Sweet and sexy story about redemption and exploration.

Jamie was a sweet guy who lost his Mom to heart disease when he was young, and then had to go through his own heart replacement surgery.  He lives with his sister and is going to school to become a professor.  Due to his lengthy illness, he’s never even been on a date.

Alessandro moved away from his foster family to try to grow up and find himself. However, after his foster-father died unexpectedly, he returned home so that he could help out his foster mom with the two kids that she was still raising.  Although Alessandro has never been in a real relationship before, he’s had plenty of experience with other guys. He also got into quite a bit of trouble as a youth, but he’s moved past that point.

These two made such a cute couple.  Due to their younger age, Alessandro’s checkered past, and both of their lack of experience with relationships, their issues around getting together certainly made sense.  There’s also a bit of a mystery involved with some attacks on the deli and against Jamie. As Alessandro was trying to show Jamie around, they had fun at the bar, which then led to an evening of exhibitionism and fooling around with other people.

Unfortunately, the story ended without the relationship being fully defined.  Although it appears they are on their way to a happily ever after, it will probably take the next book to fully explore the remaining issues between these two.  I will definitely be looking forward to reading it!

Originally reviewed for Swept Away By Romance. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.

Twenty-two-year-old Alessandro Silva knows that returning to tiny Perch Creek to help his foster-mother was the right thing to do. With no degree and a delinquent’s reputation, he’s lucky to have landed a job waiting tables. But not everyone is happy he’s back, and the only thing keeping his move home from being a total bust is his boss’s hot brother.

Jaime Winters spent most of his life watching the world go by, first from a series of hospitals and then from behind big stacks of textbooks. Studying is easier than facing the fact that years of heart failure means he’s still a virgin at twenty-three. Until the new waiter in his sister’s diner awakens desires he’d long ago given up on.

The last thing Alessandro wants is to fall for someone as fragile as Jaime. And Jaime may have a new heart, but he’s scared of what giving it to another person would mean. Their no-strings-attached, instructional approach to sex keeps emotion safely at bay, until a secret from Alessandro’s past forces them to confront their feelings in the present…