TLC Book Tours Book Review: Bungalow Nights

Author: Christie Ridgway
Title: Bungalow Nights
Publisher: HQN
Publish Date: Feb 26, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours & the publisher

Book Blurb: 

Return to USA TODAY bestselling author Christie Ridgway’s Crescent Cove, California, where the magic of summer can last forever… Combat medic Vance Smith made a promise to a fallen officer: to treat the man’s young daughter to an idyllic vacation at Beach House No. 9. One month, some sun and surf, a “helmet list” of activities to check off and Vance will move on. But the “little girl” he’s expecting turns out to be a full-grown woman. With silky hair, big brown eyes and smelling sweetly of the cupcakes she makes for her mobile bakery, Layla Parker is irresistible. And Vance shouldn’t lay a finger on her. Honor-and one heck of a scarred heart-says so.
To Layla, Vance is a hero who was injured trying to save her father’s life. She intends to spend their month of lazy days and warm nights taking very good care of the gorgeous soldier-inside and out…

Review: Bungalow Nights is the second book in Christie Ridgway's Crescent Cove trilogy. It is a stand alone novel so don't worry about missing out on anything from the first book.

The primary love story is Vance and Layla, but Vance has a cousin Baxter who had a fling with Addy 6 years ago, and when they find each other, things start to spark and then there's Fritz, the oldest brother, who is really a jerk, no matter how much they try to sugar coat things. Any brother that would  go to bed with his brother's ex-girlfriend, and ex-girlfriend that dumped him in a Dear John letter just isn't a good brother in my book. There's a code here, I'm sure.

So there's quite a few stories going on here and there are some characters you meet, like Skye, who you'll get to know better in the next book.

I absolutely loved the scenes on Picnic Day with Vance and his family. But most of all I love Layla and her food truck, Karma Cupcakes. I spent most of the time reading about the cupcakes with a growling stomach. I really want to try one or two of the recipes included in the back of the book, even though I'm not a huge cupcake person.

I really enjoyed this book and the two romances that were intertwined in the story, especially since the romances involved family members. I also liked the the mystery that was part of Addy's research, even though I felt things got explained away a little to easily.

The family dynamic is the one thing that while it provided some great subplots, it kept Vance and Layla's story from really going the distance. I wanted more of the Helmet List and less of the other stuff going around. You never really knew what it was about Vance that attracted Layla to him. At least with Baxter and Addy you had a past fling. That's what really kept this book from being fantastic.

Definitely a good HEA story to pass a quiet afternoon.

I can't wait to read the other books.

Rating: 4 flowers

About Christie Ridgway An avid reader, Christie began writing romances in the fifth grade when she wrote stories starring her teen idol (and herself as the heroine, of course!). These stories remain intact, in a locked box with a mercifully missing key.

After college as an English major, she became a technical writer in the computer field for a number of years. That led her into computer programming, a geeky profession that was not-so-surprisingly satisfying for the daughter and sister of accountants. Christie married her college sweetheart and gave up full-time programming when her first son was born. A visit from an old friend prompted her to take up writing again, and she joined her local chapter of Romance Writers of America two weeks later.

Thanks to the camaraderie and support she found there, Christie persevered, making her first sale to Harlequin. When another son joined her family, she continued to write, juggling motherhood, wifehood and the writing life. She makes her home in Southern California, doing work that she loves thanks to the support of her math-teacher husband and their two sons.

If Christie is not at her computer writing contemporary romances, she is washing clothes or folding clothes or washing some more clothes or folding yet another load of clothes. She does a lot of laundry due to active sons, as well as a husband who likes to surf, bike and fix things!

While the yellow Labrador retriever, the cat, the fish and the tortoise do not add to the laundry piles, they do add to the excitement. As often as possible, though, Christie escapes it all with — what else? — a romance.

You can keep in touch with Christie’s laundry-filled life at christieridgway.com.