Wednesday 24 June 2015

Review - Last First Kiss by Lia Riley


Title: Last First Kiss
Series: Brightwater #1
Author: Lia Riley
Release Date: June 23, 2015



A kiss is just the beginning…

Pinterest Perfect. Or so Annie Carson's life appears on her popular blog. Reality is ... messier. Especially when it lands her back in one-cow town Brightwater, California, and back in the path of the gorgeous six-foot-four reason she left. Sawyer Kane may fill out those Wranglers, but she won't be distracted from her task. Annie just needs the summer to spruce up and sell her family's farm so she and her young son can start a new life in the big city. Simple, easy, perfect.

Sawyer has always regretted letting the first girl he loved slip away. He won't make the same mistake twice, but can he convince beautiful, wary Annie to trust her heart again when she's been given every reason not to? And as a single kiss turns to so much more, can Annie give up her idea of perfect for a forever that's blissfully real?









I’m headed to Brightwater, and I may not come back. If you’re looking for me, I’ve probably been arrested by the sexy cowboy/sheriff and I have no regrets. Because cowboy + sheriff + handcuffs...

Tell my kids I love them. 

Annie Carson’s goal when she heads back home to Brightwater is to get the family farm ready for sale. Then, take the money and start her new life and not look back. 

Sawyer Kane’s goal when he finds out that Annie is back in town is to find a way to make her stay. Years have passed since her heart and trust were broken, but Sawyer’s not going to let that happen again. 

Convincing her to stay is no simple task. But when the end result may be better than the perfect future she has in mind, does Annie have it in her to fall?

SAWYER KANE. Aside from having one of the sexiest names in the history of, like, EVER, he’s a Southern charmer, a guy that knows what he wants, and can totally bring it when he needs to use his *ahem* masculine wiles to show Annie what could be... Oh my, anyone else getting hot? 

I loved this story. It was a simple, second chance romance, with a dash of forbidden love and a whole lot of witty, playful banter. It’s easy to relate to Annie, who is living a series of capture-able moments for her blog, and who is finding real life to be much harder than she expected. Been there. She’s not perfect – as a mother, as a daughter, physically or mentally. Been there, too. Scratch that...am there. 

And yet, for all her imperfectness, Annie is funny and smart, she’s determined to make the best decisions, even if she has to make the wrong ones first to recognize the right ones, and she’s attracted the attention of the law...the very sexy law, mind you. (Haven’t been there, but I’d like to be!)

I’m excited for this new series from Lia Riley. It’s different from her amazing Off The Map series (which remains one of my all-time favorites), but it’s still chock-full of that something that she brings to her books. The *something* that keeps me coming back for more, and probably always will. At the very least, I’ll be back for Archer’s story. Perhaps I can read it from my jail cell in Brightwater?
~ Review by Beth


Well, shit. It looks like I just added another book boyfriend to my (rather extensive) collection. Sawyer Kane is positively swoonworthy. Rugged and hot and a lethally sexy combination of cowboy and cop. It just so happens that my boyfriend collection was missing a cowboy/cop and now I am complete. Welcome to the family, Sawyer!

This is an adorable, sweet, second chance romance. Sawyer Kane and Annabelle (Annie) Carson didn’t exactly date in high school, but they woulda/shoulda/coulda. It was a heartbreaking misunderstanding that tore them apart. 

Ten years later, Annie is recently divorced and has moved back to her hometown with her five year old son. Sawyer is still there doing his sexy cowboy/cop thing and being completely awesome in general. It doesn’t take long for the two to reconnect and once the swooning begins, it doesn’t let up for pretty much the entire rest of the book.

I loved Annie, and identified with her insecurities. I admired her bravery and pluck, even when she wasn’t sure of herself. I loved how Sawyer patiently dealt with Annie’s insecurities and stayed the course for her. I loved the way he stepped outside of his comfort zone and opened his heart to Annie’s son, Atticus. I loved that he’s a dog person. I loved the tender way he handled Annie, and that he didn’t play games and was always honest and up front. Together these two are just incredibly cute – playful, loving and sexy. 

This book was a simple, quick read. Simply sweet, simply swoony, and simply wonderful.
~ Review by Shelly






Lia Riley writes offbeat New Adult and Contemporary Adult romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling XXXX with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments.

A British literature fanatic at heart, Lia considers Mr. Darcy and Edward Rochester as her fictional boyfriends. Her very patient husband doesn't mind. Much. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about future books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. Right now, Icelandic hot springs and Scottish castles sound mighty fine.




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