Book Review Kiss of a Stranger

Maddie Palmer lost everything when her ex-husband betrayed her. Years later, she’s rebuilt her life. It’s safe and stable—everything she thought she wanted. Until a dangerously sexy ex-con appears in Lost Coast Harbor...
 Gabriel Reyes just did six years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. Now he’s returned, determined to expose the men who set him up. His best chance at redemption is seducing the straight-laced woman working for the enemy…until he realizes he’s the one being seduced.
 As passion ignites, Gabe and Maddie find themselves drawn deeper into the corruption behind the town’s richest family… even while facing the greatest danger of all—losing their hearts.

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Gabe walked straight to the corner and ran his fingers across the leaves of a ficus, his eyes almost soft.
 
He moved around the room, studying each plant, touching a few others with gentle fingers. “It’s like a jungle in here.” Gabe’s hand hovered near the orchids she kept on the mantel, but he resisted the urge to stroke the temperamental plant. “They’re all real, too.”
 
“Of course they are,” Maddie said, indignant. She might not be able to keep a relationship alive, but plants were another matter. They thrived under her care.
 
She wasn’t prepared for his expression when he turned to her. He looked…grateful?
 
“You don’t realize all the things you miss.” It didn’t seem like he was talking to her.
 
“Not a lot of plants in prison, huh?” She fought a shudder at the thought. Life without a bit of dirt and a few seeds sounded so sterile, though her rational mind knew it was nothing compared to the other things prison took from him.
 
“Not a lot of all sorts of things.” He shook off the melancholy, and she could practically see his inner devil return. Gabe’s eyes raked her, a smile tugging at his lips. “This isn’t the home I expected from a straight-laced professional woman.”
 
Maddie winced. “New furniture isn’t cheap.”
 
His laugh was unexpected. “I don’t think I’ve sat in a new piece of furniture in my life. No, I mean this.” His gesture took in everything, from her plants to her clothes to the afghan spread across her sofa. “Are you secretly a softie, Maddie?”
 
She glowered, and he laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep your secret,” Gabe assured her.

Like so many good ideas, Lost Coast Harbor was inspired by a few rounds of margaritas. One sunny afternoon, Lily Danes and Eve Kincaid went to a Mexican restaurant for snacks and tequila and left with the idea for a new series. Inspired by their love of noir movies and 1940s crime novels, they imagined a gritty small town full of crime and corruption, where intrigue and mystery can lead to love and passion.

Lily Danes

Eve Kincaid

Lost Coastal Harbor

Goodreads

Suspense, revenge, steamy romance, what's not to like? Kiss of a Stranger is my first read from this author duo, and this read says it's worth a second look at upcoming novels in this debut series. The contemporary plotline was well written, and the romantic relationship between the two main characters who really do need second chances, worked well. I have two small quibbles, that kept me from giving this five stars: 1) The story started a bit slowly for me, but I always feel most writers should throw out the first chapter or so, until "after" the story starts to flow for them...and us, and 2) The hero's heart was a bit too tarnished for me at times. I don't like it when characters take things out on other people that were not their fault, and I didn't like that the heroine was already overcoming a jerk of an ex and then the "hero" took it out on her that her ex's family were behind his go to jail without passing justice. That is personal taste, of course, but then that's what an honest review is all about.

Book Bling gives this steamy second chances romance 4 Stars!

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