Widower Mark Cage is rusty at relationships. He owns the micro-brewery that supplies
the restaurant and bar at St. Augustine’s premiere spa resort, Essence, with its award
winning local craft beer. And he’s been focused on building his business and raising
his teenage daughter ever since his wife died ten years ago. Nothing else.
When he runs into a sweet kindergarten teacher who is vacationing in St. Augustine
and staying at Essence everything changes. A sudden, inexplicable encounter with a mystical tree
known for its legend of bringing lovers together, convinces Mark the schoolteacher is
his destined match. However, his encounters are disastrous.
His only hope of persuading the woman he wants to even consider a date with him is
working with Essence’s on-site relationship guru, Athena Sullivan. A reknowned relationship coach, Athena is the opposite of everything Mark wants in a woman. She’s feisty,
independent, and challenges him at every turn. Sparks fly between the two from their
first meeting and flare into a blazing inferno as Athena helps him navigate the dating scene.
After a series of too-perfect, mis-queued dates, Mark realizes maybe the woman of his
dreams is not a sweet schoolteacher after all. Maybe she’s a feisty, independent, sexy relationship coach who stands up to him and is everything he’s always wanted or needed in a woman.
If he opens himself up to true love, he might just find second chances at love are possible and that his perfect soul mate is closer than he thinks.
Sally, Mark’s best friend, waved when she saw him. “Mark, I want you to meet someone.”
He walked over, hands shoved in his jeans pockets. “Hey, there.”
Daphne extended her hand. “Hello, I’m Daphne Moore.”
He froze, mesmerized by the elfin features of the pretty woman.
Sally poked him hard in the ribs, giving him a not so subtle hint.
“Oh, hi. I’m Mark Cage.”
He hadn’t done this in forever. He was a little rusty. Sally poked him a second time and stared at Daphne’s hand just as she started to lower it, looking unsure of herself.
Mark recovered. Pulled his right hand from his pocket and grabbed hers.
But in his rush, he fumbled. Yanked a little harder than he’d intended to pump it in an exuberant handshake.
She stumbled.
He dropped her hand.
She smiled sweetly and rubbed her wrist and hand gingerly. Her face flushed pink. “Sally tells me you run a microbrewery.”
“Yes.” He nodded, at a loss about what topics to discuss with a kindergarten teacher. The silence stretched out.
Daphne looked between Mark and Sally. Her face flushed a deeper shade of pink. Almost as if she didn’t know what to say, either.
Cute.
She sure was pretty. Mark liked the way her long skirt flowed easily over her slim hips. “You’re a teacher?”
“Yes, I teach kindergarten. Five-year-old kids.”
His daughter hadn’t been five for a lot of years. He could barely remember when she was five. “Learning to read and write,” he finally came up with after a long, painful pause.
“Exactly. Plus social skills. How to interact appropriately with others. How to play nice together. Those kinds of necessary life skills.”
Sally snickered and tapped his toe with her foot. “Maybe you should go back to kindergarten. Do you some good.”
Mark scowled, then turned back to Daphne. “What brings you to St. Augustine?”
“Vacation. A much-needed break.” She picked at the button on her sweater and her gaze skittered away from his. “I’m primary caregiver for my dad. He’s got terminal cancer.”
“I’m sorry. I lost my wife to cancer ten years ago. It’s never easy.” Now Mark really had no idea how to continue the conversation. “Were you waiting for someone?” His words sounded a little sharper than he’d intended.
Daphne hugged herself. “Actually, I am.” She glanced around like she was searching for a lifeline.
“Oh.” Shit. This was not going well.
Review
This is the perfect romance for readers who like a little magic and a lot of hot. Mark starts as a crabby alpha who undergoes a transformation. He’s got the smoldering and glaring down. While this isn’t the type of romance hero I typically enjoy reading, he is well-developed and a great character for readers who enjoy their bad boys.
I have a lot of respect for Athena. She’s not afraid to look pretty. She isn’t the wild woman I see so often in romance—the type who wear clothes that show off their bodies because they’re trying to use sex appeal on everyone. She just enjoys looking nice, and I could relate to that. I like to get dressed up, sometimes for no real reason. It just feels nice, and that seems to be a mindset that’s not captured in romance books too often. It was great to see here.
While the two leads felt real and fleshed-out, the rest of the characters seemed a bit one-dimensional. Mark’s daughter comes in, does her thing, and then kind of wanders out of the story. She felt less like a character and more like a plot device. Similarly, the school teacher Mark thinks he wants to be with felt like she was there only to show that a “safe” woman isn’t the right one for mark. Her personality felt drabber than it should have been, even for a sweet homebody woman. The conflict, both sexual and otherwise, is strong throughout the story, and the ending brought everything together nicely. This was a nice, different addition to the Soul Mate Tree series.
Mackenzie Lucas is an avid reader of genre fiction. She writes contemporary and paranormal romance, and listens to an eclectic mix of music. She loves a good story, whether it’s an erotic short, a full-length romance novel, or the narrative slice-of-life found in country music. In any story, emotional integrity and authenticity are most important to her as well as a big dose of romping hot sexual tension. She enjoys smart-mouthed, sexy heroines, hunky alpha heroes who know how to take care of their women, and plot twists that surprise her, but most of all, she just wants to experience the satisfying emotional arc of a character falling in love and finding what he or she needs most in life.
Mac is a small-town country girl with a world-traveler’s heart. She grew up in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania and she’s lived in Dublin, Ireland, within spitting distance of New York City in Long Island, and now in the Washington, D.C. area. She obtained her undergraduate degree in English Literature from Dickinson College and received her M.F.A. in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. She’s currently an author for Soul Mate Publishing and is represented by Otis and Mackintosh Literary Agency.
With Mackenzie Lucas—whether you’re reading her light paranormal romance or her small-town-based contemporary romance—you’ll always find a heart-warming love story about connectedness, community, and emotional authenticity. And, no, it doesn’t hurt that all her heroes are panty-melting gorgeous alphas and all their sexy, sensually aware heroines know how to stand up to them, give no quarter, and love them just as they are. Find her online at http://www.mackenzielucas.com/
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All the opinions expressed in this review are my own. Read the full disclosure here.