Tempting by Susan Mallery

Don't forget, FAB pick Michele Bardsley is facing a major deadline, so in the meantime, Ter has taken over her blog to give away lots of goodies. As soon as Michele has finished with her deadline she will be able to get to the interview and we'll post it and the winners. For now, please bear with us and head over to her blog to win more FAB prizes! And now, without further ado...

Tempting by Susan Mallery

(BCC)

After three romantic flame-outs in a year and a restaurant career going nowhere, Dani Buchanan needs a fresh start. She goes looking for her biological father, but never expects to find a senator running for president. As his long-lost 'love child,' Dani could seriously derail the election— something his handsome campaign manager Alex Canfield isn't going to let happen. Dani isn't about to let Alex run her life, no matter how tempting she finds him—and Alex isn't going to allow Dani to melt his cynicism, no matter how close he has to get. The last thing either of them wants is love, especially with scandals brewing and family trouble on the way. But Dani and Alex are forced to trust each other, and when trust turns to passion, the potential for disaster is only a tabloid scandal away.

As far as the BCC goes, well, it's OK, but I'll tell you, it leaves a out a MAJOR fact. Like the fact that Alex Canfield is not only the senator's campaign manager, he is also the senator's adopted son. So basically, Alex and Dani are brother and sister. I realize that I should not let such a thing bother me, especially since I really enjoyed the book for the most part. Unfortunately, what joy I was getting kept being interrupted by the fact that the love interests were, um, kinda sorta related.

Dani Buchanan finds out that she is in fact, not a true Buchanan. Her mother had had an affair and she was the result. Dani finds this out by her Grandmother that she has never been close with, but tried her hardest to be loved by.

Feeling out of place, Dani starts a new job as General Manager at a new restaurant, and heads off to find her biological father. What she finds is her bio father is a senator getting ready to run for president. She walks into his campaign headquarters and meets her adopted brother Alex. He is refusing to let her see Mr. Canfield because he believes she is lying to him. Alex may be gorgeous, but Dani sorely dislikes being called a liar.

When it turns out that Dani is truly the senators daughter, it's time to meet the rest of the family. Unable to have children of her own, Katerine Canfield and her husband the senator have adopted the unadoptable. Children that are special needs. When Dani first meets them, she fits in wonderfully, and falls in love with the children. Something that Alex's ex-wife never quite managed.

Ultimately, Alex and Dani start to fall in love. Having hot sweaty monkey love though presents its own set of problems. For starters, Alex feels as if he is betraying his mother, Katherine because he sees how Dani's appearance has hurt her. The paparazzi are all over Dani's relationship with the senator, and now are having a hey-day with her and Alex's affair. Add to that an ex-wife that has no problem lying and cheating her way back into Alex's life, and Dani and Alex have quite a few obstacles.

For the most part, Tempting is a wonderful book. I liked Dani, and I enjoyed watching her come to grips with not being who she always believed she was. I enjoyed watching as Dani and grandmother mend fences. I enjoyed how the Buchanan's were still fiercely protective of her and how she never once forgot that other people had the ability to be devastated by her appearance.

If it weren't for the fact that Dani and Alex were both children of the senator, no matter if it was by blood or not, I would have absolutely no gripes about the book. As it was though, I enjoyed Mallery's voice, her grasp of craft that allowed her to make each and every character believable and real. Tempting is book four in a stand alone series, and it was good enough for me to want to read the other three.

I can tell you, Tempting is a good read. An easy way to spend a lazy afternoon. And Mallery will be added to my list of authors to read. I just wish I could get over...

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