New Release Review and Giveaway! RIVER OF LOVE by Melissa Foster (The Bradens – Peaceful Harbor, MD #3)

Somehow, Sam “I never met a woman I didn’t like, and I never ‘liked’ them more than once” Braden ended up being my favorite Braden so far! There’s just something about an ultimate playboy who meets the right woman and completely converts to monogamy, isn’t there? 🙂

In case you can’t tell, I loved, loved, LOVED Sam. From his very first scene, he was a fantastic hero. Even though he hasn’t had any kind of a real relationship with a member of the opposite sex since his first one at sixteen (the one that broke his poor little teenaged heart, of course!), he threw himself right into one with Faith, with gusto. Of course she knew all about his reputation and was more than a little resistant. Which just meant that Sam had to pull out all the stops to convince her of his sincerity…

Which he does with style! Oh my goodness, did he ever–the way he convinces Faith to go on a first date with him was absolutely amazing, and worth the price of the book alone. But he doesn’t stop there–once this guy decides he’s going to give his woman his all, he really goes all out. From the first page, this is one hero that will have you melting, guaranteed!

Faith was a little harder to like, at first–she’s been hurt before (so much so that she’s actually created a website/forum group called Women Against Cheaters to try to help others cope and heal), so it makes sense that she’d be slow to trust his change-around, but it felt like she took it a bit too far at times, waffling away from him when he’d given her nothing but proof of his sincerity. Of course that did make him step up his game, and led to even more Sam-is-an-awesome-specimen-of-a-boyfriend moments, so it’s really hard to find too much fault with her. There was a little bit of impatient hrumpfing on my part, but overall this has been my favorite of the series so far.

And only about 75% of that is because of Sam. Okay, maybe 80% 😉

River of Love should work okay as a standalone–it just so happens that I have read the previous Bradens at Peaceful Harbor book ( Surrender My Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens): Cole Braden ), but even if I hadn’t I would have done just fine with this one. Nate and Cole show up with their significant others quite a bit, but you won’t feel lost at all if you haven’t read their stories yet. (However, chances are high that you’llwant to read them ASAP, just because of the awesomeness of the Braden family. Nate’s story, Healed By Love , was added to my TBR before I’d even finished Cole’s. Consider yourself warned.)

Next up, Shannon’s story ( Crushing on Love: Shannon Braden)–can’t wait!

Rating: 4 stars / A-

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