Crave by Evelyn Sola
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the story of Jacob Clark and Sandra Etienne, they have a past, but she doesn’t want a future after the incident at the party where she walked away, but Jacob has other ideas and is determined to win her back.

The story starts with Jacob, ridding himself of an alcohol fueled one night stand, while not leaving a good impression while he does it, finally, he feeds and walks his dogs before washing the night away in the shower and while watering his plants, he fields a call from his best friend to find out what happened and why he brought someone home. He asks his friend whether he is going to be at Jacob’s mums birthday later on that day and unfortunately, he can’t because he is working, he doesn’t have the time, but he reminds Jacob not to act like an ass while he is there.

It is saturday and as usual Sandra is helping her mum out at her bakery because her cousin hasn’t turned up again, but she is annoyed because it means that she will be late for her monthly girl’s night with her best friends, so as she is getting ready, she asks her mum what she needs doing. It turns out that it is a delivery to one of her mum’s biggest clients, a well to do family who she caters for both their private and public events, so as she heads over in the van and when she gets there she meets the lady of the house and is enveloped in a welcoming embrace and is invited to stay for the party in order to meet her son’s doctor friend, but they are distracted when a male voices comes up to them and it is one of her sons, Jacob. As she turns round to meet him, she realises that the body and face are definitely as sexy as his voice and she can’t pull her gaze away from him, even when his mum is still talking about fixing her up with his friend until she leaves them to go and finish getting ready for her party. As they survey each other and flirt like there is nobody else there, they walk over to the bar and continue the banter until his dad appears and breaks the moment by enveloping him in a bear hug and asking Sandra to keep him out of trouble after a conversation which Jacob doesn’t appear to enjoy.

As Sandra and Jacob tour his house and look at family photo’s and the destinations in them, Sandra keeps going back to the fact that they are from completely different sides of the tracks, but nonetheless, they continue to flirt and things start to get heated. As more people arrive for the party, Sandra is introduced to more family and friends and everything seems to be going well until two of Jacob’s brothers arrive and the atmosphere turns cool. The family dynamics start to show through and Sandra can see that something has happened between them, the brothers can’t stand to be around each other, even though one is trying to be friendly and their parents are trying to keep the situation under control. When Jacob drags her away from the scene, they go to the kitchen until it is time to eat where she is invited to dine with them, where the two talk about her family and job, but when Jacob’s brother’s wife turns up, the atmosphere becomes downright icy. As they finish eating, Jacob invites Sandra to dance and they do, until Sandra sees that Tracy is pregnant and asks Jacob when she is due, this turns out to be a dreadful mistake and Jacob flies over in a rage and has a verbal altercation with his brother, at this point Sandra can’t take her eyes of the argument, but when the punches fly, Sandra escapes and decides that she doesn’t need Jacobs kind of trouble in her life, but when Jacob turns up to the bakery the Saturday after and asks for the date she agreed to, she has to make a decision.
Will Sandra and Jacob be together, or will his past troubles bleed into his current relationship? Can they overcome their barriers and let the other in, or will the walls be too high to climb?
This is a romance with more than just the usual barriers, but the characters keep you invested and wanting more.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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