One Reckless Summer: A Destiny Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Toni Blake (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 26, 2009 | Series: Destiny

It's tough to play it cool on a sultry summer night . . .

The perfect daughter. The perfect prom queen. The perfect wife. Jenny Tolliver's been the good girl all her life, and it's gotten her nowhere. Now that her marriage has been busted up by her cheating ex, she's decided it's time to regroup and rediscover herself. This summer she's headed back to her hometown of Destiny, Ohio, to the very lakeshore cottage where she grew up, to figure out what life holds in store for her next.

She never dreamed the answer would be Mick Brody, Destiny's #1 hellraiser. He comes from the wrong side of the tracks (or in his case, the lake), and he's landed in hot water more times than he can count. He's exactly the kind of guy Jenny's always kept her distance from . . . but soon the good girl and the bad boy are caught in a raw heat that's out of control. Too bad Mick's got a secret that threatens to tear them apart and ruin Jenny's perfectly, passionately reckless summer . . .

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Toni Blake's lifelong love of writing began when she won an essay contest in the fifth grade. Soon after, she penned her first novel—nineteen notebook pages long. Since then, Toni has become a multi-published, RITA®-nominated author of contemporary romance novels that are both sexy and heartwarming. Her work has been excerpted in Cosmo and reviewed by USA Today and First for Women magazine. Toni lives with her husband in the Midwest and, when not writing, she enjoys traveling, quilting, and scrapbooking.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon; Original edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061429899
• ISBN-13: 978-0061429897
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,704 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Toni Blake's love of writing began when she won an essay contest in the fifth grade. Soon after, she penned her first novel, nineteen notebook-pages long, and announced to her mother over breakfast one day that she was going to be a writer when she grew up. Since then, Toni has become the author of more than a dozen contemporary romance novels. Her work has been excerpted in Cosmo, she's been a recipient of the Kentucky Women Writers Fellowship and a nominee for the prestigious Pushcart Prize, and she's also had more than forty short stories and articles published. Toni lives with her husband in the Midwest and enjoys traveling, genealogy, crafts, and snow skiing. Learn more about Toni and her books at http://www.toniblake.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Sensuous, heartwarming contemporary June 4, 2009

By P. Ausdenmore

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Jenny Tolliver had always thought her life was perfect until the fateful day when she caught her cheating husband in the arms of her 21 year old student teacher. Divorced, emotionally adrift and struggling with the fact that her ex-husband left her because he thought she was boring in bed, Jenny returns home to spend the summer at her family's lake cottage sifting through the emotional debris of her failed marriage and figuring out what to do with the rest of her life.

Mick Brody grew up dreaming of a life in one of the pretty cottages across the lake where parents didn't spend the entire day, and night, screaming at each other, where children were secure, safe and accepted by the people of Destiny - a life where someone like Mick would be worthy of pretty, sweet Jenny Tolliver. But dreams aren't reality and after his parents died and his older brother went to prison Mick left Destiny, vowing never to return. He kept that vow for more than ten years but now he's back, living in his family's old shack on the lake, keeping a dangerous secret and determined that no one discover his presence.

Always the good girl, Jenny has never done anything reckless in her life...until she paddles her canoe across the lake for some stargazing and comes face to face with the sexy, gorgeous bad boy of her youth, Mick Brody. An angry and abrupt Mick orders her off his property but Jenny has had it with being the "sweet, good girl of Destiny" and refuses to go. Tempers flare, sexual energy ignites and an attraction that perhaps has been simmering, unacknowledged, for fifteen years explodes in white-hot passion. Morning after regrets are abundant, for both Jenny and Mick, but the sexual flame that burns between them is too intense to ignore and a secret, reckless affair begins that gradually, over the course of the summer, becomes much more than a walk on the wild side. Will Jenny and Mick be able to bridge the gap between her side of the lake and his to find their happy ending or will Mick's secret, Jenny's police-chief father and a perceived betrayal tear them apart forever?

"One Reckless Summer" is the sensuous, steamy and emotionally heartwarming story of a woman who has always been good and a man who has never believed he was good enough. It's about stereotypes and misconceptions, living life to the fullest and having the courage to step out of your comfort zone, about complicated family relationships, doing what you believe in your heart is right even when everyone else says it's wrong and about looking beyond the packaging, to the goodness and love inside a person who is the opposite of everything you thought you wanted but is exactly what you need.

Dive into the delights of hot, summer nights with Toni Blake's terrific new contemporary, "One Reckless Summer".

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars perfect summer read June 13, 2009

By Jill

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I just finished it today after many frustrating real life interruptions.
If I had had my choice I would not have put it down. I knew that the
book would have a wonderful Toni Blake HEA. But. I was on pins and
needles waiting for that to happen. The tension built as the story went
along. The HEA was well worth waiting for. Mick Brody is an everyday
guy, ex Destiny bad boy, who is caught up in tragic events. Jenny is
the prefect daughter, citizen of Destiny, ex perfect wife. When the two
re-meet the stars light up. What I am trying to say is that I really
enjoyed this book. For me it is the perfect sitting on the back patio
summer evening read. If my back patio had been on Blue Valley Lake
--well, that would have been perfection.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Reckless" raises the temperature this summer! May 31, 2009

By OklaNannie

Format:Mass Market Paperback

Wonderful beginning to a new series set in quaint and charming surroundings with a great cast of characters. I purchased "One Reckless Summer" early this afternoon and could not put it down until I turned the last page tonight. It is the kind of book you hate to see end. It leaves you wanting more. The story was emotionally charged from one end of the spectrum to the other and the romance and chemistry between the two main characters was sizzling. Toni Blake's books seem to get better and better with each one. I look anxiously forward to the next book in this series. This author is an auto-buy for me and has been since I read her first book several years ago.