Tough Love: A Steamy Small-Town Forced Proximity Romance (Alpine Ridge)

by Melanie A. Smith

Overview

Sometimes you need a bit of tough love to get where you're supposed to be …

 

Mia Anderson has been living a life that was chosen for her. But her impending thirtieth birthday is the wake-up call she needed to stop wasting time on all the wrong pursuits. Just as she's figuring out what she wants to do about it, her beloved grandmother falls ill and Mia drops everything to be with her. What she didn't expect to find in her grandmother's tiny mountain town is the courage to quit working for her father, supplied by a little tough love from her Gran. Now faced with an uncertain future, the last thing on her mind is finding love.

 

Nate Edwards is living a solitary life deep in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. He's content, or at least he thinks he is — until the granddaughter of a good friend shows up and he starts having feelings he thought he'd never have again. But Mia's future isn't in Alpine Ridge, so acting on it would lead to nothing but heartbreak. Still, their connection is undeniable and circumstances continue to push them together, despite their resistance. Will Mia stick to her decision to carve her own path? And if she does, will it be with Nate? Or is he doomed to an isolated life?

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165162053
Publisher:	Wicked Dreams Publishing
Publication date:	02/03/2021
Series:	Alpine Ridge
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	516 KB

About the Author

Melanie A. Smith is an award-winning, international best-selling author of steamy romance with smart, self-sufficient heroines and strong, swoony book boyfriends with hearts of gold. A former engineer turned stay-at-home mom and author, when Melanie is not lost in the world of books you’ll find her spending time with her husband and son, crafting, or cross-stitching.

Editorial Reviews

2021-07-12
In this romance, an overworked lawyer cares for her grandmother with the help of a handsome doctor.

Mia Anderson works for her father’s law firm, mediating nasty divorces, and lives in the guest house of her parents’ home. For Mia, work-life balance doesn’t exist. Her first vacation in years, to Hawaii with her best friend, Joanie, is interrupted on the first day when Mia’s workaholic parents call her back to Washington state to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother Dorothy. Dorothy lives in the small town of Alpine Ridge, just outside of Seattle. Mia soon meets, and immediately clashes with, Nate Edwards, a former plastic surgeon who left facade-heavy Los Angeles for a simpler life in Alpine Ridge and now regularly checks in on Dorothy. Inspired to quit her job at her father’s firm, Mia throws herself into caring for cancer-stricken Dorothy and indulges her long-overlooked passions for cooking and baking as she contemplates an uncertain future. Mia and Nate grow close, united in their love for the delightful, spirited Dorothy, whose sickness is much worse than the woman initially let on. As the pair’s relationship evolves from friendship to love, Mia finds herself at a crossroads: return to a city life that’s soul-sucking but familiar, or forge a new path with a man who cares deeply for her? Smith, a former lead engineer for Boeing, weaves a charming tale from the dual perspectives of Mia and Nate, two intelligent and hardworking individuals whose lives haven’t exactly gone according to plan. Mia’s struggle in particular is extremely relatable, as she reflects on a career and life she never really wanted in the first place and deals with bewilderment over what may come next. Though the couple’s first sexual encounter leads to confusion—a plot twist that feels both potentially triggering and unnecessary to the story—their physical relationship is otherwise depicted in sensual yet loving terms. Dorothy is a lovely supporting character, nurturing yet stubborn, with her own plans for Mia and Nate.

A sweet, sexy read with two compelling lovers.

Kirkus Reviews