Once a Charmer

Sharla Lovelace

Lyrical Shine

October 17, 2017

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Blurb:  Charmed, Texas, is a close-knit small town where people’s dreams of love can come true. That’s not to say that some people aren’t still waiting, and dreaming . . .
 
By day, Allie Greene stays busy with her family diner, and keeping tabs on her teenage daughter. What’s really exhausting Allie, however, are the nights. Not that she minds Bash Anderson unbuttoning her naughty desires—if only in her dreams. But what was he doing there at all? He’s her best friend, and a father figure to her girl. Talk about awkward. Talk about OMG-heat-and-fireworks that are flipping fifteen years of normal upside down. And now, when Allie needs him as a friend more than ever, logic doesn’t stand a chance against his lips and irresistible deep-blue eyes . . .
Sure, Bash has fantasized about Allie, but there’s no way he’d act on it. She and her daughter are the closest thing to family he’s ever known. With the exception of one drunken moment fifteen years ago, he and Allie have stayed on this side of the line—until that impulsive kiss of hers knocked him on his butt. That’s just one hurdle. Not only does Allie need Bash’s help to save her diner, but his apiary is in trouble, too. To stir the pot further, they’ve been roped into vying for the town’s Honey King and Queen contest—a sweet event that’s making them closer than ever. Something’s bound to come undone. Bash just hopes it’s not the friendship he’s worked so hard to hold on to.

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SASCHA DARLINGTON’S REVIEW

I don’t know how it’s possible, but I’m convinced that each installment of the Charmed, Texas series just gets better and better.

Sharla Lovelace has created in Once a Charmer just about my perfect romance. It’s funny. It’s magical. It’s sexy. It’s sweet. And, sometimes it’s irreverent.

Allie is a single mother coping with a teenager, determined that her daughter doesn’t make the same mistakes that she made. In just one day it seems like her world comes undone and to top it off, Allie doesn’t have the same close friendship with Bash that she used to have because of a kiss months ago. So the best friend who used to be her sounding board through previous crises isn’t there.

There are so many things I like about Once a Charmer. Both Allie and Bash seem real as does their relationship and their interactions with Allie’s daughter, Angel. It’s the realness in this relationship that makes everything seem more magical, even the magical seems more magical.

There are not one but two grand gestures. Bash is probably my favorite Charmed hero now even though I suspect the reader sees just a little less of him than previous heroes. He allows himself to be vulnerable to make these romantic gestures and speak from his heart. This former Marine has shown Allie that he is loyal to her over the years, being a friend when she needed one. And there’s a scene where he seems momentarily like James Bond in his suit and the imagined visual…well…sigh.

And, like the previous installments, there is magic. So much magic.

All I can say is: more please!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

 

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rating: 

5 out of 5 butterflies

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