Sunday, September 16, 2012

Courting Carolina - Janet Chapman (Jove - Sept 2012)

Series: Spellbound Falls (Book 3) 

While building a wilderness trail for a new five-star resort in Spellbound Falls, underachieving playboy Alec MacKeage rescues a beautiful woman who is being chased by kidnappers and agrees to let her hide out with him for a few days. But when those days stretch past a week, Alec finds himself fighting his attraction to the mysterious Jane Smith -- despite knowing the woman isn’t who she claims to be. Then again, neither is he…

On the run from her own life, Jane is really Carolina Oceanus -- and she’ll do anything to avoid the six ancient-minded men her father has brought to Maine to vie for her hand in marriage. But as the maddening competition heats up, Carolina realizes that she’ll have to come clean to Alec, the seductive loner who’s managed to capture her heart… 

Very good book.  When Alec rescued Jane from her attackers he wasn't expecting her to ask to stay with him for a few days.  He gives in, feeling like he will regret it, but not being able to tell her no.  The problem is that he is more attracted to her every day.  He also knows that she is hiding something.  He's surprised to find out who she is, and amazed that she's been on the run from her family for two years.  Jane has been trying to get away from her father's attempts to marry her off to any number of ancient warriors.  When the competition gets stiffer, she decides she has to convince Alec to join the race.  While I really liked Alec, Jane was not my favorite of Janet's heroines.  Her tendency to hide her intelligence and become sweet and submissive irritated me.  If I thought it was just an act it wouldn't be so bad, but she was really acting that way.  It took Alec awhile to get her to realize that she didn't need to do that.  Even after he knew who she was (even though she didn't know he knew) he offered to stand beside her when she stood up to her father.  She did know that she didn't want the kind of marriage her father was pushing for.  She wanted a marriage where she was loved and respected for who she is not what she is.  I loved the romance building between Jane and Alec.  He was strong enough to resist her attempts at seduction though they certainly got pretty hot and heavy.  I loved the way that Alec supported her and  encouraged her to make her own decisions.  When her dad and brother find her and take her back to the resort to face the husband competition, Alec goes to work.  Even though he feels he is in no way a suitable husband for her, thanks to his years as a spy, he wants to help her be able to pick the one she wants.  So he sets out to eliminate the other suitors.  I loved the way he did it.  It was also hilarious to see the way he frustrated her father's head of security with the way he was constantly able to get access to Jane.  There were quite a few absolutely hysterical spots with Alec playing with people.  I loved the way Jane's mom helped her try to play the game.  I also loved when she decided to visit Alec and throw her weight behind helping him.  This was another scene that was extremely funny to read.  I also loved seeing mom read the men the riot act when she finds out why dad is in such a hurry to get Jane married.  She really lets them have it for not realizing that the women of the family are a lot stronger than the guys want to admit.  I was glad to see that Jane finally got it together by the end of the book.  I really liked Nicholas (the head of security) and thoroughly enjoyed his frustration.  I'm glad to see he's the hero in the next book and can't wait to read it.

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