5 Smooches!

Synopsis

Foster made a promise in his hospital bed when his leg was taken from him that he’d get back to one hundred percent. Leg or no leg, he’d get back on the SWAT team if it killed him.
And he does get back. But he has a problem.
He can’t let go of the past.
The anger burns deep, making his emotions volatile at the best of times.
Then he meets Blake with her haughty attitude and inability to distinguish the difference between a pocket knife and a sword.
Little by little, she makes him whole again, one bad joke at a time.
She doesn’t see the revenge in his eyes, though. Doesn’t see the rage burning deep.
Rage so pure and all encompassing, that he knows it’ll explode.
It’s just a matter of time.
What Foster doesn’t realize, though, is that the love that Blake has for him is enough to fight his demons, one kiss at a time.
Foster never stood a chance.

Review

Blake Rhodes is 25 years old and newly divorced from her cheating, controlling high school sweetheart and ex-husband, David. She is moving on from her former life as a stay at home wife to a Kilgore police officer, who, as it turned out, had another wife in his life, a ‘beat wife’ of more than two and a half years. Thanks to her uncle, the Chief of the Kilgore Police Department, Blake has job as the KPD’s newest police dispatcher.

“I wanted to be me, not Chief Rhodes’ niece”

With the settlement from her divorce, she was able to buy her own home, which is unfortunately a few blocks away from the house she and David shared, the one he promptly moved his pregnant beat wife into upon Blake’s departure. She’s starting over in every way, considering how David’s controlling, less than fun, and unpleasant nature scared off all of Blake’s friends, leaving her only with David’s friends, who went with him in the divorce. She’s lonely, and what she really needs right now, is a friend.

”Maybe I was meant to be alone. Maybe, just maybe, there was no one out there for me.”

Foster Lager Spurlock is a different man than he once was. He’s angrier, full of rage and volatile emotions following the incident that caused him to lose of half of his leg. He no longer feels like a whole man, and the nickname his co-workers have given him – Crush – is not helping matters either. He meets Blake, and for the first time in months, he’s got something to smile about.

“Everything, and I do mean everything, was different now that I was missing a piece of myself.”

Blake is crushing hard on Foster; she thinks he is positively magnificent, but there is no way that he’d be interested in her. Foster is very attracted to Blake as well, but he’s fighting it; he’s just not ready to let anyone in yet. Slowly, however, Blake manages to chip away at his walls, and Foster finds that he likes it. With her goofy jokes, subtle flirting, and her easy-going, straight-shooting personality, the natural beauty was burrowing in deep, and Foster never stood a chance. Blake was the only person in Foster’s life who treated him like he was normal, and it was a breath of fresh air.

“I was just Foster to her, and I liked that. A lot.”

Blake’s life is upended, once again, when her home is broken into – twice – and then is the target of a dry-by shooting. Foster has had enough of Blake being used as target practice, and he’s decided that Blake is his – yes, he just made the decision, informed Blake and basically told her that she was just going to have to get on board with his plan. Following the dry-by shooting that left her house in need of repairs, Foster moves Blake and Boris, her talking Macaw, into his apartment. Boris the bird has a big mouth. He’s very chatty, and while what comes out of it is hilarious, his timing often sucks.

All of these incidents involving Blake add up to tragedy for the Rhodes family and the law enforcement community in the form of a devastating loss. Blake is positively heartbroken, but Foster is right there to keep her going forward. As the leads begin to point in one direction, will a connection to Blake’s past be at the root of all of this evil?

I loved Blake, and she was perfect for him, and Foster was perfect for her. Together, they were everything you’ve come to hope for in a LLV couple – they were hilarious in their back-and-forth banter, they were sexy and they fell for each other hard and completely. She brings him peace, love, happiness and normalcy. He fulfills her dreams of love, family, companionship, safety and loyalty.

“He doesn’t care that the woman he loves is the daughter of Shank Rhodes. He cares that you’re happy, and you’re you.”

I was so excited for Foster’s story, but I’ll admit to being a teensy bit apprehensive after I read the blurb and discovered how angry he had become. That just wasn’t the Foster I’d been introduced to or was expecting. I shouldn’t have worried though; this is Lani Lynn Vale, after all. She gave so much to her readers in this book. A realistic portrayal of Foster’s reaction to his injury and the adjustments he’s had to make in his life following it. A fantastic build up of Foster and Blake’s relationship that was ripe with Vale’s trademark blend of steam and humor. And an interesting plot that had me turning the pages in anticipation. Of course, no LLV novel would be complete without those witty little bits of hilarity with which she kicks off each chapter. It’s all there, delivered hugely by Vale in yet another well-written and richly developed book.

So, it’s another fabulous book down for the immensely talented Lani Lynn Vale, and it’s another book that she totally nailed. Love this author, love this series! #FanGirlForLife

5 Smooches from me for Charlie Foxtrot!

~ Danielle Palumbo

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