Ari Alexander just got the shock of his life. He's heir apparent to a glittering hotel empire. But the legacy comes with rumors of an explosive family scandal. The last thing the grieving widower needs is Natasha LeBlanc—a stunning consultant with attitude. So why is he so determined to uncover the sensual woman beneath Natasha's all-business facade?
Natasha was hired to protect the interests of the luxury resort chain. But Ari doesn't seem to realize she's on his side. Worse, the far-too-sexy brother is arousing desire she's never felt before, making it impossible to keep her professional distance. From Aspen to celebrity-studded Beverly Hills, Natasha and Ari are caught up in a breaking scandal that could end their five-star love affair before it begins…
Jacquelin Thomas is an award-winning, best selling author with 94 titles published. Her books have garnered several awards, including two EMMA awards, the Romance In Color Reviewers Award, Readers Choice Award and the Atlanta Choice Award in the Religious & Spiritual category. Jacquelin was a 2005 honoree at the Houston Black Film Festival for the movie adaptation of her novel, Hidden Blessings. She was the first recipient to receive the Writers Achievement Award at the North Carolina Book Festival in Winston-Salem. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times Magazine.
Jacquelin has published in the romance, women's fiction, inspirational and young adult genres. Her second book in the YA series, Divine Confidential was nominated for a 2008 NAACP Image Award.
Jacquelin is happily married to her best friend and is the proud mother of three children. Jacquelin and her family live in North Carolina.
I love this series of the Alexander's family. This is the first book, and I can wait to read the rest of the books. It was well written and each character was clearly define in detail depth.
Of course, our main character, Natasha, was such a huge part of this beautiful emotional love story. She had to faced the ultimate decision as to take money from Harold DePaul...to save her son, Joshua (paying his medical bills for his cancer). Harold, a traitor, who was blackmailing Natasha, wanted all the hotels that wasbleft to Ari's father, Malcolm, the man whom Natasha loves.😍
Anticipating reading more of this series after the strong foundation of this book. The readers were introduced to the characters and personalities. I enjoy reading about close families and the money did not define them.
The premise of this book was good, and when it started off I though OK I may like this one, which I sort of did, but there were just too many things that didn't work for this author. The storyline was good, and I didn't mind all the talk about business, but the romance just was not there. Ari & Natasha worked together, and always in their minds they thought about how attracted they were to each other, which was purely physical because there was really no dating or courtship between them. I felt like the parts of the story that tried to cater to the romance aspect just did not flow smoothly. For instance there would be mention of Ari & Natasha going to dinner, and the next scene you would expect to read about them on that date, but the next scene would skip to the next day. I don't know if maybe the editor cut a lot from this book, or if these scenes were just never written, but it made the story line very choppy. I did like the familial aspect between the Alexanders, and even Natasha's family as well. They both had good strong families and a good support system. There were no love scenes in this book, just the slight mention that they were going to make love, which simply is not enough for a romance book. This series could go on, but the author really needs to kick the romance up about 10 notches. I want to read more about the characters falling in love, and their path to love, and less about the miscellaneous.
Ari Alexander got the shock of his life when he found out that his father just inherited a hotel empire. Ari and his father head out to California to iron out some details with the lawyer. That is when he meets Natasha who is an consultant working on the behalf of someone wanting to buy the hotel empire from them. You can immediately see the attraction between the both of them but neither one of them want to give into that attraction. The more time that they spend together the more that want to explore that attraction but they will have some hurdles to get over in order to have a loving and lasting relationship. I thought this was a good read and I am looking forward to reading the other books in this series.
Let me start off by saying that prayer is wonderful!! I loved how Malcolm took the families thoughts about the accepting the hotel and as a family prayed on the decision. I loved how Natasha was strong. She never mentioned or complained about the problems her son had. She did what any mother would do in order to protect and help her son. I loved the immediate attraction between Natasha and Ari.
The Alexander family is a close knit family who owns and operates several small hotels. The are shocked when they travel to California where they learn they have inherited the largest hotel empire in the world.
I am looking for more. Awaiting the next installment. This book was more on the premise of building a relationship between a man that has lost his wife to tragedy and a woman that had her man walk out. The built a friendship on their specific interest in business and basketball.
I loved meeting the Alexander family in this first book in a new series. I also loved the electric push and pull between Ari and Natasha. All of the characters seemed real.