Avon Impulse | August 4, 2015 | Contemporary Romance
Brightwater, book 2
★★★★★
SOURCE: TASTY BOOK TOURS
The fun and flirty second installment in Lia Riley’s fantastic Brightwater series.
Sometimes two wrongs can make a right...
Bad boy wrangler, Archer Kane, lives fast and loose. Words like responsibility and commitment send him running in the opposite direction. Until a wild Vegas weekend puts him on a collision course with Eden Bankcroft-Kew, a New York heiress running away from her blackmailing fiancé…the morning of her wedding.
Eden has never understood the big attraction to cowboys. Give her a guy in a tailored suit any day of the week. But now all she can think about is Mr. Rugged Handsome, six-feet of sinfully sexy country charm with a pair of green eyes that keeps her tossing and turning all night long.
Archer might be the wrong guy for a woman like her, but she's not right in thinking he'll walk away without fighting for her heart. And maybe, just maybe, two wrongs can make a right.
{ about lia riley } .
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.
{ excerpt } .
In fairness, Brightwater, California, didn’t host a large population. For a healthy man who liked the ladies, it didn’t take long to make the rounds at The Dirty Shame, the local watering hole. Vegas getaways meant variety, a chance to spice things up, although a threesome with Crystal and Donna—Deborah? Deena? Dazzle?—was akin to swallowing a whole habanero.He reached into the shower and flicked on the tap as a warm furry body hopped across his foot. “Shit!” He vaulted back, nearly going ass over teakettle, before bracing himself on the counter. A bewildered white rabbit peered up, nose twitching.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He squinted into the steam with increased suspicion. Hopefully, Crystal’s act didn’t also involve a baby crocodile or, worse, a boa constrictor. He hated snakes.
The coast was clear so he stepped inside, the hot water sending him halfway to human. There was a tiny bottle of hotel shampoo perched in the soap dish and he gave it a dubious sniff. It smelled like flowers but would do the job of rinsing away stale perfume and sex. He worked a dollop through his thick hair, shoulder muscles relaxing.
He’d always prided himself on being the kind of good-time guy who held no regrets, but lately it seemed like there was a difference between dwelling on past mistakes and reflecting in order to avoid future ones. Did he really want to live out these shallow morning-after scenarios forever like some warped version of Groundhog Day?
The hair on the back of his neck tingled with the unmistakable sensation of being watched. He swiped suds from his eyes and turned, nearly nose-to-nose with the blank stare of the old-man ventriloquist’s dummy.
“Fuck,” he barked, any better word lost in shock.
“Great Uncle Sam don’t like it when menfolk cuss,” the dummy responded in a deep, Southern drawl. Other than the puppet on her hand, Dixie-Dorothy-Darby wore nothing but a suggestive smile.
“Uh … morning, beautiful.” Thank God for matching dimples, they’d charmed him out of enough bad situations.
“No one’s ever made me come so hard.” The puppet’s mustache bobbed as he spoke and more of last night’s drunken jigsaw puzzle snapped into place. Desdemona-Diana-Doris had gone on (and on) about her dream of becoming a professional ventriloquist. She’d brought out the puppet and made Great Uncle Sam talk dirty, which had been hilarious after Tequila Slammers, Snake Bites, Buttery Nipples, and 5 Deadly Venoms, plus a few bottles of champagne.
It was a whole lot less funny now.
“Hey, D, would you mind giving me a sec here? I’m going to finish rinsing off.” When in doubt, he always referred to a woman by her first initial, it made him sound affectionate instead of like an asshole.
“D?” rumbled Great Uncle Sam.
Damn. Apparently an initial wasn’t going to cut it.
Okay think … Dinah? No. Two rocks glinted from her lobes—a possible namesake. “Diamond?”
Great Uncle Sam slowly shook his head. Maybe it was Archer’s imagination, but the painted eyes narrowed fractionally. “Stormy.”
And so was her expression.
Not even close.
“Stormy?” he repeated blankly. “Yeah, Stormy, of course. Gorgeous name. Makes me think of rain and … and … rainbows … and …”
“You called it out enough last night, the least you could do is be a gentleman and remember it the next morning!” Great Uncle Sam head-butted him.
