Monday, February 3, 2014

Blog Tour: Melt With You and Hot For You by Jessie Evans

Synopsis



A Summerville Novel #6

Fire and Icing Book 1



Some fires never burn out…

After ten years as America’s sweetest celebrity chef, Naomi Whitehouse is enjoying life out of the spotlight, back in her hometown of Summerville, Georgia. She’s opening a pastry shop with her sister, housesitting for her snowbird parents, and reconnecting with her roots. Life is good until she runs into her high school sweetheart, Jake Hansen, a sexy firefighter who gives her a reception chilly enough to freeze a forest fire. If Naomi wants her homecoming to remain all cupcakes and sugar cookies, she’ll have to win Jake over. But how can she earn his forgiveness when he won’t even speak to her?

When the girl who broke his heart buys a month of dates at the firefighter’s Hunk-for-a-Month fundraiser auction, only honor keeps widower Jake Hansen from backing out of the commitment. He won’t let the firehouse down, even if it means enduring a torturous month with Naomi Whitehouse. And Jake knows being close to Naomi again will be torture. Even after all these years, she still gets to him…not that he intends to let her know it. He’ll be civil, honor his obligation, and with any luck Naomi will tire of playing small-town pastry chef and Jake will never see her again.

But as the month passes, Jake and Naomi discover some fires never burn out. Will the heat between them be enough to melt away the pain of past mistakes, or is their second chance doomed from the start?


Links to buy the book:

Excerpt:


She was getting ready to order Maddie to have fun without her and make a run for the exit, when the curtain parted again and Naomi lost the ability to form words.
There, wearing nothing but black jeans and a black Summerville Fire Department baseball cap, was the man she’d come for. Naomi’s breath caught and a horrible, excited-but-miserable feeling filled her chest. It was same feeling that had overwhelmed her when Jake had turned and walked away from her at the store yesterday, but this time, he didn’t know she was watching. Naomi was able to let her eyes linger, taking in every inch of the stunning man her high school sweetheart had become.
Jake didn’t strut down the catwalk like his little brother; he owned the stage like the captain of a ship, like a Roman commander leading his army into battle. With his tanned, olive skin, broad shoulders, chiseled chest, and deliciously narrow hips, Jake was every bit the beefcake his little brother was. But that wasn’t what made the crowd suck in their breath in appreciation as he reached the end of the catwalk and took off his hat, his tousled brown hair flopping over one eye as he bowed to the ladies on either side of the stage.
No, it wasn’t his muscles, the strong planes of his face, or those dark brown eyes that glittered with intelligence that made it impossible for Naomi to take her eyes off of him. It was the way he held himself, the way he moved like a creature that was completely at home in its body. Jake was a man who walked, talked, and prowled the catwalk with innate confidence. He knew who he was and where he was going. He was a man who worked hard and loved harder, who believed in the value of a man’s word, and never gave a woman a second chance to make a bad impression.


 Review
 

Naomi left her town looking for “more, ” in the shuffle, she also left her family and her high school sweetheart,  who loved her more than life itself and would’ve done anything and everything for her. Fifteen years later, after a heartbreak and a horrible tragedy, she comes back to her hometown with her eyes set on the man she never stopped loving.
Jake was heartbroken after Naomi left him with only a letter. After a few years of nursing a broken heart, he met a wonderful girl and got married. Unfortunately for Jake, life got in the way and his marriage didn’t last very long. He’s now the chief firefighter in town and a widower, he’s also the man Naomi will to anything to get to love again. But will her strong will be enough to recapture Jake’s heart or will the secret she’s been keeping will destroy any chance they have?

This is a very sweet story, very easy to follow and to like. The main characters have an incredible chemistry you can feel through the pages of the book, they’re very likeable and you care for them from the very first page.  I love how the author introduces the secondary characters and the subjects for the next couple of books, they’re intriguing and interesting. It’s a well written story that will have you living the story with Naomi and Jake every step of the way.






Synopsis


releases Feb 5th, 2014

A Summerville Novel #7
Fire and Icing Book 2
Too hot to handle…
Faith Miller has faith in two things—her surrogate firehouse family, and her own two hands—and she needs a man in her life like a fish needs a bicycle. Growing up watching her mom get used and discarded by one deadbeat boyfriend after another has left Faith jaded, and determined not to fall into the same trap. But when Mick Whitehouse moves back to Summerville, Faith’s happy, single life is turned upside down. The hunky carpenter is a far cry from the little boy she used to wrestle with on the playground in elementary school. Mick’s all grown up, tempting as sugar coated sin, and determined to seduce Faith into forgetting all her rules.
One kiss under the mistletoe and Mick Whitehouse knows that he wants Faith Miller. Bad. After years of lukewarm relationships with the wrong kind of girls, Mick is powerfully drawn to Summerville’s only female firefighter, and determined not to let her push him away. Beneath Faith’s tough exterior is a heart of gold, and the chemistry between them is four-alarm hot. But just as he finally convinces Summerville’s most confirmed bachelorette to take a chance on love, an old girlfriend waltzes into town and drops a bombshell in Mick’s lap.
As Faith and Mick come to terms with the shocking news, Faith must choose: let fear of repeating her mother’s mistakes send her running, or have faith in the man she’s come to love?





