Taking The Heat by Victoria Dahl
Series: Jackson: Girls’ Night Out #3
Published by Harlequin
Publish Date: July 28, 2015
Source: Book – Publisher, Audiobook – Bought
Find it here: Goodreads / Amazon
Passion this hot can’t be faked…
All revved up for bright lights and steamy nights, writer Veronica Chandler chased her dreams to New York City. When she hit a dead end, reality sent her back home to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Saving her pride and her new gig—writing a relationship advice column!—requires some faking. No one can know the truth about her big-city flop or her nonexistent sex life. But the town’s irresistibly rugged librarian is determined to figure her out… and give her hands-on lessons in every wicked thing she wants to know.
Gabe MacKenzie’s heart might be in Wyoming, but secretly his future’s tied up in his family’s Manhattan legacy. Getting down and dirty with Veronica is supposed to give him a few memorable nights—not complicate his plans. But the thing about heat this scorching is there’s just no going back… and it might be too hot for either of them to take. (Goodreads)
Gabe is the new librarian in town. He only signed a one-year contract with the library, planning to live it up in the mountains while he can, before he has to head back to New York City to take over his part of his family’s business.
Gabe meets Veronica while out one night. She doesn’t make the best first impression on him, but she quickly grows on him. She eventually shares her secrets with Gabe, who decides that he can help her. Gabe doesn’t count on falling for her in the process and having to decide what to do about working with his family in New York (Veronica hates it there) or staying in Wyoming where Veronica is happy.
You guys know that I love Victoria Dahl because of her take-charge, empowered, independent-women leading characters, right?
(Also I’m not sure I could have done what she did. I’m not that great at faking things. I wouldn’t be able to keep the secrets long enough.)
Veronica’s character is not super strong, but she isn’t weak either. She has just had different life experiences than the other women in her circle of friends.
Gabe’s character is also a little different than the other guys in this series. Yes, he’s outdoorsy and rugged like the others, but he doesn’t have a “manly” job like the rest of them do. Also, Gabe is sensitive. Gabe felt very nerdy-is-sexy because of how he is written and I really liked that.
Veronica and Gabe go together well. They made me laugh, which is very true to a Victoria Dahl story. I think that the comic relief is particularly great in this book because things could have gotten a little awkward with certain parts of the story. Their ease with one another made things much better.
As usual, I love the setting. And I love the cameos from the secondary friends. I love how their romance grew and how they only had eyes for one another. I ended up loving this book and will likely reread/relisten to it even though it isn’t my favorite from the series.
I recommend Taking The Heat by Victoria Dahl to readers that enjoy adult contemporary romance with great chemistry in the romance and some humor.
Audiobook Notes: The audiobook format of Taking The Heat by Victoria Dahl is published by RecordedBooks and is 11 hours and 8 minutes, Unabridged. It is narrated by Celeste Ciulla, who narrated the other books in this series. I’ve enjoyed listening to this series on audiobook and I’m glad that I bought these audios so I can re-listen. I plan to. They aren’t my very favorite audiobooks, but I would certainly recommend them to first readers or for rereads.
Romance: No triangle.
Great Setting: Jackson, Wyoming
Strong female characters
The Jackson: Girls’ Night Out Series:
About Asheley
Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.
You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.
Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!
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