Review of The Shipwreck (Lavender Shores #4) by Rosalind Abel

 by Rosalind Abel

4.5 stars

Lamont Price’s romance novels have been a hit for the past few years. With his gorgeous looks, kind heart, and tender disposition, Lamont is the darling of Lavender Shores. He’s the guy everyone wants to be their best friend, the guy everyone wants to protect. But even with his success and the love of his family, Lamont feels hidden from those around him. Maybe the first step is attending a writing conference and revealing the man behind his pen name....

Tyler Dixon survives off his beauty and charm. From cover model to runway fashion to weekend arm candy, Tyler’s prices aren’t cheap. While his appearance is taking him places, his life as an artist has little more than flatlined. When an author hires him to appear as the face of her brand, Tyler thinks it’s just one more job. Little does he know another writer is going to steal all of his attention.

Escaping the conference to find some breathing room, Lamont runs into Tyler at a bar. Casual conversation leads to Lamont revealing his family’s obsession with helping him find love. It’s not a big deal to Tyler, who has played the role of boyfriend for other people in the past. Before either of them can rethink the situation, Tyler is in Lavender Shores meeting Lamont’s family. Though they’re only pretending to be in a relationship, the chemistry that ignites between them is anything but imaginary…

This is book 4 of the Lavender Shores series by Rosalind Abel, and again it is a complete success – we love these men and are so happy to finally see Lamont’s story come to life! This is your typical boyfriend-for-hire book, but this whimsical read goes so much further than that.

What did we love?

-          Boyfriend-for-hire: Seriously we think this might be one of our favorite tropes.  Yes, it is cliché, but somehow Rosalind Abel makes it seem new to us.  Maybe because it isn’t Lamont that actually proposes the idea to Tyler – rather the would-be-boyfriend convinces Lamont to hire him, a nice little spin on the traditional story.

-          Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry:  The shipwreck is sssoooooo sweet, so sexy, gawd, our teeth ache!  It is one of those feel-good, lovely-dovey , schmoopy love, we couldn’t  get enough.  The attraction between Tyler and Lamont sizzles from the start and only builds from there.

-          Angst: We hate the angst, but let us clarify – yes there is angst and there is a big ‘secret’ (isn’t there always) but what there is doesn’t define the book, and adds to the believability of the relationship.

-          Secondary Charaters: WE love when we get to visit with characters from other books.  And Lamont’s father is a total hoot!

The meh?

-          Secondary Characters: This isn’t really a negative, but thought we should mention. The Shipwreck is book #4, and yes, you can read it as a stand-alone, but there is quite a few secondary characters that might get you a bit confused.  Add in the family and town dynamic and there might be a bit of head scratching.

-          The ‘Secret:  Every book has this idea, the wrench, the misunderstanding, the miscommunication.  Now we aren’t going to spoil, but felt that if Tyler had shared his secret earlier in the book, it might have gone a different way.  Yes, totally vague-booking!  Let us just leave it at we didn’t think it was that big and might have changes the story if it was dealt with at the beginning.

The Shipwreck by Rosalind Abel is a great little story, and doesn’t rest on the success of the previous books in the series.  It is playful, quaint, and a truly enjoyable, read!