Lucy King

An excellent read! Mercy is ever the helper - sweet, caring, and strong - she has had a crush on Seb since high school. Seb is cold and unreachable; haunted by his feelings of responsibility for his parents' death in a car crash years ago, withdrawn from all, including his little sister. Mercy tries to help them mend the rift in their relationship and they end up in a steamy, no-strings-attached affair. Mercy denies to herself there's anything more; Seb is perplexed by his feelings and behaviors towards Mercy. I loved this couple together and Seb's figurative transformation from Beast to Man. Short enough to be a quick read, but enough depth to keep it interesting and keep the reader engaged.… (mere)

Have always loved the story of Beauty and the Beast. Lucy King gives it a modern day spin in Taming the Beast. A broken man, a determined woman. Seb has closed himself off emotionally. Having experienced the pain of loss he doesn't want to go through that again. Mercy finds Seb intriguing and frustrating. As Seb and Mercy journey through guilt, pain, misunderstandings and prejudgments they start to gain a better understanding of one another. My favorite book of this series so far. I received an ARC of Taming the Beast by Lucy King for an honest review.… (mere)

Seb and Mercy's story is truly Beauty and the Beast like. Seb is cold, unfeeling, ruthless. He lives with his demons, isolating himself from everyone including his only living family, his sister Zel. But the only person that gets under his skin, in spite of him being a horrible beast to her is Mercy, Zel's best friend.

Mercy is the complete opposite of Seb, passionate about everything; her family's winery, her friends and even her feelings for Seb. But now she has had enough of his icy attitude towards Zel. So when she goes to confront him about Zel she is surprised to find that what she once thought was ploy to get her off his case was actually feelings that he had suppressed, tried to bury deep down so she could escape the disaster that was Seb.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.… (mere)

A Fresh and Fun Romance
4 stars

I started reading this book with trepidation. I liked the sound of the premise but it was partially set in Scotland and that makes me nervous for ‘och aye the noos’ and etc. I didn’t actually realise until I started reading that the characters were English, and I’m assuming, the author is too. I relaxed…

…and started to really enjoy the read. I liked Stella from the offset. SHe’s feisty and honest, takes no nonsense and goes after what she wants - but her inner dialogue showed what she was really thinking and feeling giving us insight into her worries and fears. Real and likeable is the vibe I got from Stella.

Jack is just delicious. I don’t remember getting much detail about him but I do love the classic tall, dark and handsome. Oh and the fact that he was, at least on occasion, darkly broody - that really rings my bell.

The first sex scene in the book happens to be the only one, which was a shame because it was so well written and just a little bit scorching. A delicious little thrill for what is quite a short book (145 pages). There was chemistry between the pair during this and during the rest of the book as they got to know each other on another level. I felt it and I wanted the pair to be happy.

**Potential spoiler**: There’s obviously the issue of Jack’s first wife who died in tragic circumstances. I normally don’t like this in a novel as I don’t like the thought of our hero having a previous ‘love of his life’ before the heroine! (Unrealistic, I know - but I don’t read these books for real life to intrude!) I’m happy to say that while Jack obviously loved his first wife, there was no pining and I believed that Jack 100% wanted Stella with all his being. Sure, he was celibate since his first wife’s death but I thought this was down to a combination of guilt, apathy and a little bit of grief rather than because of a severe depth of love for his first wife. **Spoiler Ends**

I do have to admit that I laughed at the ‘location’ of Stella’s Highland cottage. They flew to Inverness and then ‘went’ to the Highlands. I can assure you that one: Inverness is in the Highlands, and two, the Highlands are a massive place full of both built up and remote areas. Turn left at Inverness for the Highlands. Made me chuckle but didn’t affect my rating of the book.

Oh and this is apparently the first in what is currently a two book series about the Maclean family. Cora, the heroine of the next book, Her Forbidden Warrior, is Jack’s sister and the ‘real’ fiancee of the man with whom Stella has been unknowingly having an affair. She pops up in this book before heading off to Spain with Jack’s private investigator friend Luke to confront Ben/Brad. In the epilogue for this book (yay for epilogues!) Jack mentions Cora and her soon to be hubby Luke. What? When? How? Hmmm - well played Ms. King, well played.

This is an enjoyable read that had a slightly hint of Mills and Boon about the story but in a mature and funny way. There were funny moments (Stella calling the baby by whatever size it was at the time ‘lime’, ‘lemon’ etc was a particular favourite), I loved the writing style and the story and characters hooked me from start to finish. As above, I’m now away to get the second book in the series. 4 stars from me.… (mere)