Valley of Fire - Janelle Taylor

Brandy Alexander, a successful author, finds herself stranded in the Las Vegas desert, the aptly named 'Valley of Fire'. As she succumbs to heatstroke along comes the handsome, wealthy Steven Winngate to rescue her. Adamant that no-one knows, including Brandy, who her actual rescuer is, he ensures the state police tell her that Lance Renynolds is the one who literally ran into her car.

Making a recovery, Brandy also gives an alias of Kathy Alexander - both Brandy and Steve have enough trouble with being a prolific writer and businessman respectively without unwarranted attention. However, the doctor treating Brandy knows who she is and makes advances especially knowing she is taken with the engimatic Lance. He sows the seeds of doubt in Lance/Steven's mind saying that Kathy/Brandy is researching her latest character on Steven and that she has no real interest in him.

Suspicion and doubts rage as they both struggle with their feelings for each other. Brandy wants to meet a man who doesn't think she's one of her heroines and Steven wants a woman who will love him - not his money and status. Will they be able to get past their fears and allows themselves to fall in love?

It's a 'typical' love story fraught with the will they won't they get it together. It's rife with sexual tension as well as misunderstandings. The characters are complex and the formula of another rival woman and man adds to the intrigue. The author is quite descriptive and the witty, sometimes caustic conversations between the main characters make for very entertaining reading.

Overall I enjoyed this story. Once I started to read I didn't stop and ended up reading it in a day. I felt that a few of the lengthy chats could have been cut down as it seemed too wordy. And at times Steven was a little too ideal in terms of wealth and looks to be real and Brandy a little too naive. However, the romance certainly bubbles away on every page and for all those die hard romantics it's worth a read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley on behalf of Bell Bridge Books. The opinions expressed are my own and I am not required to give a positive review.