Starred review from April 25, 2011
Fate hasn't just thrown a curve ball at Tori Henderson, it's loaded up the pitching machine and let 'er rip. Tori has just turned 30 and thinks she finally has things under control professionally and personallyâuntil an emergency appendectomy sidelines her from her advertising job, her elderly aunt suffers a stroke, and her extended family smothers her in every imaginable dysfunction when she returns to the rural Texas town they've never left. On top of it all, she has to cope with the pastor's son, Jacob, a man expressly designed for temptation. From the dog-eat-dog corporate world of Houston to the gossipy quirks of Bayford, Stimpson (Last Temptation) describes her settings and multidimensional characters to perfection. Fans of traditional romance may feel the love story gets short shrift, but most readers will deeply identify with Tori's struggles to balance her family, finances, and feelings.