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New Man in Town #3
Irresistible Stranger
Twenty years ago, Lily Campbell's parents died in a mysterious fire. Now she's back for the truth…but nobody in her sleepy hometown wants to talk about that night. And when the fires start up again, it's clear that somebody doesn't want her to stay.
Griff Branchard has perfected his bad-boy persona. But the moment he sees Lily, nothing matters as much as getting close to her. Although rumors about her are flying around town, he just can't believe such a sweet woman could be a troublemaker…But trouble? She's deep in it. And he's going to make sure that the only heat she feels is from the flames of desire.
Griff Branchard has perfected his bad-boy persona. But the moment he sees Lily, nothing matters as much as getting close to her. Although rumors about her are flying around town, he just can't believe such a sweet woman could be a troublemaker…But trouble? She's deep in it. And he's going to make sure that the only heat she feels is from the flames of desire.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
4 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Greene
277 books165 followersWinner of over 15 national awards, including the RWA Hall of Fame and the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award, Jennifer Greene weaves real issues, warm characters common-life humor, and page-turning romance and suspense into her stories.
Jennifer sold her first book in 1980, and since then has sold over 85 books in the contemporary romance genre. She won her first professional writing award from RWA, a “Silver Medallion” in 1984, followed by over 20 nominations and awards —including achieving RWA’s HALL OF FAME status, and the most coveted Nora Roberts LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
Jennifer has regularly been on a variety of bestseller lists, and has written for Harlequin, Avon, Berkley and Dell. Her books have sold all over the world in over 20 languages. She also accumulated a number of pseudonyms—most recognizably JENNIFER GREENE, but also JEANNE GRANT and JESSICA MASSEY.
She was born in Michigan, started writing stories in 7th grade, and graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in English and Psychology. The University honored her with their “Lantern Night Award”, a tradition developed to honor fifty outstanding women graduates each year. Exploring issues and concerns for women today is what first motivated her to write, and she has long been an enthusiastic and active supporter of women’s fiction, which she believes is an unbeatable way to reach out and support other women.
Jennifer lives in Michigan, just a short distance from Lake Michigan, with her husband Lar.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)romance
aka Jeanne Grant
Jennifer sold her first book in 1980, and since then has sold over 85 books in the contemporary romance genre. She won her first professional writing award from RWA, a “Silver Medallion” in 1984, followed by over 20 nominations and awards —including achieving RWA’s HALL OF FAME status, and the most coveted Nora Roberts LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
Jennifer has regularly been on a variety of bestseller lists, and has written for Harlequin, Avon, Berkley and Dell. Her books have sold all over the world in over 20 languages. She also accumulated a number of pseudonyms—most recognizably JENNIFER GREENE, but also JEANNE GRANT and JESSICA MASSEY.
She was born in Michigan, started writing stories in 7th grade, and graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in English and Psychology. The University honored her with their “Lantern Night Award”, a tradition developed to honor fifty outstanding women graduates each year. Exploring issues and concerns for women today is what first motivated her to write, and she has long been an enthusiastic and active supporter of women’s fiction, which she believes is an unbeatable way to reach out and support other women.
Jennifer lives in Michigan, just a short distance from Lake Michigan, with her husband Lar.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)romance
aka Jeanne Grant
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 10, 2014
Good suspense and a sweet romance. Lily has come back to Pecan Valley to get some questions about her parents' deaths answered. Her father was accused of setting the fire that killed them because he was depressed over losing his job. She and her sisters were then separated and adopted by families in different states. The three of them have agreed that that doesn't sound like their father at all and Lily is determined to get to the truth.
When she gets to town one of the first people she meets is Griff, owner of the local ice cream parlor. Griff has the reputation of being something of a bad boy, never committing and being rather lazy. She understands what they see, but she sees something else when she looks at him. She sees a man playing a part while he cares intensely about the things that matter to him. He looks like he's lazing about his ice cream parlor, dabbling in experimenting with flavors, but she sees the way he's given the kids in town a safe place to hang out. She's especially impressed with the interest he has taken in some of the kids who are victims of abuse.
