Review: Heat Wave by Karina Halle

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Standalone
Release: November 16, 2016
Length: 382 pages

They say when life closes one door, another one opens.
This door happens to lead to paradise.
And a man I can never, ever have.
~~~
Still grieving the loss of her sister who died two years ago, the last thing Veronica "Ronnie" Locke needed was to lose her job at one of Chicago’s finest restaurants and have to move back in with her parents. So when a window of opportunity opens for her – running a kitchen at a small Hawaiian hotel – she’d be crazy not to take it.

The only problem is, the man running the hotel drives her crazy:
Logan Shephard.
It doesn’t matter that he’s got dark brown eyes, a tall, muscular build that’s sculpted from daily surfing sessions, and a deep Australian accent that makes your toes curl.
What does matter is that he’s a grump.
Kind of an asshole, too.
And gets under Ronnie’s skin like no one else.

But the more time Ronnie spends on the island of Kauai, falling in love with the lush land and its carefree lifestyle, the closer she gets to Logan. And the closer she gets to Logan, the more she realizes she may have pegged him all wrong. Maybe it’s the hot, steamy jungles or the invigorating ocean air, but soon their relationship becomes utterly intoxicating.

There’s just one major catch.

The two of them together would incite a scandal neither Ronnie, nor her family, would ever recover from.

Forbidden, Illicit, off-limits – sometimes the heat is worth surrendering to, even if you get burned.

Note: this is a standalone novel, unrelated to any previous books. It does NOT contain cheating of any kind.

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My Review

I have to start this off by saying that I ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY HATED VERONICA'S MOM!! Hated her soooooooo much!! Hate anyone who has that kind of ugliness in their soul and puts it on their children!!

Ok. Rant over.

One thing that is pretty much guaranteed when picking up a book from Karina Halle is feels. This woman knows how to write angst, create a conflict of emotions, and pull on those good ol' heart strings.

"I saw him first."

I knew when I read that line that I was going to be in for one hell of a ride. And I was. I new that my emotions were going to get played with. And they were. But that's okay because Logan and Veronica's story needed to do that to me. It was heartbreaking, eye-opening, realistic and beautiful.

I'm being intentionally vague because I really don't want to give away any of the plot. Let's just say that Logan and Veronica's relationship could be seen as taboo by many, but not by me. The author gave these characters so much history and so much heart that I couldn't help but fall in love with their story. I could never see their love as wrong.

There was an underlying theme of "ohana" (Hawaiian for "family") and how you can pick and choose who to give that inclusive title to. There was also the concept of loving someone even if you don't like them and accepting it and moving on.

This story was more than a romantic love story. It was almost like it was about the different stages of grief. There was denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance, family, friends who become family, and about Logan and Veronica allowing themselves a second chance at their hard-fought happiness.

An ARC was generously provided in exchange for an honest review