Kindle Edition Amazon Laura Drake Books Category:  Romance Publisher: Harlequin - Superromance ISBN-10:  0373608632 Type: Fiction Pages: 384 Copyright: August 2014 ISBN-13: 9780373608638 Price: $3.82 (eBook) A contemporary romance. The second book in the small town series of Widow's Grove. Where she belongs?  Free spirit Priscilla Hart doesn't get tied down, to anyone or any place. Then she arrives in Widow's Grove and meets her half brother. The ten-year-old tough guy has no one else but her. So Priss stays—for now.  But her sexy new landlord, Adam Preston, is interfering with her ideas. He's everything Priss normally steers clear of—committed, stable and no rebellious urges in sight. As opposite as they are, each conversation, each touch, each kiss they share feels so right. Can a little gangster-wannabe, an irresistible "nice guy" and an odd assortment of new friends make Priss want to stay for good? Excerpt BILLY JOEL IS full of crap. Not only the good die young. The low, gray clouds seemed to settle on Priss’s shoulders as she walked between the graves, zipping her leather jacket against the chill air. Was it a sin to wear jeans to a funeral? Probably. But it was a long way from Boulder to Widow’s Grove, and Mona had overheated in Phoenix. If she’d stopped to change clothes, Priss would have been alone in this graveyard. As it was, there were only two other people in the cemetery on the right side of the winter-brown grass. They stood beside the subtly astro-turfed dirt pile. She stopped a few feet short of the open grave. Her mother was down there. Shouldn’t she feel something beyond tired? Hearing her heart thud in her ears, she listened for something else. Sadness maybe or loss? Regret? A little late for that. Old wounds don’t always heal—the deepest ones fester. By the time the hospital had tracked down Priss and called, her mother was gone. Better that way, really, for them both. “Come, Ignacio. It’s time to go.” A meager woman stood at the foot of the grave, both her face and raincoat set in the same generic authoritarian lines. Priss recognized a Social Worker when she saw one. Given her past, she should. A kid stood beside her, head down, face obscured by a black hoodie pulled out of shape by fists crammed into the pocket across the front. Crotch-sagging jeans puddled atop untied tennis shoes that might have, in a former life, been white. The woman touched his shoulder. The kid shrugged her off. One hand appeared from his pocket, and Priss got a flash of knuckles lettered with homemade tattoos before it disappeared again beneath the hood. She heard a muffled snuffle, and the boy swiped the sleeve across his face. Priss felt a pinch in her chest, somewhere in the vicinity of her heart. Shit. The hood flew back and for the first time, she stared into the defiant eyes of her half-brother. She stuffed her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. “I’m Priss, your—” “I know who you are.” Below the knit stocking cap, his almost delicate eyebrows drew together over narrowed eyes. His hostility slapped her hard. She took a step back.

Romantic Times
4 Stars!
When Priscilla Hart travels to Widow’s Grove for her mother’s funeral, she meets her half brother, Ignacio. Unable to live with the guilt of leaving Ignacio to fend for himself, Priss rents an apartment in town, gets a job, and decides to raise her brother. Determined to continue her drifting ways once the school year is over, Priss soon finds that her landlord, pharmacist Adam Preston, makes her want to put down roots and stick around. Drake offers a sweet story and characters with lovely chemistry. Priss and Adam’s attraction to each other feels believable. Nacho’s minor behavioral issues add some extra tension to the storyline.