UNWRAPPED – Katie Lane
Hunk for the Holidays , Book 3
A Perfect 10
Forever
ISBN: 978-1455551897
October 2015
Contemporary Romance

Denver, Colorado – Present Day

It's Halloween and Jacqueline Maguire is a bride running away from another wedding, this time in the Colorado Rockies. Her crazy great aunt had stipulated in her will that Jacqueline must marry before the end of the year, and she's had problems finding the right man. As she's driving on the highway, a deer suddenly runs into the roadway. She swerves and barely misses it, but her car ends up smashed. She finds her way to a house, but when the door is opened, a vampire greets her. A very sexy, handsome one…

Patrick McPherson is not really a vampire, he just sported some fangs since it was Halloween and he figured if anyone knocked on his door it would be a single woman his matchmaking great aunt had sent. Instead, it is a beautiful woman wearing a wedding dress who claims her car crashed while she was returning from a party (hence the wedding outfit). Patrick is not thrilled his vacation is interrupted, but offers Jacqueline a bed for the night. There's a sizzling attraction between them, but neither acts on it. At least, not then. After she has a nightmare, she wakes up to find Patrick loaded and ready…

The next morning, help arrives for Jacqueline while Patrick is out getting more condoms and some breakfast, and she is gone when he returns. He doesn't see her again until she shows up a few weeks later…pregnant with his child.

UNWRAPPED is a hilarious tale right from the start as both battle against the insane attraction between them. Patrick has watched his siblings fall in love and get married, and no way is he going to be next despite his Aunt Weezie's valiant attempts. It would be his luck that the condom he used the night he met Jacqueline was old and faulty, so her ending up pregnant was a crapshoot he had a chance to lose. Jacqueline is a woman he can't figure out. She's part Southern charm, part stubborn, and one he can't help but lust about. She seems determined to keep him away from his child, and he is just as determined that he will be a part of its life.

Jacqueline and her sister, Bailey, became orphans and landed on their rich great aunt's doorstep as children. The great aunt wasn't happy to have them and one has to wonder if she put that stipulation in the will in order to make the girls' lives as miserable as they made hers? Their upbringing has led Jacqueline to fear being poor and unable to support herself, especially since being dirt poor isn't fun. This has led her on a quest to find a man who will agree to marry her for a year, yet she has bolted from the altar each time rather than take the final step. As Christmas approaches, her time is running out. Despite the fact that Patrick offers to marry her she turns him down.

Minor characters of note are Patrick's siblings; they've all found their mates and can't understand why their brother is being stubborn in not seeing how good Jacqueline is for him. Patrick's parents are experiencing life after retirement and the road is a tough one. Bailey is a hot shot attorney with no time to love and plenty of time to make things difficult for Patrick should he hurt her sister. Then there is Jacqueline's best friend Gerald, who had launched a new career as an event planner only to see her ruin the party he planned when she becomes a runaway bride.

In UNWRAPPED, there's an instant pop of chemistry between Jacqueline and Patrick that lead them to act upon it the night they met, but it also has them fearing the unknown…like falling in love. It's a tale that is as funny as it's sexy. The sparks between Patrick and Jacqueline are enough to start a fire, and when they hit the sheets, they're burning them up. UNWRAPPED will make readers smile and wonder how Jacqueline and Patrick can't see how well matched they are.

UNWRAPPED has a bit of everything for readers who love a sexy hot romance and makes my list of 2015's best romances and deserves the Perfect 10 I'm awarding it. Don't just take my word, but instead, grab your own copy today and put it at the top of your ‘to be read' pile.

Patti Fischer