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YouTube cooking sensation, Karina Kendricks has one love, her cooking show. After losing the love of her life three years earlier the last thing on the menu is romance. But when the opportunity of a lifetime arises fate intervenes to heat up contact between her and her younger neighbor, whom she’s wary of.

Zymir Espinola is a good neighbor if nothing else, but one chance encounter with his sexy, neighbor has him intrigued. The more he encounters her sassy, feisty attitude the more he wants to know about her. Yet, Zymir realizes there’s something deeper behind the attitude that she’s covering up.

When Zymir finally gains Karina’s attention he questions her intentions for him. In a series of calculated moves, he forces Karina to reveal her hand. What will Zymir have to do to convince her to give him an honest shot at love and how will she handle her second chance at love?

Desire is book #1 in the debut of a sizzling new romance series designed to make your nights fiery, your days steamy, and have you turning the pages for more.

198 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 10, 2020

81 people are currently reading
33 people want to read

About the author

Cassie Verano

59 books130 followers
Cassie Verano pens romance for readers of all cultures and backgrounds. Her love of romance is borne from the beauty and joy she sees in the relationships around her. She enjoys creating works of fiction about women discovering true love, and women who aren’t afraid to explore their sexuality. Sometimes her writing gets a bit intense, but she loves cranking up the heat level.

As a professional administrator, she dreamed of the day she could toss her paperwork aside and craft stories that inspired love and romance in the hearts of women around the world. As a wife and mother, she enjoys playing quirky games and singing with her family.

This southern belle is a native Georgia peach, who enjoys reading, writing, and trying different cuisines from around the world. On rainy days she can be found cuddling under a blanket with a good mystery book in her hands or watching a romance movie on Hallmark or LMN.

Connecting with her readers is the highlight of her day. She invites you to connect with her at: cassiepensromance@gmail.com, or join her for intense conversations about her characters, love, and more at Cassie Verano's Wickedness!

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
Profile Image for Rosie.
1,654 reviews32 followers
June 9, 2020
I loved the hero, he's everything!

At the insistence of his grandmother, Zymir Espinola offers his assistance to damsel in distress and neighbor, Karina Kendricks. However, she rudely declines. She's noticed him as her neighbor across the street and has written him off as a Jeep driving, loud-music playing thug with his dreads and tattoos. She even calls him a thug to his face. He takes it in stride, I didn't. She is a straight-up B-I-T-C-H to him!

When he offers her a ride to her destination, she initially refuses, but relents and accepts the ride in order to be on time for her meeting. During the ride he offers his name and a hand shake, expecting her to reciprocate, but there is nothing but silence. He sees her as a challenge and is amused and intrigued by her rude behavior, I wasn't!

Karina is rude, judgmental and hateful toward him. When we learn her story, I saw it as an explanation of her behavior, but not as a reason for her to behave that way toward him or anyone else. People react to pain in different ways but not everything takes it out on friends and strangers. Though Karina makes an effort to change, which I applaud, I still felt Zymir was deserving of a better heroine to love. I really liked her professional accomplishments I didn't like her attitude. Your opinion of characters and situations in this story may differ. This is a good story and I recommend reading it.

The hero is Afro-Brazilian and the heroine is African-American.
Profile Image for CaroMommie.
668 reviews8 followers
June 10, 2020
This was so goooood 😊. Karina got some thangs going on y’all and it is heart wrenching 😞. She has gone through it and I felt every beat of her ❤️, and at times it was a lot, I empathized with her.

Zymir is grown, and he stands firm in that. His personality mixed with her made for a clash that is absolute 🔥. Riding on that rollercoaster 🎢 ride with them was an incredible ride 🙂.

Ms. Verano did her thing with this one. The pacing and flow were like riding on a breeze. There weren’t any lags or stalled moments in there. I enjoyed this book and I recommend it.
320 reviews1 follower
June 14, 2020
*Potential Spoiler

It begins with an innocent neighborly ride offer to an important meeting. From there, it is a continued effort to repay countless nice gestures until the only thing left to offer is the truth. It is in that moment that dramatic rollercoaster begins.
 
Before the sale, Karina and her husband owned a successful French restaurant. She made the decision to sell it to take care of her husband's growing medical expenses. After losing him, she fights to fulfill the promises that she made to him and eventually finds solace and success on her popular YouTube cooking show. Zymir is a young and successful man of his own making with a custom car design empire that he too is in the process of growing and unbeknownst to him, he has set off his neighbor. Karina merely sees Zymir as a young, run of the mill “neighborhood mechanic” with tattoos and dreads. Little does she know, he is so much more than he seems.
 
