Can an unexplained breakup and ten years of heartache be cured by the romance - and endless buffets - of a tropical cruise?
When her sister's left at the altar, small town librarian Zoe Balis jumps at the chance to take the bride's unused ticket for the honeymoon cruise. But she didn't count on sharing a cabin with the man who broke her heart ten years ago!
Army medic Nate Hyatt never told Zoe goodbye when he enlisted - or the real reason why he dumped her on prom night after a year as high school sweethearts. And he never stopped dreaming about the girl he left behind. Could this voyage be his chance to fix the worst mistake he ever made? After all, a Caribbean cruise should be romantic...if he can convince her to move past ten years of bitterness and hurt.
Once aboard the luxury liner, Zoe befriends a bored Internet mogul with more heart than tact. Nate vents his problems to a ship's photographer battling PTSD. The four team up on an island hopping treasure hunt. The stakes grow higher with each of Zoe's mysterious brushes with death. They race to discover why she's a target and who's behind it, while still competing in the treasure hunt.
Zoe's never gotten over her first love, and is tempted to let Nate back into her life. But she already lost him once. She's not willing to risk loving a man whose life keeps him in a combat zone. Can Nate breach her defenses and suture her broken heart? Grab a deck chair and see if they survive the stormy relationship seas as they cruise toward love.
Excerpt
"Did you stop kissing me because you weren’t enjoying it? You see, I’ve dealt with the first time you rejected me, when you left all those years ago. There’s no need to rehash the past. But I don’t think I could bear you rejecting me a second time. So I have to know—did you not take me to bed the other night because I didn’t turn you on, or was it because I somehow wasn’t good enough at it?"
The world stood still while she waited for his answer. Zoe focused on the squawk of sea gulls and the muted slap of the surf at the base of the wall. The lyrical lilt of Spanish from the group of teenagers passing by. A low buzz which must be some exotic insect in the shrubbery along the path. Every sound in her immediate vicinity rang with absurd clarity—except the sound she waited on with bated breath—Nate’s reply.
"If you still don’t want me, just say so, damn it!" she burst out.
Was it anger that hardened the lines of his body? Disinterest? Annoyance? Zoe couldn’t get a read on him. Nate advanced slowly. She backed into the turret, the space tight and cramped even for her stature. Built for the far shorter men of an earlier century, Nate had to duck his head as he edged ever closer. His sheer presence commanded as much area as his physical body. Something, some emotion rolled off him in waves, shimmering like heat above asphalt on a summer day. Why couldn’t she tell what was going on in his head?
"The sky is blue," said Nate, his face separated from hers by only a breath.
Huh? "Is that a military thing? Are you talking in code?"
"The sun rises in the east. Play with fire and you’ll get burned. These are all absolute truths. Indisputable facts. Well, there’s one more absolute you need to file away in your mental card catalog."
Nate brought the lower half of his body so close Zoe felt the heat radiating from his legs. Despite the heat, her goose bumps had goose bumps. The anticipation of his touch brought her every sense to high alert. He raised his arms up, planted his hands on either side of her head to cage her in place. Then he tilted so his forehead bumped hers. Her field of vision narrowed to the indigo sea of his eyes, pupils flooding black in the shaded darkness of the narrow turret they shared.
"I want you, Zoe." He forced the words out in a heavy rasp. "I wanted you the day we met. You wore a red ribbon in your hair, dropped a stack of books on my foot, and apologized adorably for ten minutes. All I could think of was wrapping the ribbon around my hand to pull you in for a kiss. I wanted you the first time we kissed, on the bridge in a storm. One by one, I licked off every raindrop that clung to your skin. I wanted you when I saw you covered in mud last Friday. Wanted you badly enough to crawl right into the mud to be with you. I want you now, and I will always want you."
Zoe let her eyes flutter shut in preparation for a kiss. Such a heartfelt, utterly romantic speech could only end one way. Just as whipped cream hungered for a cherry, his words demanded to be topped off by a kiss. She didn’t care about the past. With a handful of sentences he’d put her insecurities to rest. Nate dazzled her, and she was ready for more.
What was taking him so long? From beneath her lashes she snuck a peek. No Nate. Hoping the knees he’d melted to jelly would hold her, Zoe scrambled out onto the dirt path. Twenty strides ahead, Nate bellowed at her over his shoulder. "Hurry up. We don’t want to miss the reading of the clue."
