He’s the last single Dare sibling standing.
She’s his lost love who disappeared.
Now she’s back, bringing secrets and danger.
Hadley Stevens is on the run with her younger sister—again—but this time, she’s in control. Zach Dare might hate her, but she knows he’d never turn away someone in need. He’s the only man she trusts. The man she’s never gotten over. Even if she left him without a word.
Zach never expected the girl he once loved to walk into his bar. The last time he saw her, he’d dropped her off after school and promised to pick her up for prom. Except she disappeared.
Now, she’s back with a new name, but the same doe eyes and pouty lips, and she’s asking for the help he would have gladly given her all those years ago.
Zach agrees to protect them, but he refuses to fall for Hadley again. But late nights working side by side give them a tempting glimpse at the life they could have had…and all the reasons he loved her come flooding back.
He’ll have to keep her safe.
Before he can convince her to stay.
| Title: | Just One Tease |
| Author: | Carly Phillips |
| Series: | The Kingston Family (Book 9) |
| Pages: | 194 |
| Genre(s): | Contemporary |
| Trope(s): | Second Chance Romance Temporary Relationship Close Proximity |
| Point of View: | Third Person, Past Tense, Dual Viewpoints (H&h) |
| Location: | New York, US |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | 14th November, 2023 |
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A sexy second chance romance
Zach is the last Dare sibling standing and so, I suppose, this might just be the last Dare book that we get from Carly Phillips! Say it isn’t so! If you are an avid reader of Carly Phillips, Zach is part of the large Dare family that crossed into the Kingston clan. While he’s appeared in previous books in the series, and mostly in the previous book, Just One Fling, you don’t have to have read any other books to enjoy and understand this story which completely stands alone.
We start off with Hadley, who after having to leave her life and enter the witness protection programme at 16, suddenly finds herself in the same position again. But this time she’s an adult and the only person she can think of to run to is the very same boy she ran out on all those years ago. Hadley is a great character – strong and confident, taking charge of her life and looking after her younger sister, even when she doesn’t quite feel as strong as she thinks she should be. I liked her a lot and was rooting for her.
Zach is a delicious hero. All strong and broody – still hung up on the girl that suddenly disappeared from his life when he was a teen. When she comes back, he’s stunned – and very angry. But he’s very self-aware and he listens and understands. From there, it definitely feels like he falls back in love first. Or at the very least realises he never fell out of love. I was surprised how much I loved him being the one who was wanting something more.
“…a book that cements Carly Phillips as one of my very favourite auto-buy authors.”
There was a time – a very short time – when there was no rekindling between our pair but that doesn’t last long. Zach and Hadley have a huge amount of chemistry and it was definitely a bit more adult this time around. Perfectly delicious sex scenes as you would expect from Carly Phillips’ stories.
We also have Hadley’s sister, Dani, as a secondary character. She was a teen and was a likeable character – if that’s the right word – but I was very glad that she went to stay at Zach’s parent’s house leaving Zach and Hadley together to figure things out. It would have been a very different, cock-blocking kind of story, had Dani been in the same household as our couple!
This was a fairly short story at just under 200 pages. But it whizzes by and I was hooked from the first to the last. There’s lots of different things going on but we never lose our focus from the romance and story of Zach and Hadley. They’re the main focus and I loved them as a couple. I especially loved the way everything was resolved. It was just felt a little different and in a way where both Zach and Hadley were the driving force of getting things sorted. It made me smile.
While this may be the last of the Dare books, we do get a teaser that we might be getting to know another family, the Sterlings. And it’s all tied up in a lovely epilogue of Zach and Hadley. I adore an epilogue! And I’m sure that we might get a few more Dare relatives coming out of the woodwork at some point in the future. And I’d be a-okay with that scenario. This is another sure-fire Dare winner and a book that cements Carly Phillips as one of my very favourite auto-buy authors. 5 stars.
*I received this book in exchange for my honest review*
Carly Phillips gives her readers Alphalicious heroes to swoon for and romance to set your heart on fire, and she loves everything about writing romance. She married her college sweetheart and lives in Purchase, NY along with her three crazy dogs: two wheaten terriers and a mutant Havanese, who are featured on her Facebook and Instagram. She has raised two incredible daughters who put up with having a mom as a romance author. Carly is the author of over fifty romances, and is a NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestseller. She loves social media and interacting with her readers. Want to keep up with Carly? Sign up for her newsletter and receive TWO FREE books at www.carlyphillips.com.
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The Kingston Family Series:
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