5 Smooches!
Synopsis
Masen Crisfield fell in love with Booth Jones when she was sixteen years old. Booth was the love of her life. The rock she needed to get her through the day. Then she rips his heart out while he’s deployed, leaving him wondering just what he’d done to warrant something so severe as a breakup that neither of them wanted.
Stubbornness is their middle name, and ten long years pass before either one of them try to breach the gap.
Circumstances force Booth to come home, and within an hour of him being back in his home town, there she is. Right back in the forefront of his mind where he knows she shouldn’t be.
The day he starts his first civilian job at Kilgore Fire Department, his worst fear of seeing Masen is realized. And not only does he see her, but he sees her with another man. A fellow firefighter that he has to trust with his life.
It soon becomes apparent that they are both still just as much in love with each other now as they were the moment they met. But there’s a problem. Booth’s married, and Masen’s in a committed relationship.
They fight the pull with everything they have, but they’re both about to learn the true meaning of flash point as their lives crash together. Their love consuming everything in it’s path.
Review
“I’ve loved you for so long that I don’t even know how to love someone else.”
Just as surely as the calendar flips forward to start anew each month, the first week of each month fans of Lani Lynn Vale get her next book. This month Vale takes us back to Kilgore to see the next member of the Kilgore Fire Department get his happily ever after. This book is already causing a bit of a stir as there is concern because the hero is (was??) married. With unwavering conviction, I can unequivocally state that Lani Lynn Vale will NEVER, EVER give her readers a hero who cheats. So, go ahead and read this book, but do it knowing that there are lots of different reasons people marry, and some of those reasons have nothing to do with love or attraction but everything to do with compassion and empathy.
“My heart was literally breaking into a million tiny pieces.”
As I started reading this book, I knew before the prologue was over that I was hooked in deep with Booth and Masen. Masen was in high school when they met, Booth is the only man she’s ever loved, and Masen is it for Booth. Their relationship came to a head at a point where everything was crashing down on a young Masen who, overwhelmed by her feelings and her fears, lashed out in a damaging and irreparable way at Booth while he was overseas in the military. The relationship may have ended, but the love sure didn’t.
“I had what I wanted in my mind and no one else would do.”
Fast forward ten years, and Masen is lonely, she thinks she’s ready to try to move on, and she’s started seeing Bowe, a fireman who works with her best friend Mia’s husband, Tai. He’s a great guy, the whole package, but she’s just not feeling anything more than friendship. She gets the surprise of a lifetime one day, when she arrives at the firehouse to find Booth there. Immediately drawn to each other, their moment is cut painfully short.
“The cries tore out of my body… as the last ten years of torment poured out of my body in huge, shuddering, pain-filled sobs.”
These two put each other through the wringer before finding their way back to each other. My heart broke right along with Masen’s in that living room when Booth pushed her away. I felt her pain, I felt her sadness and I felt just how tentatively she was going through the motions of living her life in the wake of that night. All of the pain that Masen was feeling leads up to an epic moment, though. Gah! I just loved how that scene played out! It was fraught with raw and angry emotion, it was painful and real but oh-so-necessary for these two heal from their past mistakes, to forgive each other and then take a step forward together.
“I’d prayed for this day. Prayed that one day he’d come home, safe and sound, and he’d listen to my apology.”
As they rebuild their relationship and restart their lives together, there’s danger on the horizon. Curious things are happening to Masen and her family. Not everyone is who they seem to be, and the danger to Masen is closer than she realizes. Will Booth figure out who poses the threat to her?
“Thank you for coming home.”
He chuckled, “You were here. How could I not?”
I adored this book! The Kilgore world that Vale has built is one of my favorite fictional places to go, and this series is very reminiscent of her other series that are rooted here. Favorite characters from those books make appearances, and it’s always great to check in with the SWAT guys. This book had all the things I love most about Lani’s work – the emotion, the longing, the love between the characters and that sizzling, smoking chemistry and blistering heat that makes an LLV book so uniquely hers. It’s all here, and it was fantastic!
Lani Lynn Vale never fails to make my heart hurt and send my pulse racing. Her writing always draws me right in, it’s like talking with a group of old friends. But what makes her work special is her sense of humor. Dry and smart, her quick wit is often unexpected but always well executed, and it’s one of my favorite things about her books. I loved every minute of this book, and as always, Lani left me wanting more. Flash Point gets 5 smooches from me!
~ Danielle Palumbo
