Release Blitz: With This Fling: Tara Sivec
April 25, 2022
Laura Bennett has spent her life taking care of other people and running the Dip and Twist. Happily spending her time being single and carefree, she has no intention of settling down or falling in love. With an ever-growing family, she’s a mother to them all, and she loves every minute of it. But her baby is getting married, and her oldest has her own life changes she’s dealing with. Suddenly, being all alone doesn’t sound so appealing anymore.
Dean Campbell has been the black sheep of his family since the day he was born. The only one he cares about is his nephew, Palmer. Deciding at the last minute to attend Palmer’s nuptials, Dean knows he’s going to need to try his hardest not to be his usual, grouchy self. He doesn’t like people, and he really doesn’t like weddings. But the sexy and sassy mother-of-the-bride has him wanting to check Plus-One on his invite. He’s never had more fun getting under someone’s skin, and it doesn’t take long for all the people, noise, and chaos that surround Laura Bennett to become a few of his favorite things.
Laura thinks a fun wedding fling is just what the doctor ordered to get her out of this funk. But Dean’s been sprinkled with Shepherd’s glitter and the magic of Summersweet Island. He’ll do whatever it takes to convince her that, with this fling, she just might change her mind about falling in love again.
This series just gets me every time! The chaos, the laughter, the snark, the ridiculousness...but also the genuine love, care and support these characters have for each other. This story is no exception. It's time for Birdie and Palmer's big Summersweet wedding extravaganza! Bring on the glitter!
Laura Bennett is a mid-fifties mom of Birdie and Wren, and adopted mom to their best friends and spouses. She runs her own business and does everything to take care of everyone else. She is sassy, sweet, outspoken, and still feels young. But she does not believe in love or relationships and just tends to hook up with young guys with no expectations, but she is also starting to feel lonely.
Dean Campbell is Palmer's black sheep uncle who literally rolls into town on his Harley for the wedding. He is in his late fifties, scruffy, edgy, sarcastic, and known to be grumpy and antisocial. But he is enamored of Laura as soon as he sees her...not the perfect version he has always heard about, but the real woman. He finds himself hunting her out, eavesdropping at inopportune times, volunteering to help her, and finding excuses just to be around her. She lights up his possessive, jealous, and flirty sides.
They tussle, tease, and spar, but also laugh and smile more around each other. They both challenge and support each other, and their chemistry is out of control. A wedding fling sounds like a great idea. But now these two people who thought they were just fine being alone and did not believe in love for themselves are now feeling a bit out of their element.
This is a laugh-out-loud, sweet, hot love story with a bit older characters who thrive on not acting their age. But it is also about family, home, and a sense of community. This is a celebration of life and love with lots of laughter and shenanigans. I totally enjoyed being back on the island and hanging out with the "kids" and their spouses and seeing the more stuck-in-their-ruts Dean and Laura explore different sides of themselves. I was happy to see there will be another book coming in this wacky and fun island world.
Laura Bennett is the natural caretaker of the group of characters we’ve followed on Summersweet Island. She spent most of her daughters’ lives as a single mom, taking care of not only her own children, but any of their friends who needed the help, and running a business at the same time. Now that her girls are all grown up and on their way to starting their own families, Laura feels the loneliness creeping in (but not entirely, because now she has even more people to look out for as her family expands).
Dean Campbell hasn’t been close with anyone in his family except for his nephew, Palmer. He shows up to Palmer’s wedding at the last minute and finds himself caught in a whirlwind he wasn’t expecting: Laura Bennett and Summersweet Island in general. He has generally been a loner, traveling extensively for work and rarely staying in one place for long. But as he gets to know the real Laura (not the perfect version his nephew has told him stories of), he finds himself wondering if he could make a home on Summersweet.
It doesn’t take long for these two to find sparks, and soon, getting under Laura’s skin is Dean’s favorite thing to do. With the chaos of the days leading up to the wedding: final preparations and all the daily activities planned for the out of town guests, this quickly turns into a recipe for hilarity and heart.
I loved the way Dean slipped into Laura’s crazy routine. So much fell onto her shoulders (or she offered to pick up) that it’s no wonder she was feeling out of sorts. Watching him step up to help so she could keep doing the things she loved and maybe have a moment of peace here and there was where I fell in love with Dean completely.
They are surrounded by the “children” (who are technically adults even if they don’t always act like it) and grandchildren (who are actually children), and regularly find themselves leaning in to support their families with situations that extend beyond just the two of them in a way that makes this series feel like family, more than just those who are tied by blood. (And boy can this family find themselves in some crazy situations.)
In true Tara Sivec fashion, this book is full of outrageous one-liners, hilarious antics, and a group of characters who keep everyone around them on their toes with hijinks and mayhem. Returning to Summersweet Island is always entertaining and I cannot wait for more.
Kiss My Putt
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Our 4.5 star reviews
“Palmer ‘Pal’ Campbell has epic breakdown on the 18th hole of the Bermuda Open! Video at 11.”
After spending my entire pro golfing career being known as the quiet, controlled, no-nonsense golfer on the tour, there’s nothing more humiliating than throwing all of that down the drain—or into a water hazard—on national television. Needing some place to hide, to lick my wounds and figure out what I even want to do with my life once this blows over, I can only think of one place I need to be. Summersweet Island, where everyone treats me like one of their own, and they’ll all be happy to have me home again.
Well, except maybe one person. It’s been two years since I last set foot on Summersweet Island or spoke to anyone there. But I’m sure Birdie Bennett, my best friend since I was 15 and the clubhouse manager of my favorite golf course, has had plenty of time to forgive me for that tiny little misunderstanding where I blocked her on social media and blocked her in my phone. Oh, and I guess I kind of, sort of accused her of being a stalker. It’s fine!
