Title: Where the Heart Is (Ribbon Ridge #0.5)

Author: Darcy Burke

Publisher: Intrepid Reads 2013

Genre: Romance

Pages: 124

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Home is more than a place . . .

Breaking free from her structured life, Chloe English quits her high-powered job and moves across the country to work as an art teacher. The simple life is all she hoped it would be until her house burns down, leaving her homeless. When a handsome firefighter swoops in to save the day, she can’t believe her luck. He’s laid-back and unassuming, everything she’s looking for in a man—or so he seems. It turns out he’s as ambitious as her ex, comes with a family who could be more stifling than hers, and harbors dark secrets he may never be able to share.

Orphaned as a teenager, Derek Sumner has found a place in his best friend’s family. However, the love and support of his surrogate parents and siblings can’t erase the grief and loss he struggles every Christmas to banish. But this year he meets the fun and sexy Chloe, whose optimism and sense of joy are incredibly contagious. Can she help him face his bleak past so they can forge a happy future?

A lovely heartwarming Christmas romance. I really enjoyed both Chloe and Derek as characters. We get a fun back and forth flirting from them throughout most of the story. There were a few passages that were slightly unclear in their writing. I seriously thought that they had had sex way before they actually did. And there’s a big part of me that wishes it was a full length novel. I really wanted explore Derek and Chloe’s relationship much more than we got in this short story. Oh well. It was still an entertaining romance.

Ribbon Ridge

• #0.5 Where the Heart Is

• #1 Only in My Dreams

• #2 Yours to Hold

• #3 When Love Happens

• #4 The Idea of You

• #5 When We Kiss

• #6 You’re Still the One

Next up on the TBR pile: