Happy Hump Day - Week O'Jules...Bennett

Happy, Happy Hump day! And holy guacamole! What a week it's been so far. So, big breath in...let it out slow. As a reward for you deserving folks (and you know who you are), as always a tasty bit o'candy - eye candy. Mmmmmmm.

Since yesterday was her big release day, it is my pleasure to also provide you charming book-a-holics a review of Jules Bennett's newest Desire print, From Boardroom to Wedding Bed? However, before I do I feel it is my duty and honor to remind each and every one of you as your friendly neighborhood nurse how much I care.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Affecting millions of women (and men) worldwide, breast cancer is the disease that hits so close to home. Most of us have known a loved one, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker who has been affected by breast cancer. Fundraising for research is crucial and there are so many ways to give. But first and foremost, it all starts with prevention. Do your monthly self-exams ladies. Get up close and personal with the Girls - make sure nothing is different, nothing new has happened. This is not like forgetting to dust the top of the entertainment center...don't skip a month, be consistent and, if something changes, get checked by your doctor! I want you all around to read all the fabulous creations our favorite authors work hard to put out there for a very, very long time. (Grunt, creak-crack - getting off my soapbox now....)

So, onward and upward. Where were we? Silly me! Jules Bennett's latest and greatest - From Boardroom to Wedding Bed? featured on side icon, available at bookstores and book sellers everywhere (even at WalMart!) Like a fine wine, Jules's stories get better with age. She is definitely coming into her own with this latest series for Desire. What she does best: spin a tale of love lost, of love unrequited and those who take the chance on love. Who doesn't love that?

Tamera Stevens and Cole Marcum were once college sweethearts, engaged and planning a glorious future together. Broken apart by manipulations from her father unbeknownst to her, they go their separate ways - Tam to follow her father's legacy, Cole to build his own legacy. Reunited eleven years later on a joint venture for a billionaire hotelier, the two have to get past their past and find a way to work together. Tamera is successfully running her father's company and maintaining the facade of his retirement while he is actually dying of cancer. Cole is out to show the world how successful and powerful he is and hoping to rekindle the flame he once had with Tam. Of course, he wants her in his bed, but not in his life. When he discovers the secret she is hiding about her father, he plans to swoop in and take over her father's company when she is at her lowest. Despite his attempts to harden his heart against her, Cole finds her firmly entrenched there.

I loved the vulnerability of Tamera Stevens - she embodies the type of strength you want to see in a romantic heroine. Watching her frustration, confusion and hurt resurface at reuniting and working with Cole and her grief contending with her father's terminal illness wrenches your heart. I was sobbing at one point (oh shut up, it was late and I was tired!).

Cole really angered me for much of the book - I understood his pain at the forced breakup and the desire to be a self-made man supporting his siblings, but using Tamera when he knew she had no clue about the real cause of their relationship demise and concocting the scheme to take her father's legacy as an act of revenge kinda grossed me out. She was definitely the bigger person to break down and "forgive" him after her dad's death. Of course, having them finally get their HEA was worth the pain and suffering but, man, what a roller coaster of a romance!

Hopefully the little hints of new romances brewing for the other Marcum siblings means a couple more stories in this hot, hot, hot Miami series! As always, Jules Bennett delivers a tasty little passionate romance - I am pleased to give this one 4 chocolate covered strawberries! Yummmm!