Delivered with a Kiss (Veteran Movers#4) by Marie Harte-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 19, 2019

Will one wrong move

Bring Erin love

With the right guy?

Smith Ramsey knows all about hard knocks. So, when his newest client gets dumped by her boyfriend, he gets her an apartment in his complex. He tries to steer clear of her, having enough troubles of his own. He’s got estranged brothers to deal with on top of learning his mother wasn’t his mother. But he can’t forget pretty Erin Briggs. And soon he’s addicted to more than her cookies…

Erin thought she’d been in love, but now independent and looking at life through clear eyes, she realizes what she felt for her ex in no way compares to what she’s feeling for the tough ex-Marine who picked her up when she was down.

Actions speak louder than words. Smith’s kindness and gentle core lay buried under old hurts. But can he forgive and forget the past to make a future with Erin? And is she making a mistake by trusting in love for the wrong man all over again?

••••••••

REVIEW:DELIVERED WITH A KISS is the fourth and final instalment in Marie Harte’s contemporary, adult VETERAN MOVERS erotic, romance series focusing on the men and women who work for Vets on the Go!-a moving company designed to employ former servicemen. This is Marine Smith Ramsey, and editor/you tube vlogger Erin Briggs’ story line. DELIVERED WITH A KISS can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading the series in order for backstory and history between Smith, and the brothers he never knew.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Erin and Smith) DELIVERED WITH A KISS follows in the wake of Erin Briggs move from Kansas to Seattle, a move to surprise her boyfriend, a man who had moved on with someone else. With no place to go, or help to get her there Erin comes face to face with Vets on the Go mover Smith Ramsey, the man with whom Erin will fall in love. When Smith offers up a solution to her current dilemma, Erin finds herself working part time for an elderly woman whose acerbic and saucy personality hides a heart of gold. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Smith and Erin, and the potential fall-out as Smith’s issues of trust and extreme lack of self-esteem are at odds with his attraction and growing love for Erin Briggs.

Smith Ramsey is the product of an adulterous affair, and only recently discovered that the woman he thought was his mother, was his aunt, and that the man he never knew, fathered other children including our story line hero. Working for Vets on the Go! would place Smith in the direct line of fire with his siblings, siblings he struggled to accept or love. Erin Briggs moved to Seattle in an effort to move on with her life, a life that no longer included her long-distance boyfriend Cody. Meeting Smith Ramsay gave Erin a hope for the future but Smith struggled to accept anyone into his life, including the woman with whom he would fall in love.

The relationship between Smith and Erin is one of immediate attraction but a distinct lack of communication, and issues of self-esteem forced our couple to overthink their friendship, as well as their growing attraction that is constantly sabotaged by Smith’s inability to let go of the past. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense but I dislike the use of a certain four-letter word in my romance story lines, and in this case, the word was used as shock value as the heroine, as well, did not like the use of the word.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and energetic secondary and supporting characters including all of the previous story line couples including Smith’s brothers, Cash Griffith and Jordan Fleming (Smooth Moves #2), Reid Griffith and Naomi (The Whole Package #1); and their cousin Evan and Kenzie, and Evan’s mother (Aunt) Jane Griffith; Vets on the Go employees, Hector and Lafayette. We are introduced to Smith and Erin’s landlady Tilly Fine, her nephew Rupert, and friends Willie, firefighter Brad Battle; Erin’s ex-boyfriend Cody and his girlfriend; Smith’s ‘mother’ Margaret Ramsey.

DELIVERED WITH A KISS is a story of family and betrayal; acceptance and moving forward. Marie Harte reveals the man behind the mask of pain that for so long protected Smith from the life he had lived. The premise is emotional and entertaining; the characters are dynamic, broken, fun and forgiving; the romance is seductive and captivating. DELIVERED WITH A KISS answered the reader’s questions about the who, how and why of Smith Ramsay, and revealed the triggers that send a 6’5” Marine into a spiral of low self-esteem and a loss of control.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

The Whole Package
Smooth Moves
Handle With Care

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy