Too Hot to Handle

I loved reading Fire and Foreplay by the amazing duo Melanie Shawn, the fourteenth book in their Hope Fall series. We met MMA fighter Gabe Maguire in the last book. After winning the rescheduled match postponed by his cancer diagnosis he returns to Hope Falls to join the fire department, working with his cousin, the chief. Adriana Hale, a single mom of twin four-year old girls, promises her dying cousin to try to find the father of the nine-year old son she had after a one-night stand. While watching a MMA fight together, Adriana realizes that Gabe could be the missing father. Taking a chance, she travels to Hope Falls to meet Gabe and get to know him, before dropping her bombshell. The minute he saw Adriana, Gabe falls for her, hook, line and sinker. She makes him feel alive again, which hadn’t happened since his cancer diagnosis. Could she be his soul mate? These two need to discover if they can handle the obstacles this entire scenario places in their way and if they actually are able to share the journey to the future. Through their amazing and vivid writing Melanie Shawn did an outstanding job tackling this love at first sight story. I genuinely enjoyed reading Fire and Foreplay and was pleased with the way Melanie Shawn found a way for Gabe and Adriana to find their way to a happy forever. Although this book is part of a series, it can also be read as a stand-alone. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading the next story in the Hope Falls series. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

**Advanced copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review** This is one of those books that the minute I started reading it, I knew I wasn't going to want to put it down! I was taken in by the story of Adriana and Gabe from the moment I fired up my Kindle! Gabe Maguire has been through quite a bit over the past several years. He was diagnosed with and beat cancer, revived his MMA career and started a new career as a firefighter. Now that he has settled in Hope Falls, he hopes to stop just going through the motions of life and to actually live. He wasn't sure how to do that until he saw a dark haired beauty who immediately captured his attention. Adriana Hale made a promise to her cousin before she passed away that she fully intends to keep. The single mother of twins, is also the adoptive mother of her cousin's son, Jonah, and while making a go of it as the sole caregiver is difficult, it's a job she wouldn't trade for the world. When Jonah asks Adriana to watch an MMA fight with her, the last thing she expects is to find a clue to the one promise she made to her cousin. When Gabe and Adriana meet, the chemistry is immediate. They both realize it and they both aren't sure what to do with it. When Adriana suggests they spend one hot night together, will that be the start of something amazing or will it be just what she suggested, one night and that's it? For me this book was centered in it's reality. Both Gabe and Adriana have faced battles and had to make decisions that were not only hard, but gut wrenching. They are dealing with the day to day of life and the intricacies that go along with it, but they also were lucky enough to find that person that they wanted to try for. With kids, health issues and life throwing things at them, they continued to persevere and they saw what was most important - love. This was another great trip to Hope Falls and I can't wait to be back again very soon!

I don't know why I'm surprised that Melanie Shawn just keeps writing better and better books, but each book always outdoes the last. I'm not sure how that's possible! I loved Fire and Foreplay. The insta-love story is one, for me, that will never get old. Gabe fell hard and fast. Not just for Adriana, but her kids as well. I think that's the thing I loved the most about him. That he was head over heels for all of them. A little twist thrown in for good measure....and you've got yourself a sexy, funny, swoon-worthy, perfect stand alone book! Happy reading!