Carolina Dreaming by Virginia Kantra (Dare Island #5)
Released: February 2, 2016
Contemporary Romance
Berkley

Reviewed by Mandi

Jane is a successful bakery owner who survived an abusive marriage. Her ex is now in jail, and Jane and her seven-year old son Aidan live in the Outer Banks of North Carolina (a place dear to my own heart) and are pretty content. She lives with her father, a police officer, who helps take care of her son. Jane’s mother left the family years ago, which has always left a hole in her heart.

Jane worries about the bakery, especially when other coffee places similar to hers are starting to pop up. She makes amazing  baked goods, but being a single parent and business owner makes her worried. She decides to make her bakery a little bigger, and construction is about to start. Then a tall, bad boy walks in to town. Jane, always falling for the bad boy, takes one look at Gabe and her heart does a little pitter patter. Go get ’em girl.

Gabe is a former marine, a former truck driver, and a man who just got out of jail. He was accused of murdering someone, but after sitting in jail waiting for the trial, he was eventually acquitted. But it took a toll on him, and Gabe isn’t sure where is life is going. He is in North Carolina to hunt down his old marine buddy, Luke. Luke’s family has always treated Gabe as family (he didn’t have great parents) and Gabe comes back, ashamed of his past and needs to straighten his life out. He meets the town’s baker, who gives him free food. But Gabe wants  more than just her muffins…

When Jane first sees Gabe, she is a little wary…Gabe is a mess, with dirty clothes, unkept hair. His first night in Dare, he sleeps outside with a stray dog he finds (he ends up keeping the dog – I swoon).

When he came out of the restroom, Jane was behind the counter. She saw him and closed the cash drawer of the antique register. Ping.

“I was arrested for murder,” he drawled. “Not robbery.”

Her face flushed.

He was such a dickhead.

S’okay, Gabe…

Jane is loved in this town. Her father is very overprotective and takes an immediate disliking to Gabe. That’s fine by Gabe, he’s had to deal with worse lately. He knows his past and his current appearance don’t scream, take me home to meet the parents. But Gabe can’t keep Jane off his mind. He finds himself doing odd tasks for her, and eventually getting a construction job and working on her bakery remodel. Jane is drawn to him, and his kind gentlemanly ways. But Gabe doesn’t have a lot of self-confidence.

She was nice. And kind and soft and sweet and sexy as hell. According to Kate, she’d already been married to some scumball in prison, yet she’d managed to get out of that relationship and makes something of this place. Make something of herself.

He unlocked his jaw. “Too nice for me,” he said lightly.

Too good for me.

Oh Gabe. You are good enough!

Jane and Gabe eventually hook up and they start a very sexy romance.

“You dirty girl,” said Meg admiringly. “And then?”

“Then…we did it,” Jane said.

“In the bakery.”

Jane nodded, unable to suppress a small surge of pride.

“In the kitchen. On the prep table. And the counter.” A quiet little tingle at the memory. “And, um, on a chair.”

“I may faint.”

“And then…” Jane paused, building up to her climax. “He washed the dishes.“

It’s so cute.

Jane’s dad also has a side romance with another lady in town. While he is surly and cranky when it comes to Gabe, it was nice to see his softer side when a woman started to court him. I’m glad the author included it.

Grade: B

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