Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
Near-bankrupt and under fire from a greedy corporation, our struggling family fairgrounds needs all the help it can get. When my Dad suffers a stress-related heart attack, his best friend Jamie comes to the rescue. He sells off his West Coast businesses and moves back home to Bangor to buy half-ownership of our business and put his shoulder to the wheel. Dad and Jamie are Carnies from way back. Together, they make plans to grow and expand our beloved Park well into the future. As soon as Jamie arrives, the first project Installing a giant Ferris Wheel, a brand-new ride that has to be operational in time for the 4th of July holiday...only a week away! But complications ensue when something malfunctions...and worse, when sparks fly between me and Jamie the second our gazes meet. Can an older man, younger woman, love-at-first-sight passion survive the pressure? Or will our sizzle fizzle before celebrations begin?
You’ll love this stand-alone, insta-everything, May- December holiday romance! No cheating, no cliff-hangers, and what else but a sweet and satisfying Happily Ever After!

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 2, 2019

21 people are currently reading
22 people want to read

About the author

Kate Gilead

23 books46 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
16 (53%)
4 stars
8 (26%)
3 stars
4 (13%)
2 stars
2 (6%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
3,211 reviews26 followers
July 6, 2019
This was a great 4th of July read by Kate Gilead. It has the perfect combination of steam, drama and suspense. Jamie and Sara have such intense chemistry. Jamie comes back to town when his best friend's family business runs into financial trouble. Sara's family owns an amusement park but thanks to a big commercial conglomerate they are in trouble. Add in her dad's previous heart attack, they are struggling. Her dad Carl and Jamie have been friends for years so Jamie was eager to help. Sara cannot help but crush on her dad's best friend and when they take a ride on the new Ferris wheel, she learns her feelings are not one-sided. They will obstacles to overcome like their age difference, her parents, and the possibility of their equipment being sabotaged. Jamie knows he wants Sara and he refuses to let anyone stand in his way. Will they be able to uncover the truth before someone gets hurt? And will her parents finally accept Jamie and Sara's relationship? Definitely recommend!

Profile Image for Kathleen Bradbury (Bulfon).
16.4k reviews217 followers
August 9, 2019
I really enjoyed this book! It was fast paced and flowed nicely. The turn of events were done beautifully and the ending was terrific!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Nate.
24.2k reviews19 followers
July 18, 2019
Loved Jamie & Sara's story. Great characters. Lots of hot chemistry. I'm voluntarily leaving an honest review for a copy of the book via booksprout.
1,187 reviews4 followers
April 14, 2020
When Sara’s Dad suffers a heart attack from the stress of a nearly bankrupt fair ground, his best friend, Jamie, comes to the rescue. Jamie sells off his businesses and buys half of failing grounds. They have big plans to turn the place around. The thing they don’t anticipate is the electricity between them.

This is a forbidden contemporary romance between a young woman and her dad’s best friend. This was a delightful, pull at your heart strings romance with some steamy hot scenes. The characters were interesting and the Sara and Jamie’s romance was not hot and sweet. The narrative was good and the storyline flowed along smoothly. They had to overcome many obstacles and had to fight for each other. If you like your romances spicy yet heartwarming, you will enjoy this one.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Ferbooks.
1,776 reviews13 followers
May 16, 2021
Fantastic

I am really enjoying this series. The books are short but they have everything a good story needs and a absolutely love the epilogues.
Profile Image for Emily Pennington.
20.8k reviews360 followers
July 5, 2019
Jamie Tyler was Sara dad’s best friend since childhood. Jamie had been responsible for her parents meeting each other back in college. The two of them were working on an almost-new Ferris wheel they bought from a traveling carnival and were getting it ready to add to their amusement park by the 4th of July. Sara actually met Jaime for the first time this week since she was still at college when he and her father became partners in their Funtimes Family Park business, a combination of old-fashioned fairgrounds, campground and amusement park. She had seen pictures of him, but he was really gorgeous in person. When he shook her hand, electricity raced up her arm – wow, fireworks!

When Jamie finds a piece of flattened metal in the Ferris wheel engine, covered with way more grease than made sense, he and Sara’s dad, Carl, wondered if this could be sabotage. But without proof, they just had to be careful. Sara needed some publicity pictures, so Jamie agreed to ride to the top with her since they got the Ferris wheel working. He told her that, since they were supposed to be a couple, they should get the pictures that way, and include the great view. Sara would use the pictures on the website and for brochures. They had fun and had a chance to talk and get to know each other more personally. Sara was very attracted to him. He was a confident, strong, intense masculine presence that brought out a feminine response from her! He seemed comfortable, gazing into her eyes, smiling and looking at her in that way that made her catch her breath. She squeezes into his lap for one more “scared” shot, but seeing his response, she puts her hands on his face and kisses him!

Sara’s dad calls to ask if they are finished so he can call it a night. The wheel starts up, but a quarter of the way down, it locks up! Carl rushes to the motor again and Jamie sees him pull something else out as he wipes away the grease and curses. They decide to dismantle the motor the next day, suspecting again that metal pieces were deliberately mixed into the dirty grease and smeared on the parts. That’s exactly what they discovered – and they had the entire dismantling session filmed by a videographer as proof of their due diligence. They decided to clean the other motor too, and then call the safety inspector to report their suspicions. Who was trying to put them out of business, risking innocent people getting hurt? Until they found the culprit, Sara and Jamie would keep their developing relationship to themselves. Her dad had enough to worry about before they discussed this with her parents.

