DIRTY DANCING AT DEVIL'S LEAP – Julie Anne Long
A Hellcat Canyon Novel , Book 3
Avon Books
ISBN: 978-0-06267288-9
September 2017
Contemporary Romance

Hellcat Canyon, California, the Present

After getting her heart broken by her girlhood companion and crush, Avalon Harwood left her small hometown for the big city. Ten years later, she's made a great success of her life in San Francisco as the inspiration and part owner of a wildly popular video game. She has a steady boyfriend in her partner—they live together—but one day she walks in, only to see something that breaks her heart again. Without even packing a bag, she gets in her car and heads for her family home and parents in Hellcat Canyon.

Once there, Avalon learns that the summer house of the once billionaire Dixon Coltrane, who is currently in prison for illegal dealings, is being auctioned the next day. She and her brother spent many happy summers playing with the man's son on the old Victorian mansion's property that included Devil's Leap, the swimming hole they played in.

Avalon is determined to buy Devil's Leap. She scrapes up enough of her savings to make the highest bid. She wins! As she visits her new property and meets the hot caretaker, she recognizes him as Maximillian Coltrane, the one who broke her young heart. And Mac? He's none too pleased that the woman who out bid him on the house is the girl who fled him without a word.

Both Avalon and Mac have very mixed feelings at the meeting. Feelings that can only get worse when she won't sell the house to him and she learns that the part of the land that has Devil's Leap where they played is his. It didn't come with the house.

The house needs lots of work, so the two need each other. The same time they work together, however, they are in a battle to undermine one another. Ms. Long writes an amusing and affecting relationship tale with several other characters of note (some with four legs and some with none), including some endearing little girls.

DIRTY DANCING AT DEVIL'S LEAP digs deep into the characters as it teases with their stories. An excellent small town romance.

Jane Bowers