Reckless Heart

Starlight Cove, Book 4

De: Brighton Walsh

Narrado por: Jason Clarke, Savannah Peachwood

Turns out the gorgeous stranger I had a one-night stand with is not only my sister’s best friend but also my new employee.

Worse? I shared a whole lot more with Avery than one mind-blowing night. I told her my deepest, darkest secret. Despite my constant worry that she’ll let the truth slip to my family, I can’t stay away from her. And when we’re tossed together for an out of town trip and forced to share a room with only one bed, the chemistry between us finally explodes...again. I have no problem making her see stars—or breaking the bed.

The trouble is, the longer our secret relationship goes on, the more I want to keep her. But she’s eight years my junior, the sunshine to my grump, and I know her free spirit wants more than the small town of Starlight Cove can offer. I know no one could ever give her more pleasure than I will, but I refuse to hold her back. Even if that means letting her go when her three month contract is up.

©2023 Brighton Walsh (P)2023 Brighton Walsh

Aiden & Avery

Aiden is somewhat lost doing what he's doing now - scheduling and the like for the family resort. He's also moonlighting as a successful romance author, but no one knows. He is struggling somewhat and he goes to a bar one night where he meets Avery who just might be the female version of him. To start with, she's wearing a shirt that says STFUATTDLAGG and he knows EXACTLY what that means! They have a steamy night together (he's a pleasure Dom and let's just say she has A LOT of pleasure!).
So the next day Avery is supposed to be leaving town for some training and her mother calls to tell her it's postponed. So she has no job and no money. She gets lucky because she is friends with Addison and Addison can give her a temporary job at the family's resort. Addison introduces Avery to her siblings, which includes Aiden. Avery gives him a cold shoulder and tells them they should just remain professional. Naturally, Addison senses the spark between them so she uses every opportunity she can to push them together. She even sets up a "test run" of the resort and makes them pretend to be a couple who comes to visit the resort (think the one bed scenario, only HOTTER!)
The only thing that made this story angsty is that you knew that there was an expiration date on their relationship. It was just a little bit of fun before Avery left town for good. I really thought that because they had such a connection where they really got each other that she would decide not to leave and there wouldn't be a breakup, but she left. Thankfully she got her head on straight and they were able to work everything out. I think she had to go in the end to know what she was giving up on both sides and decide which was more important to her.

Dirty Talk is supreme

Jason Clarke will get you going every time! cute story and good amount of spice!

Oh my lanta!!!

I did not think I’d love another McKinsey brother more then came along Aiden. Oh my goodness I loved this man and I so loved their story. The banter, the family text chains, and the spice oh my. Then on top of all that Jason freaking growly Clarke, um yes please. He and Savannah Peachwood were perfect together. Can’t wait for the next book. I actually want yo visit this little town and attend book club.

AMAZING!

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ (the scenes in this book had me 🥵)
Story Line: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
HEA
Tropes: best friends brother, one night stand, forced proximity, age gap, 3rd act break-up.

Great narration

Yeah, I definitely underestimated how spicy this was going to be, lol! I've been meaning to check out this new-to-me author, so a duet narration audiobook felt like the perfect way to try. And it was! The sparks started flying between this couple within a few pages, and it wasn't long after that before I was feeling the heat. Walsh calls this hero a "pleasure dom," and I wasn't quite sure what that entailed until suddenly I did... wow, okay, I get it now! He's all buttoned-up professional in the streets and O-obsessed predator in the sheets. That first spicy scene makes a statement, and I was excited for a tension-filled, sexy read. It's a great combination of small town/workplace romance and high heat treat, with a little bit of best friend's brother/secret romance added to the mix. I actually wouldn't have minded less focus on the spice and more on the emotional connection, but it made for a quick, blush-inducing binge.

The story follows Aiden, an overworked guy with a secret. He's been helping run the family business for a long time, but his new secret side gig as a spicy romantasy author has been eating up a lot of his time. So when Aiden meets a fiery woman in a bar and the two quickly bond over darkly delicious romance books, he does something out of character - spend one filthy, entirely pleasurable night with her. The only problem? Turns out Avery isn't a stranger passing through town, she's his little sister's college friend and apparently his new temporary employee. Aiden most certainly wouldn't have said or done the things he did if he had known who Avery was, but that's the danger in hooking up with a nameless stranger. As the two develop a working relationship and share close quarters, they find it difficult to forget how well they worked together in entirely different ways.

I've been wanting to try Walsh's work, and this ended up being the perfect first book to try. It's part of a series for sure, but the nature of Aiden and Avery's first meeting makes it easy to jump right in, and everything essential about Aiden's family is explained without issue. I was expecting a sexy small town romance, so I was a little taken aback by the level of heat. Not in a bad way, really, because it makes the book absolutely fly by. It's not all that long to begin with, so the plentiful spicy scenes make up a decent portion of the pages. I enjoyed the first half at a low 5/high 4-star level, but I needed the emotional connection to delve deeper in the back half for this to earn a full 5 stars. I loved the way Avery pushed Aiden and their chemistry was off-the-charts, but I had minimal investment in the relationship itself. I really enjoyed Aiden though; he has characteristics of other heroes I've read about, but he truly felt fresh and different in other ways. And he's pretty intense in the bedroom, focused so intently on Avery's pleasure. It ended up being a fast, sexy read, and I can see myself returning to Walsh's work when I want an easy, super spicy romance.

Audio note: With Jason Clarke and Savannah Peachwood performing in duet-style narration, you can't go wrong! That's what convinced me to give this a try, and they did not disappoint. The runtime (under 8 hours) was also perfect for bingeing, and I had no trouble finishing this in one sitting. It starts out SUPER spicy and stays that way throughout, so I really don't recommend this as a workday listen. You might find that you're fanning yourself in front of your coworkers if you do, just saying. But this was light and relatively low angst, so it worked well in the format. And I'm certainly not complaining about Clarke narrating all that spice! So I highly recommend the format.