Sugar Creek by Toni Blake

Toni Blake
Contemporary Romance
Pub. Date: May 2010
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 384pp
Series: Destiny, Ohio Series, #2
ISBN-13: 9780061765797
ISBN: 0061765791

Welcome to Destiny, Ohio - where two families have been at odds as long as anyone in town can remember...
Rachel Farris returned to her childhood home with one mission in mind: get Mike Romo out of her family's apple orchard business and out of the their lives. But hard-nosed and totally hot Mike, who happens to be the law in Destiny, is convinced the Farris clan stole the land from his family fifty years ago and he's not backing down. Even when shapely trouble shows up in a pair of designer blue jeans. However, neither the hunky cop nor the sexy prodigal hometown girl can anticipate the electricity that heats things up whenever they're together - adding new sizzle to an on going feud that's raged for generations, and soon putting both their hearts at risk.

Rachel had a life in big city and there is a reason why she left her hometown at Destiny, Ohio to live in Chicago. Never want anyone to know why, she try to stay away from visiting Destiny. But when her grandmother Edna claimed that her knee were injury, she wanted her home to help her with apple orchard business. And because her advertising career has run into a snag, she decided to come home.

Rachel was driving home toward Destiny but was stopped by a cop for speeding. She tried to get out of getting ticket by claiming that her frail, ailing grandmother is expecting her and she didn't realized she was speeding. When they discover that they were each other enemies, known to their family feud that happen generation ago, Mike promise not to give in to what Rachel want. And neither would she. But the two kept 'accidental' seeing each other so much that it's when their love-hate relationship begin to grow, their attraction built up and neither couldn't denied it after fighting it for awhile. And they finally 'got it out of each other system'. One sex lead to another until their growing relationship goes deeper than they would have want it to be. Pretty soon Rachel knew that she would have to head home to Chicago. But that mean leaving the life she had in Destiny and saying goodbye to her friends

My thought:
Let me start by saying that I love to read story with small town setting. And where hero/heroine come home for whatever the reason is, and then meet their childhood crush/enemy again and then fall in love. Toni Blake made me feel for the characters and fall in love with them, enough for me to want them to be happy. I love that even when Mike is gruff and mean, he does have his weakness and vulnerable side. When he began to open his painful past to Rachel, he share with her the heavy guilt hanging over him that he held for so long and never told anyone. It was very emotionally hard for him to talk about it but yet, he was able to when he with Rachel. I also like that he treated her like the way he does with everyone and not different, even when she is his girl. I love it when Mike and Rachel are together, one minute they banter and the next minute they are sizzling the pages! Rachel is said to be the wild teen but I didn't see much of that in her now. However she is the responsible one and take her job seriously. Nothing about Rachel that I hate. She just seem to be the nice girl I like to be friend with. I also adore Edna, she speak whatever on her mind and had me chuckling few times.

The history between the Farris and the Romo feud fifty years ago was an interesting story told by Rachel's grandmother Edna, who I adore. Once I learn from the story about the history of the Romo land and Farris apple orchard business, I understood Edna more and it made me cheers for her. The feuding between the two families kinda remind me of the Romeo and Juliet tale. I didn't realized this until Edna finish the back story of feud. But it is interesting how its turn out.

I love that we get to see recurring characters. They were intriguing enough for me to want to know whose story will be next. I love Toni Blake, not only because she made me love each characters but her writing style is well written in a way that grab me and hold my interested to keep reading and even break into smiles. I also love the cover art of this book. Very romantic setting on the cover, and it is what I felt most of the time while I was reading this book.

Sugar Creek is sizzling sensuality, sexy, sweet, heartwarming, engaging book. I'm looking forward to read Whisper Falls book #3 next! And the rest of the upcoming installment from Destiny series as well!

Grade: 5 stars