Karina has gained quite the following on her channel and her desire to grow her brand lands her a meeting with The Cooking Network. On the day of her meeting with network executives, she finds that her car will not start. After she finds Zymir under the hood of her car, all her frustration comes flooding out in his general direction. With the simple gesture of offering a ride, Zymir finds himself intrigued by her and against his better judgment, he decides to pursue her. She agrees to the ride and eventually finds herself agreeing to the ride as well as other assistance he offers. Soon, Karina finds herself alone with Zymir more often.
 
Beyond her expectations, Karina finds herself enjoying the time that she is spending “getting to know” Zymir. That is until he expresses an interest in trying out a “real” relationship. Karina makes a mad dash out of their budding romance until she learns the lengths Zymir is willing to go through to keep her in his life. Will his ever effort and unrelenting fight be enough?
The characters in this story were incredibly relatable and difficult not like. The story has just enough twists to keep things interesting not giving the reader a chance to get bored with it. It was not what I thought it was going to be and I really enjoyed it. This is my first book by this author but, I am glad to have discovered her and look forward to what comes next.
 
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Profile Image for Lane.
1,350 reviews
June 11, 2020
After reading the first chapters, I did not like Karina at all. I'm all for strong women, but part of that is knowing when to exert that strength. Karina was rude, unkind, and judgmental. Though, how she handled her manager and her meeting had me respecting her for knowing what she wanted and not settling. I felt bad for Zymir, who was called out of his name by Karina for a good portion of the book. As I continued reading, my dislike for Karina changed. Zymir challenged her and her small group of friends called her out on her mess. It's been a while since I've read a book that reminded me of the connection I have with my small inner circle of women I have the honor of calling my friends. Rhonda and Lori reminded me of my girls. I smiled and laughed at their dialogue. They felt so real throughout the story. They helped soften me to Karina, to understand her pain.

The writing flows in this book and urges you not to set it down until you're done. Zymir is the man of dreams. He has his stuff together and he knows what he wants. He is willing to do what's necessary to stake his claim. This book shows that sometimes strength means getting help, leaning on others, and pushing to do the things we think are most difficult. Love is holding firm and helping loved ones through the difficulties; no matter how long it takes. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the rest of the series (I'm hoping Rhonda's story is in the works!). 4.5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.
Profile Image for Lisa.
374 reviews7 followers
June 12, 2020
Karina and Zymir are neighbors however, Karina is not very neighborly.  Zymir is new to the neighborhood and tries to be friendly but Karina has snubbed him at every turn.  One morning Karina has car trouble and is in need of "rescuing".  Zymir is there to help get her to her meeting on time.  He also offers to fix her car.  After much convincing, she relents and lets Zymir help her.  This begins a prickly sort of friendship as Karina has to allow him to help her.  Neither of them can deny the sparks and heat that are flying between them.  Having dealt with some serious tragedy in her fairly recent past, Karina is not ready to let anyone into her space other than family. 

This book made me laugh, made my heart ache, frustrated me with Karina's prickly personality.  It is well written and I loved of the secondary characters.  Verano writes real relatable characters.  Her story drew me in and made want to read to the end to find out how things worked out. 

Reader Cautions: This in not a clean novel. It is very steamy and may be much for some readers. Contains profanity. I would not recommend for young adult readers or people who may be offended by the aforementioned.

I received a free copy and am voluntarily leaving a review which is my opinion alone.
Profile Image for Vilma .
909 reviews1 follower
June 10, 2020
Youtube cooking star, Karina meets her new, much younger neighbor, Zymir when he has his head under her hood. Get your mind out of the gutter. Zymir notices that Karina has an issue with her old Mercedes and chooses to do her a favor. A favor that Karina does not appreciate. Karina is extremely rude and very obnoxious to Zymir. Zymir was raised with chivalrous manners and he knows he can assist her with her vehicle, so he insists.

After Karina learns more about Zymir's mechanic skills (he owns several shops and has his own money) she decides to cook for him as a thank you. Slowly they develop a FWB relationship, but Zymir wants more.

Once Zymir is able to break down Karina's barriers and understand where her cold, aloof and sometimes rude behavior stems from, he allows her the space and time to come to him for a true relationship once she is ready.