From confusion to relief with paper hearts dancing overhead...right back to confusion, all in less than five minutes. Zoe trudged after him with one thought uppermost in her mind—now what?
Professional Reviews
Vivid characters and setting, exceptional voice
If ever I've read a book and wanted to climb right in and hang with the characters, Christi Barth's CRUSING TOWARD LOVE is it. These folks are just FUN! A lighthearted, often laugh-out-loud contemporary romance that just might earn you a reputation as a serial guffawer (not sure if that's a word but us writers get to make stuff up, as long as we say it with authority), this book is a can't-miss read for anyone wanting a bit of an escape from the ordinary. Both in setting and in style, CRUISING will totally float your boat! (Do I get bonus-geek points for throwing in a boat cliché already? No? Oh, well, carry on.)
The story opens in the rather hectic pre-wedding moments surrounding the nuptials of Zoe's sister, Stella, who makes a convincing play for the Bridezilla title. After endless kowtowing to Stella's whims, Zoe hangs on to that final straw until the bride bothers to mention the best man--and Zoe's partner down the aisle--is Nate, the man who ten years ago left Zoe heartbroken without explanation. Sucking it up and putting on the perfect wedding face makes her squall inside, but it's only one day, and with only a few hundred witnesses to her misery it can't be so bad, can it?
Oh, it's worse.
In the classic tone of careful-what-you-wish-for, Zoe's prayers are answered when Nate delivers stunning news on the morning of the wedding. Now she won't have to face him for the big day, but little does she know they'll be forced to cozy up in the honeymoon suite. Of a cruise ship. Where there is absolutely no escape. (Insert evil cackle here).
By this point, there's little hope of not being thoroughly sucked in by this story. The characters have spectacular voices and positively beam with personality. Nate's leaving Zoe should put his chances of redemption in question, but you've just got to love him--and you do, long before you find out what the heck he was thinking. (Clearly Zoe is on the same page, as it's all she can do not to throw herself in his arms.) With their well-fueled animosity--one of the only things upon which they seem to agree--it's touch and go for a while there, each one likely entertaining thoughts of tossing the other overboard, but the sparks flying between these two characters quickly blaze into a of fire of titanic proportions.
Many (but not all, *nudge, nudge*) of the best CRUISING moments happen off the ship, when Zoe and Nate--who are stuck pretending to be honeymooners so they're not ousted for impersonation--are paired with shipmates Callie and Reed for a multi-destination treasure hunt. The lighthearted plot thickens when Zoe becomes the target of a number of questionable "accidents," these island excursions serving as much to develop relationships between characters as they do to add suspense. (Oh, and they're funny. Epic-funny.)
The best part of this story--aside of the searing heat radiating from any immediate radius of Zoe and Nate--is the banter between characters. I found myself watching them like I would a tennis match, my head not quite literally swiveling from one to the other over the screen of my Kindle. Their unique voices shone with an outstanding level of character development I don't often see--so much so that by the time I reached the last page I was a little sad to see them go.
But as to who went where, why, and with whom? You'll have to hit the aquamarine waters of CRUISING TO LOVE to discover that one for yourself. And I can't recommended highly enough that you do exactly that.
Romantic Suspense that it was easy to get lost in
Review by JoAnne: This was a romantic suspense e-book that was easy to get lost in. It grabbed my attention from the beginning and never let go. There was family angst, a lost love, romance, adventure, a little mystery and a cruise through the Caribbean with lots of vivid descriptions in each port you could visualize yourself there. I could also taste the fresh air along with the flow of champagne and fruity, rum drinks, smell the ocean breezes and see the blue of the water. Christi Barth really made you feel as if you were there and part of the action. There were some twists and turns that were unexpected and a few that were very predictable but the author took a long time getting there. The unexpected actions of the four main characters along with their adventures and the romances that were building kept my interest. I haven't read any books by this author before this one but look forward to reading her first two since this was the third book she has written. If you like romance I think you would enjoy this book. Give it a try.
Favorite Quote: "He held her tight enough to register the slam of her heartbeat against his breastbone. In triple time. His own heart began to race in tandem with hers."
"The lapels of his tux muffled her laughter. "You're not what I'd call an objective observer.""
"And you're too persuasive for your own good. Callie, you don't know what you're asking I'm no good for you. Right now I'm no good for anybody."
Blending Southern Gothic mystery romance, fantasy, theater, dance, music, and flashes of humor, tells the story of a pair of lovers in two separate time periods who find themselves battling an evil fifty years apart.
