Review: What The Heart Wants

What the Heart Wants
by Deborah Grace Staley

Genre: Contemporary (Southern) Romance
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Cost: $12.78

What I Liked:
What this particular Angel Ridge book had going for it that none of the others really did is a good solid plot. Something that really keeps these two characters apart, and could keep them apart for good. Of course, part of contemporary romance is just having issues and baggage keep people apart, so I don't fault anyone for doing that. But this was a great plot.

It kept me on the edge of my seat, and the pages flipping quick. If you like a little suspense (but perhaps not full-blown romantic suspense) in your romance, this is the one of the three I would suggest.

Once again, Deborah Grace Staley wrote a fantastic hero in Grady, the town sherriff. And Candi/Lark, the heroine, really was the best of the three heroines of Staley's that I've read in this series. She was the one I'd most like to befriend, if she were real.

All in all, this book had a great plot, good characters, and a satisfying ending. The romance was well-written, the setting (as usual) was spot on, and the Angel Ridge series has now come to a close. Since this was my favorite of the three books, it's definitely the best note to end on.

Book Blurb:
Candi Heart is layers of mystery in a very appealing package. A lethal combination for Sheriff Grady Wallace. With a nickname like "Candi Heart" and a plan to open a frilly lingerie and perfume shop called Heart's Desire, Lark Hensley knows she may raise some eyebrows by moving to quiet little Angel Ridge, Tennessee. She hopes no one remembers that the women in her family were once accused of being seductive witches by townsfolk, and that decades ago her moonshiner grandpa committed a deadly crime. Lark has questions she can't answer and secrets she doesn't want to share, especially with Angel Ridge Sheriff Grady Wallace, even if Grady is hard to resist.

Grady falls hard and quick for the new mystery woman in town, though he's determined to find out what she's hiding. Angel Ridge's one-woman Welcome Committee, Dixie Ferguson, has taken a liking to Candi Heart, and Dixie's instincts about newcomers are rarely wrong. But maybe not this time . . . Grady never intended to follow the Wallace family tradition of lawmen, but when his father died young, rebellious Grady grew quickly into the role of staunch town defender. Candi Heart may not have meant to bring trouble to his town, but she has. Someone does remember her family. That someone wants her to leave . . . or to die. An unknown driver tries to run her down. Her shop is broken into. Rumors begin to swirl. Suddenly Grady is caught between his duty and his heart's desire for Candi Heart. -from Amazon.com.

~ Rebecca Lynn