Another winner for the very talented Rosalind James!
Shame the Devil is the 3rd installment of the Portland Devils series, and I am so excited to review this book! A beautifully written story, with scenic backdrops from Portland, OR to a small town in Idaho, a beautiful spa resort in New Mexico, to the plains of North Dakota. This beautiful love story will capture your imagination and the characters will capture your heart.
Harlan, a Portland Devils wide receiver, who looks like a Viking or a Norse god. His blond hair waves to his shoulders, and he is built like an Olympic champion body builder who is lightning fast. Harlan also owns a movie theater in a small town called White Horse and is known for being a playboy who is anything but serious. Harlan has a seriously sad childhood upbringing and no desire to dig into that part of his life. He's about to have his life shaken up a bit - in more ways than one.
Jennifer is a single mom with her fledgling daughter about to leave the nest for college. She's about to experience freedom for the first time as a single adult - as she had her daughter when she was very young, in her teens, and has known hardship, loss and challenges her whole life while making something of herself, providing for her daughter, and building a future. What she has never known is success in relationships - the romantic kind, anyway.
Jennifer and Harlan meet in unusual circumstances, and it seems like fate has put one another in their paths. They are immediately attracted to each other and decide to have a short fling that is only supposed to be a night of amazing adventure and then go their separate ways. Fate had other plans and these two wind up becoming very much wrapped up in each other's worlds. Neither one had any long term plans for a relationship, but somehow that is what might be forged out of a very deep case of like for one another. Jennifer challenges Harlan in ways he never dreamt of -and Harlan surprises Jennifer with his very serious and romantic side. Both have a lot of things to overcome, and a lot of things to learn, but we get to watch their kindling fire relationship unfold into a full-fledged inferno -and you hope to just not get burned sitting there on the edge hoping they make a go of it.
There is another couple's romantic beginning here as well, as Jennifer's young daughter and the younger friend and team-mate of Harlan - Owen- share an attraction and he knows she is still too young yet. Owen is starstruck by her dynamo energy and sparkly personality and is holding himself in check because she's barely 18 and not finished with high school yet. This one will wait a while to mature (hopefully Rosalind will give them their own book later down the road..we will have to be patient for these two to become more than friends).
I loved these characters, their maturity, their sense of humor and their energy between each other as they grew closer and realized they were falling in love, and could not just walk away from a fun one-time weekend. The two learn so many things through each other and learn to trust and open up with each other. They each get the rare gift of healing from their past hurts and developing something brand new and beautiful. I love how Rosalind showed how they grew close to each other over time, and developed the relationship, as nothing long-lasting ever really happens overnight.
Enjoyed this book very much and Looking forward to hearing more about Dyma and Owen.
Shame the Devil (Amazon)