This story contains angst, twists, surprises, and lots of sex between the couple, but the story ends with nothing but love between Karina and Zymir.
11.6k reviews49 followers
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June 24, 2020
It is always good to have a neighbors who is good with his hands

Desire is the first book in the Love Desired series and is the story of Karina and Zymir. They are neighbors who become friends with benefits. But when Zymir decides he actually wants much more with Karina then the fun begins. Karina suffered the lose of her beloved husband and has been rebuilding her life since, which is not easy. She has her walls up because his lose hurt her so deeply. So when Zymir, who owns successful mechanic shops, decides he wants more with her than fwb her walls are up and she is not having it. Zymir approaches her the same way he would a temperamental automobile - gently, with reverence and letting her reveal herself to him.
This is a great story with wonderful characters. I liked the fact that Karina is older than Zymir but that he takes care of her heart, along with steaming up her sheets, in some great ways.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are all my own..
Profile Image for ShayBooks.
803 reviews18 followers
June 11, 2020
Love Desired is something that I feel everyone wants or have wanted in some point of their life, and most people do not get it a second chance if they once had it. In this story of Desire Karina was a very lucky person. When the story started Karina plucked everything nerve I had I wanted to label her as a potential “Karen” but that all changed as the story progressed. I love how the author flipped this one , you don’t get to see that too much, but I loved every part of it and was not expecting that plot twist. Zymir ‘s character was a breath of fresh air, I loved how he would not let things go the way that Karina wanted them too an I respected him for that and I felt his pain, this was a true love desired. I look forward to the next book in this series.
731 reviews4 followers
June 11, 2020
Desire was a great story.  I loved Zymir and Karina and could relate to both of them. Karina's story was truly heartbreaking. After going through so much in her life, I completely understood her fear of being in a relationship with Zymir and becoming vulnerable again. Although it's a minor element in the story, what I also liked about Karina's story was her husband. The most common stereotype behind the angry black woman is an ex-lover who did her wrong. But Luis loved, cherished, and adored her. That's why Karina was so scared to fall again because he set such a high expectation and standard for the next man to follow. A love like that is hard to top. But Zymir proved that he was more than capable of rising to the occasion. He was sweet, patient, caring, thoughtful, and so much more towards Karina. He was definitely the calm to her storm. I laughed, cried, and laughed again. A great story!

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
598 reviews6 followers
June 11, 2020
I loved reading Desire (Love Desired Book 1) by Cassie Verano because it was such a fantastic book!! Karina and Zymir are neighbors and Karina can't stand her younger and charming neighbor Zymir. She is so mean to him and tries to shut down everything he tries to do for her. She has had some tragedies in her life and is now trying to put her life back together. Zymir is charming and tries to do nice things for her. He sees something in her that he wants to fix and make right. I received and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. I loved reading it and I highly recommend this very steamy and awesome book!!
Profile Image for Martha Ruff.
771 reviews12 followers
June 12, 2020
I can honestly say that Cassie Verano always write characters that have me ALL in my feelings, and the heroine in this story is no different!!! Kalina made me so mad at the beginning of the story that I almost stopped reading this story several times. However, I completely fell in love with Zymir. He had the patience of a saint dealing with Mrs thang. I understood that Kalina had a rough time in her life but her mouth and attitude was a turn off for me personally. She came off as judgemental and snobbish. She did have some good qualities about herself and I'm glad that she finally got out of her own way to see that God sent her a second chance at love with Zymir.
1,554 reviews12 followers
July 23, 2020
Oh My Goodness

I totally enjoyed this, Loved Karina and Zymir's journey. This story had so many layers, Karina's judgment of Zymir. The pain she was feeling due to the lost of her husband. Zymir realizing that there were many layers to Karina. He could sense her pain, her fear all he wanted to do was heal her, and make her his. I love the cover🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥, some parts of the book had me laughing out loud. Karina's cousin Rhonda and her sister Lori was so funny. Would love for Bishop, and the rest of Zymir's friend to have their stories told. The Sex scenes were super Hot. My husband is younger than I am so I can imagine some of what Karina was feeling😉😉😉😉
3,515 reviews
June 22, 2020
Karina is opinionated, rude, judgmental, intelligent and a surly woman hiding behind a wall of hurt, loss and depression. Zymir is a man who is doing a neighborly thing by helping fix her car. No matter how rude or pushy she gets, Zymir holds it down. He is determined to understand her darkness and she is determined to keep him in the dark. Great story line, characters and successes in their own right. A realistic adventure. No cliffhanger

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Denee'.
37 reviews
June 10, 2020
This was such a great read about being able to believe in love again. Initially I really couldn't stand Karina. She was so stuck-up and hateful to Zy. There were several times throughout this novel, where I wanted to shake some sense into Karina. I loves how she was able to admit her fears and was able to tell Zy all about the pains from her past. I was really excited for her when she finally opened her heart and let Zy in!
Zy must be half saint because how he was able to look pass Karina's treatment is beyond me! He was so loving and patient with Karina. I loved how he encouraged her to heal herself so that she could be better for them both. They both had a beautiful ending together. I can't wait to read the next one!
Profile Image for Keri Patterson Kimball.
23 reviews4 followers
Read
June 10, 2020
Desire

A book that looks at the chemistry between Karina and Zymir.