Add splitting headache to his current list of troubles.
Archer scrambled from the shower before he got his bare ass taken down by a puppet. You don’t fight back against a woman, even if she is trying to bash your brain in with Pinocchio’s demented elderly uncle.
{ review } .
I wasn't sure if I was going to like this...
Why?
Because as much as I enjoyed reading LAST FIRST KISS, I didn't connect to it as much as I'd been hoping to. Did I enjoy the book? Yes. Did I like the complexity of the characters? Yes. So when I picked this book, again, I wasn't sure how much I would connect.
My goodness gracious, I know Wilder still deserves a chance, but Archer may just be my favorite Kane brother. My heart broke for him time and time again; he tried so hard to put his past behind him and prove that he was turning a new leaf, but sometimes your reputation can haunt you, something that Archer is shown over and over -- after all... hickies don't lie...
The book opens with Archer being... well... Archer. He's a lady's man and on occasion, he has more than one lady -- such as the case of the morning we open. He does not expect, though, to run in to a redheaded beauty.
Eden Bankcroft-Kew just learned that her engagement was all for show. Yet again, she's the ugly girl on the playground being picked on. Rather than let Reggie pull her down, though, she decides to go for what she wants. When she meets Archer and learns he lives in the very town her cousin does, she chooses the go 'home' with him.
Archer is strangely pulled toward Eden, who he dubs Edie and Freckles. He finally finds someone that makes him want to turn his life around, but he's terrified of her learning about his reputation and holding it against him.
...at this point he couldn't give his real reason without it looking like a cheap pickup line. The manwhore of Brightwater wanted to go a-courting? What a joke...
[...]"I won't deny whatever rumors you've heard about me. I'm not perfect, Edie, but I am a man, and where I come from that means saying what you mean, and meaning what you say. Do I want you? Yes. I want you like nothing I've ever needed. But I'm not going to chase you. I'm going to prove that I'm the guy who's willing to wait."
I loved watching Eden blossom into Edie Banks. Life changes take more than a name change, sure, but she learns to stand up for herself and how to properly put a bully in her place -- and kind of sort of maybe made a friend in the process. At the beginning, Edie has a hard time taking things at face value, always afraid there's a deeper motive or that something, anything, is too good to be true.
Archer made my heart happy so many times through the pages; equally, though, my heart hurt for him. I cried for the man he was and for the family he (and his brothers) lost. I loved his relationship with Grandma Kane, even though she accused him of follacio while driving...
Speaking of Grandma Kane... I really disliked that old bat in LAST FIRST KISS, but oh my, I actually found myself liking her here! I loved her story telling and I loved how she believed in Archer, in her round about way.
Do you need to read LAST FIRST KISS? No, you do not. These are two completely separate stories. Surprisingly, I have to say, this book actually starts before LAST FIRST KISS does. It was fun to go back to LAST FIRST KISS and re-read the scenes in the other view points -- like when Archer informs Sawyer that Annie's back in town, or when Annie and Sawyer go to Edie's store opening. All of these little pieces were fun to read, especially because Eden was nothing more than a "she" in the few mentions of her in LAST FIRST KISS.
"Hey, I know where I fit in the Kane brother pecking order. Wilder, he's the bad ass. And you? Well, shit. You're you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The good guy." Archer hooked a hand around the back of his neck. "Aw hell. Look, I'm not trying to dump my crap on you."
"Hey, I'm family, means you have a year-round dumping license."
"Nah. It's all good." He took another slug of water.
"I do think you like fun." Sawyer weighed his words carefully. His brother hadn't ever approached him for any sort of heart to heart before. He didn't want to squander the opportunity. "But I also think you want to stay in the shallows, that you're afraid of going out deeper."
"I'm not afraid of anything." Archer bristled.
Something had crawled up his ass, but what?
"Suit yourself." Sawyer hung the saddle on the peg. "I'm afraid of lots of things." If he wanted Arch to be honest, he'd best be honest too.
"You?" Archer braced his hand on a stable door. "What are you afraid of, Big Man?"
"Women, mostly," Sawyer said wryly. One tiny, pixie-haired woman in particular.
