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She is the one dream that never had a chance to come true…until now.
Takeshi is finishing up a brutal double shift in the ER when a familiar—and bloody—face erases all thought of heading home. The broken body of the woman fighting for her life belongs to Gabby, his best friend’s mother. A woman he has rarely seen since he turned nineteen and foolishly declared his love for her.
She’s not dying today. Not on his watch. And not with a promise left unfulfilled.
Gabby has never forgotten the taste of the kiss Taka gave her under the mistletoe all those years ago. Or the silly promise that surely by now he’s forgotten. She’s wrong. Taka remembers. And she melts as he uses every trick in his highly trained surgeon’s hands to heal her—and rekindle the heat between them.
But there’s a secret lurking in Gabby’s past. And when it follows her all the way to Seattle, it threatens to drag the one man she loves into the nightmare she thought she’d left behind.
Product Warnings
Contains a reluctant cougar heroine with a planeload of emotional baggage, a hot Asian surgeon who knows how to kiss it and make it better, and smoking-hot love scenes that’ll give you a new appreciation for the tenacity of younger men.
Takeshi is finishing up a brutal double shift in the ER when a familiar—and bloody—face erases all thought of heading home. The broken body of the woman fighting for her life belongs to Gabby, his best friend’s mother. A woman he has rarely seen since he turned nineteen and foolishly declared his love for her.
She’s not dying today. Not on his watch. And not with a promise left unfulfilled.
Gabby has never forgotten the taste of the kiss Taka gave her under the mistletoe all those years ago. Or the silly promise that surely by now he’s forgotten. She’s wrong. Taka remembers. And she melts as he uses every trick in his highly trained surgeon’s hands to heal her—and rekindle the heat between them.
But there’s a secret lurking in Gabby’s past. And when it follows her all the way to Seattle, it threatens to drag the one man she loves into the nightmare she thought she’d left behind.
Product Warnings
Contains a reluctant cougar heroine with a planeload of emotional baggage, a hot Asian surgeon who knows how to kiss it and make it better, and smoking-hot love scenes that’ll give you a new appreciation for the tenacity of younger men.
224 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2013
83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 19, 2013
Let me start with, I really, really wanted to like this story. It had a lot of what I like: May/December (tho in this case its more like July/October), forbidden or risque match up (he's her son's bff), an Asian hero (really-not enough hot Asian heroes in romance), interracial romance. See? Lots to like. Unfortunately, it didn't work for me.
Let's start with the risque aspect of the relationship. He's her son's best friend/school buddy. Now, I'm all for that and would really dig it but in this case, the heroine knows the hero as a teen and even though nothing happens then, it squicked me out because I never felt there was a decent time of separation between, 'this is just my kid's friend' and 'wow, he's hot'. I guess it really bothered me that we get this long flashback/past section where they hook up and he's 19 but there wasn't a 'haven't seen him in ages' time for me to believe that all of a sudden the heroine is seeing him as a potential hook-up.
I just didn't buy and it hit my squick button because had the genders been switched it would have totally set off alarm bells of creepy old pervert.
Another problem was the way this story was told. We start in the present and the heroine is coming into town and suddenly sees "HIM". As in, da da dumm, because it's clear it's not the hero. After an accident where the heroine almost dies, we get a huge section of the past to show the characters hooking up.
We also get this explanation that the heroine is really not that much older than the hero because she was a VERY young mother due to THE REASON. Basically, I felt THE REASON was just an excuse to make the heroine a MILF. This story could have been told as her being an older sister and nothing would have really changed. It just felt that the age difference and the MILF thing were just red herring, "ooo, looksies" and had little to do with the story or the development of the characters.
Add to that, THE REASON, comes back to haunt/endanger the heroine and basically, I was just confused at what this story was trying to be especially when you add a RIDICULOUS misunderstanding in the end. Every time I tried to like this story, some absurd storytelling 'twist' would happen that just made my eye roll.
Let's start with the risque aspect of the relationship. He's her son's best friend/school buddy. Now, I'm all for that and would really dig it but in this case, the heroine knows the hero as a teen and even though nothing happens then, it squicked me out because I never felt there was a decent time of separation between, 'this is just my kid's friend' and 'wow, he's hot'. I guess it really bothered me that we get this long flashback/past section where they hook up and he's 19 but there wasn't a 'haven't seen him in ages' time for me to believe that all of a sudden the heroine is seeing him as a potential hook-up.
