A Fine Romance by Christi Barth – a Review

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Description:

They say you form your first impression of someone within thirty seconds of meeting them. Or, in Mira Parrish’s case, within thirty minutes of not meeting them, when said person is supposed to pick you up from the airport and never shows. This is not a perfect start to her new life. Her
friend Ivy is depending on her to run a new romance store, and Mira can’t afford to let her down.

Sam Lyons should probably apologize. But every time he sees Mira–which is often, since his family owns the bakery next to her shop–he can’t resist antagonizing her. There’s something about the sexy, straight-laced woman that drives him crazy. He can’t get involved, though. He has too much baggage to be any good in a serious relationship.

Despite his teasing attitude, Mira finds Sam too sweet to resist. (His hot body may be a factor.) But if there’s going to be anything permanent between them, they’ll need to let go of their pasts and look to the future…

Review:

A Fine Romance by Christi Barth is her second book in her Aisle Bound series.  Having read the first book in this series, I was looking forward to read this book.  Christi Barth does not disappoint, as A Fine Romance was another fun romance read, with a wedding planning background.  Though this book isn’t really about planning weddings, it has all the characters from the first book play secondary roles, including Ivy, our heroine of Planning for Love. If you have not read the first book, you can still read this one, as Barth does an excellent job bringing people up to date.  However, I suggest you read Planning for Love first, as these are fun characters you want know and follow.

Mira is our heroine, and she comes to Chicago to help Ivy open a new store that she has dreamed about.  Mira will set up and manage “A Fine Romance” store that deals with all things related to preparing for the perfect date..wine, food, picnic baskets, gifts, etc.  Mira arrives in Chicago and immediately starts off badly, being stood up at the airport and by the time she arrives at her new home, she is drenched, and muddied.  Why was she stood up?  

We now meet Sam, our hero, who is part of the Aisle Bound friendship group, who shows up at Daphne’s place, where Mira will now live.  Sam was supposed to pick up Mira at the airport, and didn’t even try to find someone else to pick her up.  Why you ask?  He had to take care of his mother.  So needless to say Mira did not greet Sam too kindly, and he either didn’t care or thought nothing of it.  You knew these two would never hit it off.  Especially as the days pass, and Sam continues to muddle things.  Sam is a hunk, totally hot, and a baker. I would never think of a baker being a hunk, but Sam was and he will later prove was a wiz he is, especially when handling chocolate.  But that is later.  Sam besides splitting all things in the bakery with his mom, handles the decorative cakes for the weddings at Aisle Bound.  As good a baker he is, he is clueless how to handle women, especially Mira, who was totally turned off of Sam and his inconsiderate ways; though she found him to be very attractive.

I have to say, from the start, I wasn’t too crazy about Sam.  The things he did nonchalantly required a few slaps, but this was an issue for him when it came to his mom.  Mira too had her own issues about getting into a serious relationship, as she was somewhat estranged from her parents. 

With all the negatives in the beginning, the relationship between Mira and Sam did begin to build, and their chemistry was great.  Barth did a great job bringing this along slowly, early on.  This turned out to be such a fun romance, with each having their obstacles to get past.  But the time we spent with Mira and Sam was fun, sexy and enjoyable. I loved them together.  As for the chocolate, I think you need to read this book to see what Sam does with all his different homemade flavors of chocolate.  You may never look at chocolate the same way. 

I love this series by Christi Barth.  It is fun, with great couples, great secondary characters, and just the right blend of romance and sex, not to mention a wonderful love story.  If you want a light, fast, fun, sexy and enjoyable read..look no further then A Fine Romance.  But again I suggest you start with Planning for Love to meet the other wonderful characters.  I thoroughly enjoy reading Christi’s fun romance stories, and can’t wait for the next book in the Aisle Bound series, Friends to Lovers.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author