novel, What Once Was Perfect, started the popular Wardham series, and her first military romance, Fall Out, was released as part of the international bestselling SEALs of Summer super bundle.
She lives in London, Ontario and is currently chugging Americanos, wiping sticky fingers, and dreaming of heroes in and out of uniform.
This was a good one - makes me want to jump in the car and do a road trip! I'm really liking these small town books - wish my small town had residents like this!
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