This was a beautiful book, done in such a way that very few will squirm over age difference. Their caring grew slowly as each saw in the other what they truly wanted in a partner. The characters all had love and respect for each other, and it showed in how they interacted. The story line was strong and well-paced, with the mystery of the potential sabotage keeping the reader intrigued. Grab your copy and enjoy this book – you’ll be glad that you did!
11.6k reviews49 followers
August 24, 2019
Fireworks in the sky on the Fourth of July and on the ground

There are definite Fireworks going off all over the place in this book, both in the sky to celebrate July 4th and between Jamie and Sara.
Jamie is the best friend of Sara's father, Carl. Carl owns and runs Funtimes Family Park but it is in trouble financially. So Jamie comes back to help out, thus the H is born. He buys half of the business and then starts to work on updating it to make it profitable again.
Sara comes home during the her summer break from college and also gets to work with the business helping out where she can. She and Jamie work together to get a new ferris wheel installed at the park before the July 4th celebrations. But there is something wrong as it appears someone is trying to sabotage the new ride and the park. The sparks fly between Jamie and Sara as they work together and begin a secret relationship as there are too many other things happening at the park. But what starts in secret does not stay a secret forever and eventually Jamie and Sara have to tell Carl about their relationship.

This was an interesting story in the older man / younger woman romance with the addition of Dad's friend and some mystery. There were some thing that I did not connect with fully, including the two main characters at times. However, I still completed reading Fireworks and overall thought it was good.

I received a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. My opinions are all my own.
147 reviews5 followers
July 6, 2019
This is a tale of a oft used trope gone terribly wrong.  I received an ARC of the book, so I won't include any spelling/grammar errors in my review as I expect them to be fixed before publication.

Full disclosure; I love the older man/ younger woman trope.  I fully expected to enjoy this book, but it was just so disappointing.

Jamie, the hero, is the best friend of Sara's dad.  He is a man in his 40's but speaks like a teenager.  He also waffled in his decisions; which I hate in a romantic lead.  Sara, the heroine, is slightly better, but there's really no spark and the dialogue is not great.

There's actually a good story in here with the carnival setting and the romance, but it's so poorly executed.  The story fell flat.

This is a safe read with no OW/OM drama and no cheating.  There is explicit language and sex so be warned if that offends you.

I received an ARC from Booksprout in exchange for my unbiased review.
4,565 reviews19 followers
July 5, 2019
5 scorching hot stars. Oh my God. That was one intense story. Jamie makes me swoon. He is very intense guy. Jamie is Sara's father's friend. He is 43 years old and divorce. He and her father are working on the amusement park that they plan to open on Fourth of July. But they come across a lot of troubles. Sara is 20 years old and has known Jamie a long time. And she had always liked him, but he was a married man. One thing leads to another and they admit they have feelings for each other. However, they cannot do anything until Jamie and Sara's father figure out what is going on.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Ashleigh.
3,411 reviews1 follower
August 9, 2019
This is a wonderful older man, younger woman romance!
I have really enjoyed reading this book, the author did such a great job developing the characters, that I feel like I really know them, and not just the major two characters, but the minor ones too.
Also, it caused me to lose quite a bit of sleep while I was reading it, because it was so hard to put down at night.

What you need to know: this book contains no cheating, no cliff-hangers and a HEA.

I received a free copy of this book. This review was posted voluntarily.
Profile Image for JudyAnnLovesBooks.
2,126 reviews77 followers
July 12, 2019
What happened on the Ferris Wheel should stay on the Ferris Wheel, but of course it doesn’t.....SWOON!! Love the heat between Jamie and Sara. This is an adorable older man/younger woman, dad’s best friend love story with a beautiful HEA. Just the right length to get to know all the characters and to read in one sitting like I did.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for lissyloo.
533 reviews2 followers
July 5, 2019
This is a great book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It is an older man, younger women, Dad's best friend story. It is hot and steamy and a page turner. I couldn’t put it down. Their love moved a little faster reality, but who needs reality.

I received a free ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Amber.
159 reviews5 followers
July 5, 2019
This quick read is a love story with a happily ever after guaranteed! How fast is to fast to fall in love? Does age make a difference? How will the family handle it when it's their friend? Read this book to find out exactly how it all works out.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
6,577 reviews35 followers
July 11, 2019
An entertaining, captivating, and interesting fast pace page turner! It is a wonderfully written older man younger woman romance with intriguing characters; the chemistry between them is off the charts. Definitely recommended.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
488 reviews1 follower
July 5, 2019
This is a good read, not a great one. The setting is unique, from my perspective, the storyline is good too. My only wish is that the sex scenes were steamier, and the story itself were beefier.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
1,713 reviews5 followers
July 6, 2019
This book was great. The storyline was spot on and was well executed. The friendship and family bond they shared was strong. I really enjoyed reading this book. The ending was sweet.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Profile Image for Rose.
2,725 reviews26 followers
November 25, 2019
Definitely has Fireworks! Great story about a daughter and her dad's best friend that lived across the country but came to help out her dad in his time of need. Sara and Jamie (James) are great together and I really enjoyed reading their tale. Great characters and story. Must read!
681 reviews
July 14, 2019
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A brilliantly written older man younger woman romance by this amazing author with excellent characters and a happy ending guaranteed.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.