FEARLESS (Rosewood Bay #1) by Carly Phillips-Review and Excerpt Tour
FEARLESS
Rosewood Bay #1
by Carly Phillips
Release Date: March 20, 2018
Genre: adult, contemporary, erotic, romance
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 20, 2018
Fall in love with the Wards…
Mechanic and garage owner, Kane Harmon is used to the wealthy beautiful women visiting his beach town. He doesn’t get involved because he knows most females would merely be slumming for the summer.
Except Halley Ward isn’t just passing through. She lives a solitary life in a bungalow on the beach. A woman tormented by her past, distant from her wealthy family, different from Kane’s usual fare of town girls who know his M.O.- Don’t expect more than he’s willing to give.
Kane rescues Halley and her broken down car from the side of the road and instantly he’s hooked. She says she’s not interested in him. He knows she lies. And he makes it his mission to bring her back to life, to return her emotionally to her family. To show her the colors around her were as vibrant as the ones she puts on her canvas.
Until past meets present and threatens all the progress they’ve made. Then it’s Halley’s turn to step up and stand up for the relationship and life she’s finally coming to believe she deserves.
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REVIEW: FEARLESS is the first instalment in Carly Phillips’ contemporary, adult ROSEWOOD BAY erotic, romance series focusing on the Ward sisters-Halley and Phoebe Ward, and Juliette Collins. This is artist Halley Ward, and mechanic Kane Harmon’s story line.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Halley and Kane) FEARLESS follows the building relationship between mechanic and garage owner Kane Harmon, and artist Halley Ward. When a call comes into the garage about a broken down SUV Kane is surprised to discover his childhood crush Halley Ward at the side of the road looking for help. Kane had no idea that Halley, the girl that was bullied through most of her life, still lived in Rosewood Bay. From the outset, Kane’s attraction to Halley is met with resistance by our story line heroine, a resistance meant to protect Halley from further rejection by the people she loves. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Halley and Kane, and the potential fall-out when Halley’s past destroys what little trust Halley as built through most of her life.
Halley struggles to move on from the past, a past shrouded in the bitter memories of her mother’s battles with alcohol and drugs. Passed from foster home to foster home, our heroine’s earlier years control her present such that she is unable to let go, and move on from the past.
Kane Harmon’s life hasn’t been easy. While he and his sister Andi battle to keep one step ahead of their father’s addiction, Kane also struggles with issues of trust stemming from a woman who broke his heart.
The relationship between Kane and Halley is one of mutual attraction but Halley struggles with demons from her past, and low self-esteem as a direct result of her earlier life. Kane is falling in love with a woman who struggles with issues of trust, a trust that will be broken once again. He is a kind and gentle hero who is willing to accept everything in Halley’s past but Halley isn’t ready to allow Kane the benefit of the doubt. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense, without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
We are introduced to Kane’s father Joe Harmon; Kane’s sister Andrea aka Andi, and her seven year old son Nicky; Halley’s sister Phoebe, and her eleven year old son Jamie, their Aunt Joy, and Halley and Phoebe’s mother – a woman whose addictions almost destroyed the lives of the children she was meant to love. Phoebe’s story line is next in BREATHE.
The world building reveals the destructive nature of addiction, of rejection, of the destruction of childhood dreams.
FEARLESS is a sexy but predictable story line in that our heroine, so desperate for a relationship with the woman who abandoned her as a child, is too easily sucked in by the lies and fears of addiction and drugs. The premise is engaging; the characters are broken but colorful; the romance is seductive and hot.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
He normally didn’t have to work hard to get a female into his bed. Not that he was bragging, but ever since he’d been aware of his interest in the opposite sex, they’d come easily and willingly. He hadn’t had many long-term relationships, mostly because no one woman had held his interest for long, but he wanted to get involved with someone who could be with him for the long haul. His parents had had a good marriage despite his father’s failings. His mom had put up with the gambling, probably because it hadn’t been as bad when she was alive to keep him in check. And though Kane hadn’t met the right person, he’d like to.
Of course, he was plenty busy with his family, keeping his father on the straight and narrow and keeping an eye on his sister’s kid when he could.
Once he arrived at Halley’s cottage, which was a name many houses in this area had, he realized it was a misnomer. He took in the beautiful structure, the water lapping in the background, the gorgeous porch in the front, and the visible wraparound deck in the back, and he was struck with the enormity of Halley’s family’s wealth.
It didn’t bother him, not in the way of she’s out of my league. Which was odd, considering ever since Liza had slept with him, led him to believe she was interested in a relationship only to dump him when her summer at the beach ended, with her amused comment that he’d believe she’d remain involved with a mechanic, of all things, he avoided the women who vacationed here during the season. Women who rented the type of house Halley lived in for the hot months of July and August. But nothing about Halley screamed standoffishness because of either her money or family status, so he immediately put it out of his mind.
Nothing really mattered but chemistry and the genuineness of a person, or so he believed, something he’d never found in the summer visitors. But Halley, for all her wariness about people, was as genuine as they came. No airs. So yeah, he’d decided, though he didn’t know her well, he wanted to go for the pursuit.
He parked the car he drove, a classic royal-blue Camaro, and climbed out, determined to beat or at least meet her around by her side.
She’d already swung her legs out and stood, glancing at him with a confused expression on her pretty face. “What are you doing?”
“Walking you to your door,” he said with his most charming smile on his face.
“But… this isn’t a date. You’re dropping me off after doing me a favor.”
“Aah. But my father raised a gentleman, and a gentleman always walks a lady to her door.”
About the Author:
After a successful fifteen-year career with various New York publishing houses, and over 40 sexy contemporary romance novels published, N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Carly Phillips is now an Indie author who writes to her own expectations and that of her readers. She continues the tradition of hot men and strong women and plans to publish many more sizzling stories. Carly lives in Purchase, NY with her family, two nearly adult daughters and two crazy dogs who star on her Facebook Fan Page and website. She’s a writer, a knitter of sorts, a wife, and a mom. In addition, she’s a Twitter and Internet junkie and is always around to interact with her readers.
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