Griff sees a pretty young woman who is looking for answers to the mystery of her parents' death. He's drawn to her like he's never been drawn to anyone else. Since she's arrived in town there have been several fires set and the people in town are looking at her like she's the one doing it. He knows she isn't, after all, she's been with him during much of her time there. But he's afraid that she could be in danger from whoever is responsible. I loved seeing the way he was determined to take care of her, even though she kept trying to resist. He was surprised by how well she seemed to understand him, which made him a little bit nervous, too. The more time they spent together, the more he could see having her with him all the time. It was sweet to see how he cared for her each time she had to deal with another fire being set. I loved seeing him realize the depth of his feelings when he nearly lost her. The epilogue was funny and sweet as he dealt with her sisters.
The suspense was really well done. It was obvious that someone was feeling really nervous about Lily and the questions she was asking. I loved seeing each step of her journey and how the information kept building. Each fire that was set had a link to the questions she had, and each one made the townspeople suspicious of her. The fires also seemed to be escalating, which made Griff even more worried that something bad would happen to her. As more information came to light I began to have a suspicion of who the firebug was, but the reasoning still eluded me. When the final confrontation came I really wondered how it was going to be resolved. I thought it was well done and the after effects were pretty realistic.
The only problem I had was that nothing was really said about Griff's background. It's obvious that he has money but I finished the book with no idea where it had come from. I would have liked to learn more about what made him who he was.
When she gets to town one of the first people she meets is Griff, owner of the local ice cream parlor. Griff has the reputation of being something of a bad boy, never committing and being rather lazy. She understands what they see, but she sees something else when she looks at him. She sees a man playing a part while he cares intensely about the things that matter to him. He looks like he's lazing about his ice cream parlor, dabbling in experimenting with flavors, but she sees the way he's given the kids in town a safe place to hang out. She's especially impressed with the interest he has taken in some of the kids who are victims of abuse.
Griff sees a pretty young woman who is looking for answers to the mystery of her parents' death. He's drawn to her like he's never been drawn to anyone else. Since she's arrived in town there have been several fires set and the people in town are looking at her like she's the one doing it. He knows she isn't, after all, she's been with him during much of her time there. But he's afraid that she could be in danger from whoever is responsible. I loved seeing the way he was determined to take care of her, even though she kept trying to resist. He was surprised by how well she seemed to understand him, which made him a little bit nervous, too. The more time they spent together, the more he could see having her with him all the time. It was sweet to see how he cared for her each time she had to deal with another fire being set. I loved seeing him realize the depth of his feelings when he nearly lost her. The epilogue was funny and sweet as he dealt with her sisters.
The suspense was really well done. It was obvious that someone was feeling really nervous about Lily and the questions she was asking. I loved seeing each step of her journey and how the information kept building. Each fire that was set had a link to the questions she had, and each one made the townspeople suspicious of her. The fires also seemed to be escalating, which made Griff even more worried that something bad would happen to her. As more information came to light I began to have a suspicion of who the firebug was, but the reasoning still eluded me. When the final confrontation came I really wondered how it was going to be resolved. I thought it was well done and the after effects were pretty realistic.
The only problem I had was that nothing was really said about Griff's background. It's obvious that he has money but I finished the book with no idea where it had come from. I would have liked to learn more about what made him who he was.
January 15, 2025
B- so 3.5 stars I’ll admit that this month’s TBR Challenge theme was a tricky one. “New Year, Who Dis?” could be interpreted a few different ways. After overthinking for a while, I decided Irresistible Stranger by Jennifer Greene, published in January 2010, would fit the bill. It features a heroine returning to the childhood hometown she left at age 8, and a hero who is one of the few people who moved to town sometime after she’d left and therefore did not know her history. Each is trying to figure out how the other fits into this place to an extent, as well as solve a mystery (this is romantic suspense, after all.)
