✰ Bianca ✰ Janeane ✰
★★★★★
4.5 Stars
From USA Today Bestselling Author Ella Frank comes a small town, second chance romance.
Small towns are definitely not for me. Probably because I was born in one, raised in one, and eventually run out of one. The understanding was that I would one day return to Chamberlin California. After all, it is my namesake. What my father didn’t count on however, was that once he sent me away, I would never come back—at least not until he was gone.
Which brings me to now, his wake, at the family winery that was supposed to be mine. It also brings me to her. The sweet girl I left behind. The girl who has since grown into the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on—Laurel Anderson.
She’s looking at me as though she wishes I was the one she watched get buried this morning. But she’s out of luck. I’m alive and kicking. I’m also stuck in this town with nothing to do but wait until the will is read.
Well, nothing to do but see if I can seduce the pure and passionate Laurel, and change that anger I see in her eyes to something just as fiery…desire.
***
The last time I saw Noah Chamberlin, I was a doe-eyed innocent and he was the boy of my dreams. My future was all planned out down to the wedding dress, until one morning I woke up and he was gone.
You’d think after all these years, I’d feel the same blind indignation and rage that has haunted me since that day. Instead, the second I set eyes on him again, I felt something altogether unwanted and unexpected—lust.
If the rumors are true, he’s only going to be in Chamberlin for a few days. I can handle that, as long as he stops looking at me as though he’s thinking about the last time we were together.
But when Noah’s forced to stay and run the family business, it puts us in dangerously close proximity. And in a town this small, that can only mean one thing—trouble.
Laurel + Noah.
Noah left his family and his family's wine empire years ago. More or less willingly. His horrible father forced him into the decision. We don't yet know the whys and hows.
Laurel has stayed in town all these years - even though they always dreamed of bigger things. But now she's working for Noah's family. Which he didn't know.
ADORABLE!
I just love books set in Napa - or anywhere where wine is created! ☺
And I loved that we already meet the whole family - that way we can look forward to all the stories that'll come our way!
They see each other at the wake and it's like no time has passed. The attraction is just as huge as it used to be in highschool.
And it was such an adorable romance. Sparky, sexy, funny, basebally, winey. Full of family and anger and hope and love and pain and forgiveness.
Ugh how I hate the father! What a horrible person. Laurel & Noah missed so much life together. Grr.
I wished for more pages. I wanted more of everything. It was a bit ... no idea. The beginning dragged a bit without anything much happening. Just sexy flirting. And then when things get interesting, it's almost over.
BUT - I still liked the book very much. Can't wait to read all the other stories! Ryan is already my favorite!
“Laurel Anderson.”
My heart all but stopped at the sound of my name in that
smooth, seductive timbre, and my fingers tightened on the handle.
“Hi.” Brilliant. After all these years, that was what came
out of my mouth.
A smile slowly curved Noah’s lips, as though he knew I was
tongue-tied, and I wanted to kick myself—or him—for it.
“Hi yourself.”
I swallowed and tried to remember that somewhere inside my
head I possessed a brain. Now if I could just locate it, that would be
fantastic. “I, uh, I didn’t know you were coming today.”
“No? Everyone else in town seemed to.”
“Well, you know how it goes. You can’t rely on everything
you hear.”
“Ah. So you heard—you just didn’t believe it.”
“I didn’t really think about it either way.” Liar. “I’m
sorry for your loss, though. Harry was—”
“An A-grade bastard?”
My eyes widened at the cool edge to Noah’s voice. It was a
tone I’d never heard from him before. But then again, I didn’t know this man, so
I had no point of reference.
“That seems harsh, huh?”
“It seems…” Noah’s eyes locked on me with an intensity I
felt all the way to my bones. “Honest.”
He shifted the wine bottle from one hand to the other, then
he held it up by the neck and asked, “A good year?”
I focused on the label, a 2012 Pinot Noir. “It was a great
year.”
Noah nodded and turned the bottle around so he could look at
it again. “And you should know, or so I’m told. You manage this place now.”
I wondered who had told him. His mother? Or one of his
siblings? I’d never imagined a career in the wine business, and I certainly
hadn’t imagined one here at his family’s winery. But circumstances had left me
little choice, and now I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.
“I do. I’m also the head sommelier.”
Noah let out a sound of disbelief that made my spine
stiffen. I was good at my job—damn good at it.
“I hope that won’t be a problem for you.”
“A problem?” Noah shook his head. “No. I was just thinking
how my family hasn’t changed at all. They still like their secrets.”
The temperature in the room dropped back to arctic, and as I
was about to hightail it out of there, Noah took a step forward. I plastered my
back to the door and, cursing myself for showing my hand—and my nerves—counted
back from ten before daring to look him in the eye.
That was a mistake. I recognized those eyes and the thick
lashes that curtained them. I also recognized the look in them right now. It
was one of curiosity and interest.
“I wasn’t so sure about coming back here when I showed up
earlier.”
His gaze roved over my face, as though he were searching for
the girl he once knew, and I wondered if he saw parts of her in there.
“But suddenly I find myself even happier that that asshole
up and died. Otherwise I’d never have known you were here.”
I wasn’t surprised in the slightest that my working here had
been kept quiet. Harry had worked really hard to remove me from Noah’s life. He
wasn’t about to tell him I was still around.
“Well, um, I don’t want to hold you up anymore, and I need
to get back to your mother’s guests.” I turned to open the door, but when I
felt his hand on my shoulder, my feet froze.
“Looking to make a quick escape again, Bonnie?”
I closed my eyes and for a second allowed myself to remember
the first time he’d ever called me that. Then I quickly shoved it aside, not
willing to allow in the emotions and vulnerabilities those kind of memories
would bring.
“Do you blame me?”
There was a pause, and the tension simmering in the air made
it even more imperative that I get out of there right now.
“No. I guess I don’t. But before you go?”
“Yes?” As his hand fell away, I let out a silent sigh of
relief.
↓ Links to the Book & Author ↓
Ella & Brooke's Elite Trilogy
Book #1
ACED M/M Series Book #1
Book #2
