Release Review: The Sweetest Chase: Sharla Lovelace
(Heart of the Storm #2)
Sharla Lovelace
Expected February 23, 2016
Photographer Quinn Parker is getting married in a month, and she’s almost happy about it. Even though her mother is planning the whole wedding. Even though she’s secretly had the hots for Simon Chase forever. But he’s her best friend’s brother and her coworker…off-limits even if she were single. So she’s marrying the man who should be her perfect match—and that’s that.
Simon Chase’s life revolves around his family’s storm-chasing business. The meteorologist of the bunch, he’d rather be out in the weather than reporting it—especially if Quinn Parker is along to photograph the run. He’s been hiding his crush on her for a long time, and it’s only intensified. But she’s marrying someone else—and that’s that.
Or is it? When a Chase family wedding sets the stage for body temperatures to rise and the pressure of Quinn’s impending wedding to build, a new reality breaks. Quinn and Simon discover their unrequited affections have been mutual all along. When the gathering storm of their attraction finally reaches its peak, will it leave their lives in shambles? Or will they find shelter in each other?
This jumps right back into the chaos that is the Chase family with their interpersonal relationships, storm chasing, and tv show in the midst of weddings, engagements, recently exposed hidden crushes, and family drama.Simon Chase and Quinn Parker have been best friends for years and thought their crushes were unrequited. But suddenly there is a lightning strike of awareness one day that their hidden crushes are actually mutual. One kiss changes everything and nothing at the same time. Quinn has a fiance and is supposed to marry soon. They work together. They are friends. She is friends with his sister and adopted into his family. It is all a complicated emotional mess.
They are both guilty and confused and trying to figure out what is wrong and right for all involved. Quinn's marriage countdown has her more and more stressed and worried about her future. She is under extreme pressure from her family and fiance to conform. And now that she and Simon opened the door to their attraction it is hard to close it again. But there is guilt, anger, avoidance, rejection, and jealousy at various times.
I admit Quinn drove me a bit crazy. I liked her sweet, fun personality, but I just wanted her to find her back bone and deal with her complicated situation. She could be a door mat and internalized her true feelings. I loved Simon even though I sometimes wanted him to be more assertive in the chase. He was caring, protective, funny, and had a big, giving heart. He understood her true personality and appreciated it even when her family and fiance did not. He also had his own issues weighing on him including decreased self worth. Their jobs were stressful enough and to have outside influences judging them and putting pressure on them, just made it even harder. So they had both professional and personal issues, fears, insecurities, and guilt causing anxiety and affecting their decisions.
All of the side characters are back: Zach and Maddi, Hannah, Eli, Granabelle, their mom Lou, Monroe, Jonah, and we even get to meet the elusive brother Levi and his daughter Kinley. I love the rapport with the family and friends. Her family could be demanding and toxic, but I liked her sister Phoebe. And there is always conflict surrounding their job and those involved in it. There are still other possible pairings brewing in the background with the Chase siblings and other characters. As in the first book, the storms add more drama and excitement. There is a lot going on with the character dynamics and their personal lives, but I felt it was easier to get into this one than the first book because I am familiar with them now. It was an angsty, romantic, dramatic, and suspenseful friends to lovers story.
ARC provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Loving the Chase (Heart of the Storm #1)
Charming, adventurous Zach Chase has always craved the spotlight, and now he’s on the hunt for publicity for his family’s storm-chasing business. So when a reality TV network approaches him with the idea for a show profiling their work, he can’t resist. But the last person he expects to walk into the meeting is the former love of his life.
Production assistant Maddi Hayes was once engaged to Zach—until she was almost killed by a tornado he was out chasing. She walked away from her fiancé and their future together, convinced she’d always come second to his dangerous career.
Dreading the show and anxious over working so closely with Zach, Maddi also knows this project could mean big things for her career. If only Zach weren’t still so infuriating…and so infuriatingly sexy. Can they finally let go of their stormy past? Or will the passion still raging between them win in the end?
Sharla Lovelace is the Bestselling and Award Winning Author of three novels and a novella, the most recent being DON'T LET GO, with a forthcoming novel, STAY WITH ME, due in Summer 2014. Being a Texas girl through and through, she's proud to say she lives in Southeast Texas with her husband, a golf cart, a crazy mutt, and an aviary full of cockatiels.
Sharla is available by Skype for book club meetings and chats, and loves connecting with her readers! See her website www.sharlalovelace.com for a complete book listing, info on upcoming events, and to sign up for her monthly newsletter.
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