Once my sexy, spunky, former best friend gets over the shock of seeing me again and stops trying to drive a 9-iron into my skull, I can finally let her know I’ve also kind of, sort of always been in love with her...
Even though my soul leaves my body every time she says she hates baseball and has never watched me play, a year’s-worth of messages filled with laughter and sarcasm only remind me how amazing my “pen pal” is. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how fine I look in a pair of baseball pants; I’m still 3,000 miles away, and she’s taken... or so I thought. Maybe I should have thought a little harder before I dropped her like a seeing-eye single into the outfield.
When an injury has me questioning everything about my life, I can only think of one place I need to go and one person I need to see. Home, to Summersweet Island, to get back my “pen pal.”
Now I just need to make sure single mom Wren knows I didn’t come back for a change, and I didn’t come back for a job. I’m swinging for the fences, and I’m finally coming home to make her mine. If only she’d stop insulting me and stay in one place long enough for me to tell her. She wouldn’t try to drown me with a tub of ice cream, right?
I’m sure it’ll be fine.
Swing and Mishap
(Summersweet Island #2)
(Summersweet Island #2)
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Kim's 4.5 star review
“Hawks fans still in shock after centerfielder, Shepherd Oliver, sustained season-ending injury last night in the 5th inning of the playoffs against Chicago.”
Two years ago, I was a pretty big deal. I thought I had it all, until a blast from my past popped up on my social media feed, keeping my ego in check and reminding me how basic I am. Except sassy Wren Bennett isn’t just a blast from my past. She’s the only woman I ever saw a future with.
Two years ago, I was a pretty big deal. I thought I had it all, until a blast from my past popped up on my social media feed, keeping my ego in check and reminding me how basic I am. Except sassy Wren Bennett isn’t just a blast from my past. She’s the only woman I ever saw a future with.
Even though my soul leaves my body every time she says she hates baseball and has never watched me play, a year’s-worth of messages filled with laughter and sarcasm only remind me how amazing my “pen pal” is. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how fine I look in a pair of baseball pants; I’m still 3,000 miles away, and she’s taken... or so I thought. Maybe I should have thought a little harder before I dropped her like a seeing-eye single into the outfield.
When an injury has me questioning everything about my life, I can only think of one place I need to go and one person I need to see. Home, to Summersweet Island, to get back my “pen pal.”
Now I just need to make sure single mom Wren knows I didn’t come back for a change, and I didn’t come back for a job. I’m swinging for the fences, and I’m finally coming home to make her mine. If only she’d stop insulting me and stay in one place long enough for me to tell her. She wouldn’t try to drown me with a tub of ice cream, right?
I’m sure it’ll be fine.
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Our 4 star reviews
‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through Summersweet,
Tess Powell was annoyed and wanted to retreat.
With a BIC in her hand and a frown on her face,
everyone knew she needed a break from this place.
Wanting the holiday to be nothing but the best,
Bodhi took his girlfriend to the mountains to rest.
While visions of fire happily danced in Tess’s head,
soon she would see she had everything to dread.
Crying kids, singing hippos, and a stalker with a van,
definitely wasn’t part of Bodhi’s evacuation plan.
But all he wanted for Christmas was for her to say yes,
to the question he kept asking with zero finesse.
With some help from new friends and their holiday cheer,
Tess and Bodhi get much more.
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Our 4.5 star reviews
Our 4.5 star reviews
It all started with a dare.
Emily Flanagan has been living her dreams the last four years as a professional cheerleader for the Los Angeles Vipers, thousands of miles away from her tiny hometown of Summersweet Island, Virginia. She’s got the world at the tips of her pom-poms... until she tells her boss to shove those pom-poms where the sun doesn’t shine.
After spending her last night in California with her biggest crush, Emily flies back home to Summersweet, resigned to her boring fate of running her parents’ business, never to be heard from again. Besides, there’s no use crying over a man who lives on the other side of the country, who she’ll never see again.
“Secret love affair for the new quarterback of the Virginia Beach Sharks, or a shocking tale of infidelity, leading all the way back to a birthday party Quinn Bagley threw at his previous home in Calabasas five months ago? New photos of the mystery redhead from the party surface, leaving fans to speculate all over social media, “Who is this woman who convinced Quinn Bagley to quit the Vipers and go to one of the worst teams in the league?”
Quinn Bagley is finally playing for a team that feels like a family, after years of playing with nothing but egos. Following an announcement that shocked the world—one he’d been wrestling with for months, if not years—it felt good to have that weight lifted off his shoulders. What he’s not happy about is that the woman who rocked his world the night she literally fell into his life turned out to be like every other crazy redhead he’s ever encountered, spreading lies all over social media and wanting to use him for something. He just wants to look her in the eyes and hear her admit it was all a game.
Except Emily Flanagan isn’t the hotheaded, rude woman he thought she was, out to screw him over. She’s sweet, sexy, and fun. Even if she does try to banish him from her island. She makes him feel normal, she makes him laugh, and she makes him want more.
He’s going to win her heart, even if he has to do it in overtime.
Let the real games begin, Miss Flanagan. I dare you.
Tara Sivec
Tara Sivec is a USA Today best-selling author, wife, mother, chauffeur, maid, short-order cook, baby-sitter, and sarcasm expert. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two children and looks forward to the day when they all three of them become adults and move out.
After working in the brokerage business for fourteen years, Tara decided to pick up a pen and write instead of shoving it in her eye out of boredom. Her novel Seduction and Snacks won first place in the Indie Romance Convention Reader's Choice Awards 2013 for Best Indie First Book and she was voted as Best Author in the Indie Romance Convention Reader's Choice Awards for 2014.
In her spare time, Tara loves to dream about all of the baking she'll do and naps she'll take when she ever gets spare time.
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