DODGING TEMPTATION (The Retreat #1) by Avery Flynn-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 14, 2105

You can’t hide from love…or revenge.

Dodge Loving wants revenge…and he’s about to get it. On the cusp of closing a multi-billion-dollar luxury resort deal, Dodge can’t afford for anything go wrong. But then a fiery redhead shows up, the paparazzi hot on her trail, and throws his world into chaos. He has to get rid of her. Immediately.

Harper Conner just wants to be left alone, but after slapping her cheating senator ex-husband during a televised press conference, she’s a hot commodity. The ultra exclusive resort in Wyoming seems like the ideal place to hide—and work—so there’s no way she’s letting the Type-A jerk who runs the place fire her.

Despite the animosity sparking between them, Dodge and Harper can’t keep their hands to themselves. This thing between them can’t happen. It won’t. But his mother has other ideas…and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make sure Harper and Dodge fall in love.

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REVIEW: DODGING TEMPTATION is the first installment in Avery Flynn’s contemporary adult RETREAT romance series focusing on the Loving brothers-Dodge, Stone and Griff Loving, and the family owned Retreat Spa and Resort where A-listers, the famous, and infamous venture for privacy, luxury and freedom. This is eldest brother and resort CEO Dodge Loving, and newly divorced Harper Conner’s storyline.

Told from dual third person perspectives DODGING TEMPTATION follows the building relationship between Harper and Dodge, and Dodge’s plans to sign a deal for The Retreat to go global in the hopes of taking down the man who he believes destroyed his mother’s life. What ensues is an acrimonious introduction between our leading couple when Dodge discovers her connections to the man he is hoping to bring down.

Harper Conner’s newly minted status as a young divorcee finds our heroine struggling for a direction in life, and with it comes the tenacity and ball busting attitude when Dodge Loving makes it his mission to remove Harper from The Retreat Spa and Resort. Harper is an employee of his mother, and his mother’s attempts at matchmaking place Harper and Dodge in the direct line of fire. But Dodge wants nothing to do with the ex-wife of a scandalous senator-she brings too much trouble and notoriety to the quiet solitude of The Retreat Spa and Resort. The paparazzi have staked a spot outside The Retreat in the hopes of a getting an exclusive with some of the famous visitors.

The relationship between our couple is fraught with accusations and perceived betrayal. Dodge and Harper believe that each other has an agenda, and with it comes the disheartening realization that everything about their growing connection has been a lie. The $ex scenes are intimate and seductive without the over the top graphic erotic imagery. There is some definite heat in the kitchen, and the library.

The secondary and supporting characters include Dodge’s brothers Stone and Griff, as well as their long suffering mother who has made it her mission to see that each of her sons finds his happily ever after. But it is May Loving’s past relationship with her own family that fuels the animosity and hatred building up in her eldest son. He is a man determined to destroy the past but with it will come hardship and heartbreak. The ultimate in rock star rehab notoriety comes in the form Garth Hampton-a man whose own demons have become fodder for the paparazzi tabloids.

DODGING TEMPTATION is an entertaining and sexy story that tests the waters of racial discrimination in the face of family history and letting go of the past. The premise is evenly paced while the build-up of conflict between Harper and Dodge is a foregone conclusion. The characters are engaging, energetic and oft-times a point of humor especially where it concerns the relationship between Dodge, Stone and Griff-brotherly love is all about the teasing and loving revenge. The conflict resolution is rather abrupt, in my humble opinion, with a look to the future one month later. May Loving is once again on the search for the women to tame her younger sons. Congratulations to Avery Flynn on the release of DODGING TEMPTATION-the first book in her new RETREAT romance series.

Copy supplied by the publisher.

Reviewed by Sandy