While this book is third in a trilogy, it stands on its own. The trilogy follows three sisters, and they all meet their matches in different places, so I didn’t feel like I was missing any backstory. The sister in this book, Lily Campbell, lost her parents in a house fire when she was 8. After the fire, she and her sisters were separated in foster care. This book opens twenty years after the fire, and Lily has returned to Pecan Valley, Georgia, to try to figure out what happened. Town lore had it that her father was despondent over losing his job at the mill, and started the fire himself, but Lily just cannot reconcile that with the father she remembered.
I liked how the author portrayed Lily as she comes back to town. At home in Virginia, she teaches in a school for the gifted and when she talks about her work, she sounds very confident and in command of herself. However, the Lily that emerges in Pecan Valley has emotions flying all over the place. On the one hand, she’s building a comfortable acquaintance with the friendly owner of the B and B where she’s staying, but then she also sometimes feels uneasy in town because she knows the rumors and knows that not everyone welcomes her return.
In some ways that seems to make her friendship and quickly blossoming relationship with Griff Branchard make sense. Griff is laid-back and easy to talk to, and his ice cream parlor is an undemanding place to hang out. Griff clearly moved to town after Lily left, and so with him she has more of a clean slate than elsewhere in town. Griff came across as a fairly accepting person anyway, but he certainly didn’t meet Lily with any preconceived notions.
This is a partial review, and you can find the complete text at All About Romance: https://allaboutromance.com/book-revi...
While this book is third in a trilogy, it stands on its own. The trilogy follows three sisters, and they all meet their matches in different places, so I didn’t feel like I was missing any backstory. The sister in this book, Lily Campbell, lost her parents in a house fire when she was 8. After the fire, she and her sisters were separated in foster care. This book opens twenty years after the fire, and Lily has returned to Pecan Valley, Georgia, to try to figure out what happened. Town lore had it that her father was despondent over losing his job at the mill, and started the fire himself, but Lily just cannot reconcile that with the father she remembered.
I liked how the author portrayed Lily as she comes back to town. At home in Virginia, she teaches in a school for the gifted and when she talks about her work, she sounds very confident and in command of herself. However, the Lily that emerges in Pecan Valley has emotions flying all over the place. On the one hand, she’s building a comfortable acquaintance with the friendly owner of the B and B where she’s staying, but then she also sometimes feels uneasy in town because she knows the rumors and knows that not everyone welcomes her return.
In some ways that seems to make her friendship and quickly blossoming relationship with Griff Branchard make sense. Griff is laid-back and easy to talk to, and his ice cream parlor is an undemanding place to hang out. Griff clearly moved to town after Lily left, and so with him she has more of a clean slate than elsewhere in town. Griff came across as a fairly accepting person anyway, but he certainly didn’t meet Lily with any preconceived notions.
This is a partial review, and you can find the complete text at All About Romance: https://allaboutromance.com/book-revi...
May 10, 2018
SRS #1637 = 4.5 stars
December 10, 2010
Since the fire in her house that killed her parents, everyone thought her dad started the fire. But Lily Campbell and her sisters, Cate and Sophie, have never really believed their father would do something like that, despite the claims that he was depressed from recently losing his job.
Now, 20 years later, Lily is back trying to clear her fathers name. Now the fires are starting again and the town is blaming her for them. The only friend she has is Griff Branchard, the local lazy, bad boy, ice cream shop owner. Despite being polar opposites, Lily and Griff attract like bees to honey.
But Griff isn't the only with hidden secrets; the local sheriff isn't as forthcoming as everyone thinks. With the danger growing, it's up to Lily and Griff to bring this 20 year case to a close.
Now, 20 years later, Lily is back trying to clear her fathers name. Now the fires are starting again and the town is blaming her for them. The only friend she has is Griff Branchard, the local lazy, bad boy, ice cream shop owner. Despite being polar opposites, Lily and Griff attract like bees to honey.
But Griff isn't the only with hidden secrets; the local sheriff isn't as forthcoming as everyone thinks. With the danger growing, it's up to Lily and Griff to bring this 20 year case to a close.
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December 23, 2014Miniseries: New Man in Town
February 20, 2012
The secret of Griff is really a secret because even when i finished the book i still do not know Griff secret..
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews