Title: 1001 Dark Nights: Hunky Heartbreaker
Author: Kendall Ryan
Year of publication: Out today! The author kindly gave me a copy to read and review
The heroine: Lawyer Valentina ?
The hero: Distillery owner Duke Wilder
The blurb: Everything’s bigger in Texas.
And that includes Duke Wilder’s sexual appetite.
Together with his twin brother, he runs a whiskey distillery, and when their business takes off—suddenly he’s got it all. Success. Money. Family. But he doesn’t have a woman to share it with.
When Valentina storms into his life, her presence is only supposed to be temporary. She’s a feisty attorney hired to help clean up his company’s recent legal mess. He never counted on her being the one to turn his whole world upside down.
After spending most of his life living in the shadow of his brother, Duke has something to prove, and he’s not about to let this distraction get in the way of his plans, no matter how hot things get.
Standalone or series: Part of the 1001 Dark Nights and Whiskey Kisses series, but can be read as a standalone
The review: This is a novella set in the same universe as the book Sexy Stranger, which was about Luke Wilder and Charlotte Freemont. This time, the hero is Duke, Luke’s twin brother (Duke is a nickname). The Wilder twins own a whiskey distillery, and when they’re sued by another company because the logo Duke designed is apparently too similar to theirs, Charlotte calls upon her best friend, Valentina, a lawyer from LA, to help with the lawsuit.
Charlotte warns Valentina Duke’s a bit of a player and Valentina is not the least bit interested, because she’s only there for a week, but when she starts hanging out with Duke she finds she’s not immune to his charm. They go out drinking and dancing one night, and end up in Duke’s bed. Valentina ends up spending most of her week with Duke, and the more she hangs out with him, the more she finds herself drawn to him.
This could easily have been a novel, and it would have been nice to see the relationship unfold a bit more, but given the short length of the story the author did a nice job of portraying two people from very different lives coming together to give love a chance. If you want a quick, easy read, this is for you.
the romance shelf 