New Release Review and Giveaway! SEASIDE EMBRACE by Melissa Foster (Seaside Summers #6)

A quick and steamy read full of strong characters, Seaside Embrace is the story of a one night stand that stretches out for about six months…and then turns into something more. Jana and Hunter haven’t gotten along since day one–both opinionated and stubborn, there’s a lot they don’t agree on, and almost every time they’re in each other’s company they end up fighting.

And then they end up in bed.

And Jana’s gone before Hunter wakes up.

When Hunter realizes that he hasn’t slept with anyone else in six months, and furthermore, he doesn’t want to sleep with anyone else, possibly not ever, he’s taken aback. But once the idea begins to grow on him, he throws everything he has into romancing Jana. It was very sweet to watch him, especially in the early stages before he quite realized what he was doing. The internal checklist he made while researching “How to be Romantic” was just too funny! I loved that he was the first one to realize what was going on between the two of them, and that he put everything he had into romancing Jana and putting his days of being a player far in his past.

Jana took a lot of convincing, though–not only did she have a lot going on in the rest of her life, but some pretty disastrous experiences in her dating past have left her absolutely convinced that 1) she’s a terrible girlfriend and 2) commitment just isn’t something she can do. (Though she does muse to herself at one point that she’s committed to not committing, so that’s something…) Hunter’s got his work cut out for him; fortunately, he’s definitely the man for the job.

Jana made me a bit nuts at times with her sudden relationship panic attacks–everything would be going great, and then she’d suddenly get hit by one out of nowhere. Their relationship “black moment” is mostly just her creating a major drama in her head without checking with Hunter first to see if they’ve actually got a crisis on their hands–that had me shaking my head in frustration. The bulk of the story, though, is fun to read, with just the right amounts of sweet and sexy in it, and the relationships that both Jana and Hunter have with other characters–siblings and friends–add even more to the book.

Seaside Embrace is the 6th in the Seaside Summers series and 30th in the Love in Bloom series, so it’s populated with all kinds of happy couples from many of the other books in the series. At times it got a little confusing–with so many characters, several of their names are close (Jana and Jenna, Hunter and Harper) and keeping track of who was with whom was tricky if you haven’t read all of their books. Still, the feeling of friendship and camaraderie in the story really added to the overall warm and coy feeling of the book, and if you have read the other books, you’ll love seeing all your favorite characters again.

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.