THE LOOK OF LOVE – Bella Andre
The Sullivan Series , Book 1
Harlequin MIRA
ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-1556-8
June 2013
Contemporary Romance

Napa Valley, California – Present Day

Chloe Peterson is not having a good day.  Driving in pouring rain through Napa Valley at night, a huge bruise on the side of her face, and bald tires on her car soon land her in the ditch.  Well, there's nothing to do but leave her totaled car and start walking to a town she hopes is ahead.  Just as she starts walking a car stops, and one of the most handsome men she's ever seen asks her if she needs help.  Chloe is determined not to ever need a man again; she wants to start a new life somewhere, doing something, but men definitely aren't anything she even wants to think about.  But after talking to Chase Sullivan, he seems to be a decent man, and when he says the guest house at his brother's winery is available, she decides maybe a night thinking over her options might be just what she needs.  But when he leads her to the master bedroom and finds the woman he had made plans to hook up with that night, she gets the first laugh in what seems like forever.  She is even more tickled when the woman thinks Chase might be looking for a threesome.  All she wants is to be in charge of her own life, unlike the past few years.

Chase Sullivan has just left the birthday party for his mother and is going to his eldest brother Marcus's winery to get ready for a photography shoot the next day.  As a world famous photographer, Chase has been all over the world taking pictures and living the single life.  Chase called one of Marcus's assistants to meet him at the guest house for a little date that evening; after all it has been a whole month since being with a woman.  Chase is one of six brothers and two sisters:  there are Marcus; Lori and Sophia, the twins; Zach, Gabe, Smith, and Ryan.  They all have unique jobs: an athlete, a fire fighter, a librarian, a dancer, an owner of a winery, the owner of several auto repair shops, and a movie star.  It didn't hurt that their mother used to be a model, and each of the siblings' good looks was inherited from her.  When Chase sees Chloe walking by the side of the road he stops, and after seeing the bruise on the side of her face, he talks her into coming to the guest house with him, promising he will leave her there and stay in the main house.  After the fiasco of meeting the woman he planned to hookup with, Chloe and he start a flirtation, and before the night is over Chase knows she is something special, and his life may have just taken a turn he never expected.

Over the coming days, Chloe fights herself over saying “thank you” and leaving as fast as she can to start a new life, and whether she should investigate why Chase pushes himself into her life without really pushing.  She knows she should do something about the attack on her, but still feels she was too stupid to see what was coming and won't take the steps needed to defend herself.  Chase and Chloe are hot between the sheets, but Chloe lets Chase know it's only a fling, and that is all; yet he lets all his emotions out every time they are together.

Bella Andre pens a story about a hurt and scared woman, beat down over the years and afraid to take charge of her life.  Chase Sullivan is as different as night and day to her; he has a large and loving family and is used to supporting and taking care of his brothers and sisters.  Chase's immediate and volatile attraction to Chloe is unexpected to him, and gradually he accepts that whatever he feels for her, it is forever, and has just put an end to his single life.  Now he just has to convince Chloe that letting him in her life doesn't mean Chloe has to give up her identity to him.  Does their quickly growing sexual relationship mean Chase has an opportunity to get Chloe to give them a chance?

Secondary characters are Chase's mother and seven brothers and sisters.  Also important to the story are all the models and assistants on Chase's photo shoot who accept Chloe without asking about the bruise on her face.  Chloe is definitely jealous of Chase's relationship with his family, and feels the loss of never having that relationship with anyone in her life.

THE LOOK OF LOVE is book one in The Sullivan Series and introduces the eight brothers and sisters and their mother and their close relationship after their father died.  Chase is the first to fall in love, and the tight control that takes over his urge to protect Chloe from every danger is easily seen by Chloe.  But thinking that she cannot ever feel anything for a man is gradually worn down by Chase.  She can't believe that he is everything she has fantasized about but never believed she would find.  Next is the story of the oldest brother, Marcus, in FROM THIS MOMENT ON the end of June.  Apparently the entire series has already been published in e-format, and this is the start of the paperback editions.  This will be a killer series featuring family, love, and hot sex, what more can you ask for?

Cece Johns