Fierce at Heart by Zoe YorkMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Three and a half stars.
Adam Kincaid and Isla Peterson were squaddie and commanding officer back in the day. Now they've both left the military, he's training to be a firefighter like his father and she is hoping to open her own bakery once she graduates from culinary school. They meet by chance at a Farmer's Market where Isla is selling her cakes, get to reminiscing about old times and end up having a spectacular one-night stand. But living in different parts of Canada and their nascent careers leave little time for a relationship so they agree to be friends only.
Adam returns to his home (small) town of Pine Harbour where three of his four older brothers still live. He may be 30, but as the youngest, and having been brought up by his elder two brothers after their parents' deaths, none of his brothers seems to see it that way. Heck, they even seem to think they have a voice in where he lives and who he dates and how he does his job!
After her ex-husband tanked her credit rating Isla knows she will be lucky to be able to start her own bakery but she doesn't want to be a chef working for someone else forever.
When Adam buys his fixer-upper he overhears the owner of the local cafe/diner offering to sell her place for $1, one catch; the owner must be a ling-standing resident of Pine Harbour, or married to a resident. It's a crazy plan but if it helps out his BFF Adam thinks he could enter into a fake marriage for a few years, after all he's never going to fall in love anyway.
I was surprised that I hadn't read any of Zoe York's books before, but the books are similar to Cora Seton's mail-order bride series, or indeed any small-town series featuring a large family.
Adam and Isla provide each other with much-needed support and validation, but as they get closer can they still ignore the growing attraction?
My biggest gripe was that there was a sub-plot involving Isla's ex-husband that didn't really go anywhere and was a bit cliched/ overdone in this genre. Otherwise, I enjoyed this sweet small-town romance.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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