A summer spending together, can feelings be ignored once again?

Synopsis

In the latest Harlequin Romance from Rachael Stewart, for this billionaire, spending the summer with his best friend’s little sister is complicated…by his forbidden feelings for the heiress!

Forbidden attraction…

or forever fling?

I’ve always been drawn to heiress Avery Monroe, but I’ve also known how completely off-limits she is! We haven’t spoken since I rejected her kiss three years ago. Now, her brother’s meddling means Avery’s spending the summer with me at my castle in Croatia. I promised to protect her, but uncovering Avery’s secret battles, I can’t keep my true feelings hidden. Will our passion finally be unlocked?

From Harlequin Romance: Be swept away by glamorous and heartfelt love stories.

How to Win a Monroe

Book 1: Off-Limits Fling with the Heiress
Book 2: My Unexpected Christmas Wedding

My review

Avery Monroe has been searching herself for several years. Being an heiress for sure always put her in the spotlight, showing everyone every kind of error she made.
Now she is going to spend the summer with her brother’s best friend Gabe Curran, in his Croatian castle.
But Avery knows that her brother Aidan would never have agreed with it, if he would have known about that one rejected kiss three years ago.
And three years is exactly the time that has passed since Avery and Gabe last saw each other… Spending the summer together, Gabe not only is fighting against the attraction he always had towards Avery, but he also learns that Avery is fighting not only the same, but she is also fighting her own battles… 

What a delight this latest book from Rachael Stewart was! If you would ask me what my favourite trope would be, I would definitely be having a difficult time picking a favourite one, but for sure ‘brother’s best friend’ would be rather on top of that list!
And having this amazing author writing just in that trope, how can I possibly resist? 

At the start it’s obvious that Avery is trying to find herself, and as it’s normal to do, she does it with trial and error.
So being forced somehow following a path that isn’t her, and struggling with the consequences of her choices (right or wrong), made me truly pity her.
Avery acts her age, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but having a spotlight on her every step she takes, cannot make her position any easier. 

To make things even worse for her, she always had a crush on her brother’s best friend, Gabe, but he sees her more as a little sister than the woman she is.
So when he sees her on a night out, his ‘big brother’ protectiveness emerges. And while I liked Gabe for that, I also wanted him to realize that Avery is not his little sister. 

I was left a bit surprised to read that after one kiss, we fast – forward three years, and learn that in those three years, there was absolutely no contact between Avery and Gabe. (yes, I know it’s mentioned in the blurb, but I am the kind of person that doesn’t even read the blurb when a loved author brings out a new book 😊) 

And all the above is just the beginning of the book!!! 

Three years later, I was happy to see how Avery found her true passion. Yet it also broke my heart to see how her own family still didn’t understand her, or would persuade her to follow her passions.
But despite finding her passion, it saddened me even more to see how Avery still feels as the odd one out in her own family… 

Gabe isn’t as easy as a character either… He too is struggling, with his own family. His mother left them, and Gabe clearly feels her absence even after so many years. And his father for sure would never win an award for Best Father Of The Year. 

Despite their history, that kiss three years ago, in Gabe’s castle, they start to see the real Avery and Gabe. Being secluded in a way, also gives them the opportunity to truly understand each other, and learn from each other, take each other’s advice too.
And obviously that brings them closer, even realizing that that simmering attraction they once had, is still there, ready to erupt. 

This book is truly a slow – burning kind of story. Rachael Stewart put more into character development, making sure that the readers understand this isn’t a story or a relationship based on physical attraction. But the characters go through an individual journey, together, making them understand what their heart perhaps have been trying to tell them for a long time. 

For sure it was a story filled with ‘will they will they not’, and a revelation that came as a surprise for Gabe, but to be honest, not to me completely.
But there were also funny moments, truly heart – warming moments, showing that despite the inner turmoil people are going through, there is always room for a laugh. 

Rachael Stewart wrote once again a wonderful story, about two people being in each other’s lives for ever, but finding each other once again in a way that brings them courage, love and happiness. And a feeling that won’t be stopped by fear. 

I truly enjoyed reading this story and cannot wait for the next one! 😊