I just didn't buy and it hit my squick button because had the genders been switched it would have totally set off alarm bells of creepy old pervert.
Another problem was the way this story was told. We start in the present and the heroine is coming into town and suddenly sees "HIM". As in, da da dumm, because it's clear it's not the hero. After an accident where the heroine almost dies, we get a huge section of the past to show the characters hooking up.
We also get this explanation that the heroine is really not that much older than the hero because she was a VERY young mother due to THE REASON. Basically, I felt THE REASON was just an excuse to make the heroine a MILF. This story could have been told as her being an older sister and nothing would have really changed. It just felt that the age difference and the MILF thing were just red herring, "ooo, looksies" and had little to do with the story or the development of the characters.
Add to that, THE REASON, comes back to haunt/endanger the heroine and basically, I was just confused at what this story was trying to be especially when you add a RIDICULOUS misunderstanding in the end. Every time I tried to like this story, some absurd storytelling 'twist' would happen that just made my eye roll.
August 1, 2013
I enjoyed this. I really liked both of the main characters and I was impressed at how readily Harrison sucked me into the age-gap romance. I bought it from the beginning. The sex was plentiful and enjoyable without being gratuitous. The only reason it's not a five is because towards the end I wanted to knock their heads together a little - but she didn't make me wait too long for them to see sense. I liked that the secondary characters acted like real friends, with the interests of the lovers at heart, rather than against them. This was a very easy read and an impressive debut. 4.5 stars!
August 3, 2013
This is the first of a series by new author Dakota Harrison and it's a great start. Gabby is a very young mother considering her son is all grown up. But it is his all grown up best friend that causes her the most heartburning. Taka kissed her ten years ago when he was only nineteen and she was thirty-two. And she liked it way too much.
Now she and Taka are finally in the same place again and she's under his care after a horrific car accident. But he is still way younger than her and his parents are her friends. And Taka is engaged to be married.
I loved Taka. He's a great hero and I like that we could see exactly how he felt about Gabby. The situation was much harder for Gabby to accept and she lacked confidence which led to some stupid assumptions. As you do.
Overall this was a really sweet story with some nice sizzle. A few too many misunderstandings compounded by interruptions at times. But on the whole I really enjoyed the story and loved the characters. The extended cast were all interesting without overwhelming the story and I liked the glimpse of the hero of another book in the series.
Now she and Taka are finally in the same place again and she's under his care after a horrific car accident. But he is still way younger than her and his parents are her friends. And Taka is engaged to be married.
I loved Taka. He's a great hero and I like that we could see exactly how he felt about Gabby. The situation was much harder for Gabby to accept and she lacked confidence which led to some stupid assumptions. As you do.
Overall this was a really sweet story with some nice sizzle. A few too many misunderstandings compounded by interruptions at times. But on the whole I really enjoyed the story and loved the characters. The extended cast were all interesting without overwhelming the story and I liked the glimpse of the hero of another book in the series.
August 2, 2013
The blurb caught my attention, the last book I read about an older woman with a younger man was good, so I wanted to give this a go. Then I took a better look at the cover. The handsome oriental young man on the cover made me want this to be the next book in my To Be Read list. I read it in about 5 hours, and thoroughly enjoyed it.
January 26, 2014
A wonderful book, very well written. Not my usual genre, but I think Dakota Harrison could write in any genre... the quality of her writing takes you straight into the story and the book was hard to put down.
June 10, 2015
Some good, some stuff that drove me crazy. Too many over the top misunderstandings, a cartoonish villain and a few TSTL heroine moments. I wanted so much for the hero and heroine to get together, but by the end I was rolling my eyes constantly. The surprise pregnancy at the end? Ugh!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 6, 2013
Great book. Dakota Harrison does a fantastic job of bringing the characters alive and into your heart. Almost sad Ilve had to put it down. Just lovely.
December 10, 2013
It's a nice shorty for a short book.
I really like Taka. Hum, hum, hum, hum,hummmmm....
Of course there is a lot stuff left in the open because is a short book, but still a nice book nonetheless.
I really like Taka. Hum, hum, hum, hum,hummmmm....
Of course there is a lot stuff left in the open because is a short book, but still a nice book nonetheless.
April 2, 2018
Well-written OWYM romance, but, plotwise, the police is curiously uninvolved with regard to the stalker situation, and -imho- it doesn't really pass the Bechdel test.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews