See Jane Fall

If you enjoy “ugly duckling” stories and family sagas, this is a book (and series) for you. Jane thinks she's plain, as her name suggests, having grown up in the shadow of her supermodel cousin Sara — known to the world as Samara Amaya. Under family pressure to keep her job as Samara's assistant despite truly unpleasant working conditions, she's overdue for a bit of love and happiness. Unfortunately, past experience has proven that every nice thing Jane has gets taken away, and she has no reason to hope it'll be different this time. So when she meets tour guide Lars Lindstrom during the preparation for supermodel Samara's fashion shoot in Yellowstone National Park, Jane knows she won't have a chance once Samara rolls in. Lars says he's “not that guy” but Jane can't trust his words, can she?

See Jane Fall is a truly enjoyable book, smoothly written, entertaining, with a nice balance of fun and heat and emotion. I like Jane and her inner turmoil and issues feel real. As for Lars, his choices at certain stages of the book might annoy or infuriate some readers, but I think he comes across as authentic and fully developed, and he certainly redeems himself in full by the end. There's a bit of red herring jealousy involved, but it's handled naturally enough that it didn't really bother me. I adore the way he calls her Minx, and their unfolding relationship is as full and sweet as anything I've read in a while.

The message? Family relationships are complicated but everyone has a breaking point beyond which no amount of blood ties and obligation will hold.

Favourite quote? “And yet without his permission or blessing hers was the face the earth had turned to him, to whom he felt bundled and bound, as surely as he did to Yeller, as surely as he was a Lindstrom, and he didn't know what to do if he couldn't have her — if she wouldn't, or couldn't, belong to him.”

How I found this book? I know the author through Facebook and was invited to be part of the blog tour — Book Plug Promotions gave me a PDF review copy, but I ended up buying it for my Kindle anyway.

4 stars • a definite keeper, highly recommended, totally gripping and very well done