ALL WRAPPED UP – Kimberly Kincaid
A Pine Mountain Novel
Zebra
ISBN: 978-1-4201-3771-2
October 2015
Contemporary Romance

Pine Mountain, Pennsylvania – Present Day

Seven years ago Nick Brennan and Ava Mancuso had a hot summer fling that ended when she left town without saying goodbye. He looked for Ava, but finally gave up when he found no trace of her. Nick has settled in Pine Mountain working as a bartender, trying to hide away from his past pain and battling the scars—both physical and emotional—that have left their mark on him as a result of an injury. One day he happens upon a fire in town and rescues a little boy from a burning building, and suddenly Nick is a celebrity. Reporters are honing in on him, so imagine his surprise when Ava shows up at the bar looking for a story from him.

Ava had a difficult past due to alcoholic parents and has tried to run away from commitments. She's currently a reporter for a newspaper in the next town over from Pine Mountain and happened to be there the day Nick dramatically rescued the boy. She knows seeing her again will surprise him, but her boss has ordered her to get an exclusive interview with the local hero. Nick still has feelings of anger against Ava for what she did to him, but underneath it all is a man still attracted to her. After she convinces him that she will give him a chance to approve the article, he agrees. This leads to their talking and getting to know each other again…and rekindling the passion. She senses there is something deeper going on with him, and she's right. Will she learn the truth about what happened to make Nick a man who trusts very few people? Will Ava give in to her boss's demand that she write an even deeper expose on Nick?

Reunited—but neither is happy about it in ALL WRAPPED UP. Nick was a firefighter a few years ago after he and Ava split up, but after a tragedy and injury that emotionally scarred him, he is trying to avoid the past. He happened to be nearby when a fire broke out in a store in Pine Mountain. When he learned a boy was still trapped in the fire, he couldn't walk away—the fire department or police had yet to arrive. He saved the boy and is now suddenly a hero. He'd rather shy away from the publicity, but the press is hounding him. When he comes face to face with Ava in the bar…his past with her comes to the forefront. Why did she leave him without saying goodbye?

Ava and her brother didn't have a happy childhood and it left scars on her to never trust or to fall in love. When she found herself falling for Nick seven years ago, Ava let her past control her actions and she ran away. She's in a dead end job, and the only way to get a promotion to better stories is to score on her interview with Nick. But first she has to get past his hostility towards her. Slowly and surely, Nick and Ava tentatively come to a truce, but it soon leads to the realization that there is still something hot and passionate between them. Ava should resist, but Nick is just too darn irresistible.

Both Ava and Nick have to deal with painful pasts, but they soon come together to help heal each other in ALL WRAPPED UP. While their tale is emotional, it is also lighthearted as it is December and Christmas is approaching. Slowly and surely, the barriers they put up against the world come down and they're becoming all wrapped up in each other. A sensual and emotional story, I highly recommend ALL WRAPPED UP for your reading pleasure.

Patti Fischer