Excerpt

“You,” Faith said with a disgusted shake of her head, her tone inferring that finding Mick starting across the street toward her was only slightly less disgusting than discovering she’d stepped in a steaming pile of dog doo. “What are you doing here?”
“I live above the bakery now.” Mick forced a smile, refusing to take Faith’s scowl at face value. She’d acted irritated with him at the Fireman’s Ball, too, but she’d also kissed him like his mouth contained the last gasp of air in a burning building.
Things weren’t always what they seemed with Faith, which was part of the reason he found her so damned interesting.
“Great,” she said with a sigh, swinging her backpack over one shoulder. “When did that happen?”
“Last week, right after the store opened.” Mick stepped onto the sidewalk beside her. “And not long after Jake and Naomi got engaged. A lot of things have changed while you’ve been gone.”
Faith snorted in a way that Mick found inexplicably sexy. “Duh. I knew that was going to happen. I knew before anyone. I have a phantom limb that tingles when people are getting ready to get hitched, and it was tingling big time for those two.”
Mick grinned. “A phantom limb?”
“Yes,” she said, standing up straighter, her posture making it clear she wasn’t in the mood to be teased, which of course only made Mick want to tease her more.
“So, where was this limb before it became a phantom, marriage-foretelling limb?” he asked, letting his eyes roam up and down Faith’s body, disturbed to realize that he found her sexier in orange pants and an oversized jacket than he’d found Nina in her skimpy dress. “Was it a third arm, or a third leg?”
“It was a vestigial tail,” she said with a straight face. “And I know you don’t want to come on to a girl who used to have a tail, so take a step back, Whitehouse.”
“I wouldn’t care if you still had a tail, Miller,” he said, ambling closer, until their frosty breath mingled between their faces. “I’d still want to take you out.”
Faith’s eyes narrowed. “Stop it,” she said in a softer voice. “We talked about this.”
“We did not,” Mick said, deliberately playing dumb. “I don’t remember any talk about your tail. If I had, I would have asked Maddie to knit you a tail warmer instead of that horrible vest she made me for Christmas.”
Faith’s lips quirked up at the edges. It was a flicker of a smile, but enough to give Mick hope.
“Come on,” he said. “Give me a chance. Let me take you and your tail out to dinner.”
“I never had a tail, and I certainly don’t have one now,” she said, then added after a beat, “As for the other…I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested.”
“Liar,” Mick said, knowing he was right when Faith’s eyes widened and a spark flickered in their warm brown depths.
“I think you’re interested,” he continued. “And I think if I kissed you right now, you’d kiss me back the way you did at the ball.”


 Review


Faith Miller has seen her mother go from boyfriend to boyfriend and being discarded by them like yesterday’s garbage. She’s convinced that she only needs herself and her family at the firehouse to survive. Love is nowhere in sight, until Mick Whitehouse makes his way straight to her heart.

Mick came back to his hometown after graduating college trying to get over a psycho ex-girlfriend and all the craziness she put him through. A kiss under the mistletoe and Mick has not doubt that he wants Faith…bad.

This girl broke my heart, I felt so bad for her and I truly wanted to hug her and tell her that everything was going to be all right. But with a mother like she had, and all the things she went through as a little girl, how can you blame her for not wanting to start a relationship with Mick? What she wasn’t counting on was not only Mick’s boyish charms, but also his persistence and sincerity with his feelings towards her. Mick is a very strong character that you will love all the way to the end, from the way he treats Faith to the way he deals with the little trouble that comes along the way. Faith is sweet, strong headed and loyal to the end.

Beautiful story, that will leave you wanting more from these two. I’m hoping the author brings them back somehow in the next book, and let us know how they’re doing. I truly enjoyed this book, dare say more than the first? And I really liked the first one. Highly recommended.
 



THE FIRE AND ICING PLAYLIST:

"Melt with You" by Modern English (of course!)

"Groove Me" by King Floyd

"It's Your Love" by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw

"Sparks Fly" by Taylor Swift

"Don't Stop Believin" by Journey

"Must be Doing Something Right" by Billy Currington

"There are Places I Remember" by the Beatles

"These Arms of Mine" by Otis Redding

"Never Tear us Apart" by INXS 



About the Author

Jessie Evans gave up a career as an international woman of mystery to write the sassy, Southern romances she always wanted to read.

She's married to the man of her dreams, and together they're raising a few adorable, mischievous children in a tree house in the boonies. She grew up in rural Arkansas, spending summers running wild, being chewed by chiggers, and now appreciates her home in a chigger-free part of the world even more. 

When she's not writing, Jessie enjoys playing her dulcimer (badly), sewing the worlds ugliest quilts to give to her friends, going for bike rides with her house full of boys, and wandering the woods, glass of wine and camera both in hand, on the lookout for Bigfoot.

A southern girl, born and bred, Jessie loves writing Southern romances with just the right amount of sizzle, and hopes you'll enjoy her stories set in the fictional town of Summerville, Georgia. 

 Connect with Jessie


 

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