Karina is a you tube chief with the history of owning a 5 star restaurant. However she is so much more. She watched her husband die from cancer. Can she ever put herself out there again.

Zamir is a Brazilian born auto mechanic, who gets what he wants. Right now he wants Karina, but he pushes her away to try and get the one woman he wants.
Profile Image for Barbara.
19.2k reviews8 followers
June 15, 2020
Book one in the Love Desired series a well written story of a younger man/older woman. Widow and YouTube cooking sensation, Karina Kendricks and her young neighbor Zymir Espinola's story.Once I started reading I was not putting this book down until I was finished reading. I enjoyed seeing how their story came together. They will have their ups and downs but love will prevail. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
7,813 reviews65 followers
June 17, 2020
I found this book really interesting it hit on various emotions for me while reading li. Karina is a somewhat cold and aloof character on the flip side I liked Zymir’s character from the start. The storyline is so well written that by the end of the book I was cheering them to get their HEA. Kudos to the author on a well written book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Elise.
204 reviews5 followers
March 25, 2022
Off the hook!

This book...man!!! I couldn't stand Karina from the first page. She was one of those people that you just wanted to smack juat because. It took some time for me to warm up to her. For understand why she is the way she is.
But Zymir (lol) sheesh he had me from the start. Sexy, smart, loving, established
He is a lot of woman dream man.
Cassie did a great job with this book.
12.1k reviews75 followers
June 6, 2020
The author has pulled us into the lives of Karina and Zymir and does not let go. Karina has so much pain in her past that she has erected walls that no one will be able to climb. Zymir has an attraction to Karina and just knows that he is the one to, not only climb those walls, but help her heal.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Kathleen Bradbury (Bulfon).
16.4k reviews217 followers
June 8, 2020
When I started reading this story, I could not put it down. I read the book in one day. This author is an awesome writer. I can not wait to read more of their books. Keep up the great work. You should definitely read this book.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for L.M..
Author 1 book3 followers
June 10, 2020
It took a minute for me to get into this book. Karina just seemed unfair and nasty and Zy just wanted more of it. I also found him pushy at the beginning and very overstepping but once they made they're relationship into something, I loved that he took charge. It could be a personal experience thing. Although the heat was a slow start, once it started I was invested. I was rooting for them.
1,886 reviews4 followers
June 16, 2020

This was a really great book and I loved this author. Her characters Zymir and Karina were well thought out and well developed. You can relate to both of them making the story believable. The story made my heart ache, made me frustrated at times and made me laugh. It was a very good book that I enjoyed.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Ashleigh.
3,411 reviews1 follower
June 19, 2020
I have really enjoyed reading this book. The author did such a great job developing the characters that I feel like I really know them, not just the major characters, but the minor ones too.

Also, it caused me to lose quite a bit of sleep while I was reading it, because it was so hard to put down at night.

I received a copy of this book. This review was posted voluntarily.
612 reviews3 followers
December 25, 2020
GREAT READ, LOVED IT 👍❤

I loved Zymir and Karina's story,and what a story it was. These two were great together and funny too. I would absolutely recommend this book I think you will enjoy it, just scroll up and get it,you won't regret it. Great job Ms. Cassie Verano,please keep writing these great stories. Thank you 👍❤🙏
1,924 reviews9 followers
June 7, 2020
This author always comes out with wonderful books and this one is no different. I love her characters and stories.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Marneta Heller Griffin.
82 reviews
June 10, 2020
Sit under a fan while you read this book because it's on fire! Loved me some Kymir! I wanted to slap Karina in the beginning but the more I learned of her story, I began to love and root for her. All the characters in this book were excellently written. Cassie, girrllll.....I am hooked!
Profile Image for Misty Ortman.
127 reviews1 follower
June 7, 2020
This is a well written book with well defined characters. This story will keep you guessing what all happen next with Karina and Zymir. Can the connection between them get them through all the issues
Profile Image for Donna Scoggins.
555 reviews
July 29, 2020
Patience is Love

He’s a little younger and she has managed to live through tragedies. Will she accept his advances and can he get past her walls?
Profile Image for Slipperyvowels.
869 reviews
August 16, 2020
Nice story

This was my first read from this author and I enjoyed this one quiet a bit. I won't be reading the second part to this one even though it was a good read
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews

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