Anna Sullivan

3.5 stars.

Anna Sullivan's Temptation Bay is an entertaining first installment in the Windfall Island series. It is a lovely romance but I must confess it is the mystery aspect of the storyline that I found most intriguing.

At first I really was not sure if I was going to like either of the main characters. Maggie Solomon has built a successful charter service and while she is independent and fiercely loyal to her friends, she is incredibly stubborn and rather bristly. She has an extremely contentious and complicated relationship with her high ranking military father that colors her perception of herself and her self worth. Maggie's interactions with her friends revealed the loving, softer side of her and I did wind up liking her more than I thought I would.

In the beginning, Dex Keegan was just as annoying as Maggie, but his irritating traits were fleeting and limited to his first meeting with Maggie. His background is the complete opposite of Maggie's and he has a warm and loving relationship with his extended family. Overall, Dex is the more likable of the two but he has a few hang ups that have a major impact on their relationship later in the story.

The sparks fly between Maggie and Dex right from their first meeting but not all of those sparks are from attraction. Their first meeting is quite contentious and it takes a while for their antagonism towards one another to simmer down. However Maggie and Dex do eventually given in to their desire and wowza! Their encounters are passionate and their sex scenes are smoking hot. Although they are quite compatible in bed, out of bed, they are still fighting their respective demons. Ms. Sullivan has a few surprises in store for this volatile couple and I really enjoyed how their romance eventually played out.

The mystery portion of the plot caught my interest right away and I was on the edge of my seat throughout the investigation. Maggie is a hard sell, but once Dex finally confesses the truth about his reasons for being on the island, she does aid him in his quest to find the missing Stanhope heir. Even with Maggie's assistance, Dex continues to run into obstacles during his search and it soon becomes clear that someone is willing to go any lengths to keep them from finding the heir.

Despite a few initial reservations, I enjoyed Temptation Bay. It is very well-written and the secondary cast of characters is outstanding. Anna Sullivan leaves a few of the storylines unresolved and I am eagerly awaiting the next Windfall Island series.… (más)

It's barely a week since Maggie Solomon was nearly killed because she might have been the missing Stanhope heir, and DNA testing revealed that she isn't. Her friend and business partner, Jessi Randal, has realized that she's a likely next target, since her family history also makes her a possible heir. And there's a limit to how long she can protect herself by pretending the possibility doesn't exist. Genealogist Holden Abbot is on their side, but he's not the only one who can study public records and identify her as a possibility.

She's also finding Abbot way too attractive. Jessi's last relationship left her alone and pregnant at sixteen, and her son Benji, now seven, is her primary concern. Jessi doesn't want either of them getting attached to another man who won't stay in their lives--and Hold Abbot is a handsome, smooth-talking southerner who doesn't share anything about his personal life. Not a good risk, she thinks, not a risk she's going to take for herself or Benji.

But when Benji's father Lance returns to the island, suddenly interested in a relationship with his son, or so he says, and Jessi goes through her late mother's possessions in the attic and finds a baby blanket that potentially ties her to the lost Stanhope heiress, Eugenia, she needs support and protection.

There's a nice mix of romance, mystery, and suspense, here, and the characters are solid and likable. Well, except Lance. Lance is almost stereotypically shallow, self-absorbed, and amoral. For the most part, though, this is an enjoyable story, and we learn more about the Stanhopes, the events of the 1930s, and even Paige Walker, who will be the focus of the next installment.

This is a satisfying second installment in the series, and a good beach read, but it's really not a standalone novel. Definitely find and read Temptation Bay first.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.… (más)

Maggie Solomon has built a life and a business for herself on Windfall Island, the prickly, insular community descended from salvagers and wreckers, off the coast of Maine. Her mother grew up there, and left to marry Navy officer Phillip Solomon, but Maggie, their only child, a girl, and not willing to enter the Navy, was a sad disappointment to her father. Instead, she's returned to her mother's birthplace, become a part of the tightknit community, and built a charter business and a small airport.

She's a loner, and distrustful of strangers, but that's not unusual on Windfall.

When she flies in Dexter Keegan, a stranger arriving on unstated business near the end of the tourist season, she's naturally suspicious that he means trouble for someone on the island. It's annoying that he's so attractive, and persistent, but she's not going to succumb.

But Dex isn't going to let go, because he is a man on a mission: to find out if a baby kidnapped eighty years ago wound up on Windfall--and if she grew up and had any descendants. Having long assumed she died when a smuggler ship, Perdition, blew up, the family has new evidence that she may have survived. There's a large inheritance involved.

Someone is equally determined that the missing heirs, if any, not be found.

This is both a good, intriguing mystery, and a good romance, with sparks flying between Dex and Maggie. The community of Windfall is well depicted as well, the insularity, the eccentricities, and the deeply felt protective loyalty to their own. Maggie and Dex are each in their own way strong, independent people, each with their own issues making them determined not to become involved.

There is some explicit sex, making this perhaps not suitable for those who prefer their romances "clean."

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley.… (más)