Dane has built his life around not relying on anyone but himself. When he travels from New York City to North Carolina at the request of his estranged, incarcerated father, he learns truths he’d rather not know… along with inheriting a share in his grandfather’s inn. But the place comes with complications, including a man he will have to walk away from—but can’t help falling for.Brook has only known romance through notes left in a mailbox at the end of the beach. When he’s tasked with showing his boss’s gorgeous nephew what makes Sunset Beach and Bird Island special, he’s compelled to take Dane to his favorite place.
Dane never wanted the inn, but when it’s threatened, he steps up to defend it… and keep the man he’s coming to love by his side and in his life. But first they’ll have to clean up Dane’s uncle’s mess.
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Cat gives this one 4 Meows with a 1 Purr heat index..
This is a short and sweet story with a bit of suspense. Dane is tired of his life and unhappy but on the other hand comfortable in the city. He travels a lot for his job. His dad wants him to go to South Carolina to place on the coast where his uncle runs a small resort to check it out and see if it would be a good place for his dad to relocate after he gets out of prison.
Dane meets Brook and its pretty much insta lust but Brook does want to take it slow because he knows Dane will be leaving in a few weeks.
There is a tourist attraction there, a mailbox where people leave anonymous notes to The Kindred Spirit and everyone is welcome to write and or read one.
The storyline is sweet but also has a touch of suspense with his uncle.
The only issue I had was I really wanted to meet Dane's dad and that part seemed rushed over and we never met him.
Excerpt...
SOMEWHERE BENEATH layers of spit-up and other bodily fluids I’d prefer not to think about, I could still see traces of the first man I’d ever loved. Sadly the sentiment had never been reciprocated, but against all odds, Grady Walsh and I had become and remained best friends. He was the one who convinced me it wasn’t necessary to be in a committed relationship to enjoy sex. And now he sat across the living room from me, his infant son cradled in his arms, his beautiful wife in the kitchen working on dinner. Yes, the former self-professed lone wolf had become the picture-perfect family man.
“Dane, I know Jen’s a good cook, but why are you really here?” Grady asked.
I took a long draw from my beer, setting it carefully on a coaster. No water rings on Jen’s furniture. Just another way Grady’s life had shifted over the past year. I’d give my left nut for what they shared, but I wouldn’t because that meant trusting someone with both my secrets and my heart. Some risks in life weren’t worth the casualties.
“Talked to my dad last weekend,” I said, as though that was enough explanation why I’d made the ninety-mile drive to see Grady.
“And?” Grady shifted in his chair, little Pax nestling deeper into the safety of his father’s embrace. How pathetic was I that I was jealous of a tiny human incapable of voicing his needs beyond random grunts and cries? I longed for the innocence of believing everyone in the world lived to protect you, that they’d always be there for you. I prayed that little boy never knew the harsh realities of the world he’d been born into.
“He’s getting out soon.” This wasn’t a shock to Grady. He’d been there the day my dad was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a Ponzi scheme. The same scheme, in fact, that’d robbed the Walsh family of a significant portion of their wealth. Like I said, our friendship was one that defied the odds.
“And? Seriously, so far you haven’t given me the slightest hint as to why you’re here.”
Pax squawked, and Jen snuck into the room to whisk him away.
“Is he anxious to be a free man?”
I shrugged, not wanting to admit to Grady that we were both worried about how he’d fare on the outside. It didn’t matter that he’d maintained his innocence the entire time he was behind bars; a jury of his peers had found him guilty of the crimes. The job prospects for someone in his shoes weren’t exactly great, which was why he’d made the request he had last weekend.
“Apparently, Dad’s brother reached out to him after years of silence. He’s got it in his head he’s going to move down there once he’s released so he can have a fresh start. He’s already put in the request to have his parole transferred. He wants me to go down ahead of him to get to know my uncle.” There were few things I’d rather do less than meet the brother who hadn’t once reached out to my dad since his parents had shunned him for knocking up the whore from the wrong side of the tracks. They weren’t wrong to tell him she’d never amount to anything, but he’d busted his ass to prove them wrong about how she’d pull him under. The woman who’d given birth to me skipped out days before my sixth birthday, leaving Dad a single parent trying to work his way through school. He called on the help of his friends, bartered for babysitting services, and graduated with honors. Worked his way from the ground floor to a senior investment advisor position. Life was great—until the day it all went to shit.
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“Dane, I know Jen’s a good cook, but why are you really here?” Grady asked.
I took a long draw from my beer, setting it carefully on a coaster. No water rings on Jen’s furniture. Just another way Grady’s life had shifted over the past year. I’d give my left nut for what they shared, but I wouldn’t because that meant trusting someone with both my secrets and my heart. Some risks in life weren’t worth the casualties.
“Talked to my dad last weekend,” I said, as though that was enough explanation why I’d made the ninety-mile drive to see Grady.
“And?” Grady shifted in his chair, little Pax nestling deeper into the safety of his father’s embrace. How pathetic was I that I was jealous of a tiny human incapable of voicing his needs beyond random grunts and cries? I longed for the innocence of believing everyone in the world lived to protect you, that they’d always be there for you. I prayed that little boy never knew the harsh realities of the world he’d been born into.
“He’s getting out soon.” This wasn’t a shock to Grady. He’d been there the day my dad was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a Ponzi scheme. The same scheme, in fact, that’d robbed the Walsh family of a significant portion of their wealth. Like I said, our friendship was one that defied the odds.
“And? Seriously, so far you haven’t given me the slightest hint as to why you’re here.”
Pax squawked, and Jen snuck into the room to whisk him away.
“Is he anxious to be a free man?”
I shrugged, not wanting to admit to Grady that we were both worried about how he’d fare on the outside. It didn’t matter that he’d maintained his innocence the entire time he was behind bars; a jury of his peers had found him guilty of the crimes. The job prospects for someone in his shoes weren’t exactly great, which was why he’d made the request he had last weekend.
“Apparently, Dad’s brother reached out to him after years of silence. He’s got it in his head he’s going to move down there once he’s released so he can have a fresh start. He’s already put in the request to have his parole transferred. He wants me to go down ahead of him to get to know my uncle.” There were few things I’d rather do less than meet the brother who hadn’t once reached out to my dad since his parents had shunned him for knocking up the whore from the wrong side of the tracks. They weren’t wrong to tell him she’d never amount to anything, but he’d busted his ass to prove them wrong about how she’d pull him under. The woman who’d given birth to me skipped out days before my sixth birthday, leaving Dad a single parent trying to work his way through school. He called on the help of his friends, bartered for babysitting services, and graduated with honors. Worked his way from the ground floor to a senior investment advisor position. Life was great—until the day it all went to shit.
Sloan Johnson is a big-city girl trapped in a country girl’s body. While she longs for the hustle and bustle of New York City or Las Vegas, she hasn’t yet figured out how to sit on the deck with her morning coffee, watching the deer and wild turkeys in the fields, while surrounded by concrete and glass.
When she was three, her parents received their first call from the principal asking them to pick her up from school. Apparently, if you aren’t enrolled, you can’t attend classes, even in kindergarten. The next week, she was in preschool, and started plotting her first story soon after.
Later in life, her parents needed to do something to help their socially awkward, uncoordinated child come out of her shell and figured there was no better place than a bar on Wednesday nights. It’s a good thing they did because this is where she found her love of reading and writing. Who needs socialization when you can sit alone in your bedroom with a good book?
Thank you for the review and excerpt!
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