"That's the truth." Archer gave him a tentative glance. "I've got one that scares the shit out of me." -- LAST FIRST KISS
...and little did I know, I was going to get a front-row seat in reading about the one that terrified the playboy Kane.
Why?
Because as much as I enjoyed reading LAST FIRST KISS, I didn't connect to it as much as I'd been hoping to. Did I enjoy the book? Yes. Did I like the complexity of the characters? Yes. So when I picked this book, again, I wasn't sure how much I would connect.
My goodness gracious, I know Wilder still deserves a chance, but Archer may just be my favorite Kane brother. My heart broke for him time and time again; he tried so hard to put his past behind him and prove that he was turning a new leaf, but sometimes your reputation can haunt you, something that Archer is shown over and over -- after all... hickies don't lie...
The book opens with Archer being... well... Archer. He's a lady's man and on occasion, he has more than one lady -- such as the case of the morning we open. He does not expect, though, to run in to a redheaded beauty.
Eden Bankcroft-Kew just learned that her engagement was all for show. Yet again, she's the ugly girl on the playground being picked on. Rather than let Reggie pull her down, though, she decides to go for what she wants. When she meets Archer and learns he lives in the very town her cousin does, she chooses the go 'home' with him.
Archer is strangely pulled toward Eden, who he dubs Edie and Freckles. He finally finds someone that makes him want to turn his life around, but he's terrified of her learning about his reputation and holding it against him.
[...]"I won't deny whatever rumors you've heard about me. I'm not perfect, Edie, but I am a man, and where I come from that means saying what you mean, and meaning what you say. Do I want you? Yes. I want you like nothing I've ever needed. But I'm not going to chase you. I'm going to prove that I'm the guy who's willing to wait."
I loved watching Eden blossom into Edie Banks. Life changes take more than a name change, sure, but she learns to stand up for herself and how to properly put a bully in her place -- and kind of sort of maybe made a friend in the process. At the beginning, Edie has a hard time taking things at face value, always afraid there's a deeper motive or that something, anything, is too good to be true.
Archer made my heart happy so many times through the pages; equally, though, my heart hurt for him. I cried for the man he was and for the family he (and his brothers) lost. I loved his relationship with Grandma Kane, even though she accused him of follacio while driving...
Speaking of Grandma Kane... I really disliked that old bat in LAST FIRST KISS, but oh my, I actually found myself liking her here! I loved her story telling and I loved how she believed in Archer, in her round about way.
Do you need to read LAST FIRST KISS? No, you do not. These are two completely separate stories. Surprisingly, I have to say, this book actually starts before LAST FIRST KISS does. It was fun to go back to LAST FIRST KISS and re-read the scenes in the other view points -- like when Archer informs Sawyer that Annie's back in town, or when Annie and Sawyer go to Edie's store opening. All of these little pieces were fun to read, especially because Eden was nothing more than a "she" in the few mentions of her in LAST FIRST KISS.
"Hey, I know where I fit in the Kane brother pecking order. Wilder, he's the bad ass. And you? Well, shit. You're you."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The good guy." Archer hooked a hand around the back of his neck. "Aw hell. Look, I'm not trying to dump my crap on you."
"Hey, I'm family, means you have a year-round dumping license."
"Nah. It's all good." He took another slug of water.
"I do think you like fun." Sawyer weighed his words carefully. His brother hadn't ever approached him for any sort of heart to heart before. He didn't want to squander the opportunity. "But I also think you want to stay in the shallows, that you're afraid of going out deeper."
"I'm not afraid of anything." Archer bristled.
Something had crawled up his ass, but what?
"Suit yourself." Sawyer hung the saddle on the peg. "I'm afraid of lots of things." If he wanted Arch to be honest, he'd best be honest too.
"You?" Archer braced his hand on a stable door. "What are you afraid of, Big Man?"
"Women, mostly," Sawyer said wryly. One tiny, pixie-haired woman in particular.
"That's the truth." Archer gave him a tentative glance. "I've got one that scares the shit out of me." -- LAST FIRST KISS
...and little did I know, I was going to get a front-row seat in reading about the one that terrified the playboy Kane.
for other reviews & tour goodies,
{ previous reviews in series } .
LAST FIRST KISS 4.5★ { review }
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