Blurb
Looking for the perfect mix of smart, sexy, and sassy? Mai Tai’d Up continues New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton’s Cocktail series, which began with Wallbanger and continued with Rusty Nailed and Screwdrivered.
The gossip mill in the seaside community of Monterey is churning about Chloe Patterson, the newcomer who is starting a sanctuary for rescued pit bulls. It’s rumored that she’s a former beauty queen (true) who ditched her fiancé the morning of their wedding (also true). And that while she’s not looking for a new man, the good-looking local veterinarian has his eye on her. Absolutely, positively true.
When Lucas Campbell isn’t at the family veterinary clinic, he’s paddle boarding in Monterey Bay. Recently single, he’s definitely not in the market for a new relationship, but he still can’t resist taking a second, third, and fourth look at the recent arrival of Miss Golden State.
Neither Lucas nor Chloe has any interest in being tied down. Being tied up, however—now there’s a thought. But are a few Mai Tais, a moonlit night, and the music of Frank Sinatra enough to allow them both to forget their past? Let’s hope Ol’ Blue Eyes knows what he’s doing.
Mix one part tiki, one part kinky, and a splash of old black magic matchmaking, and it’s time to be . . . Mai Tai’d Up.
Mai Tai’d Up (#4): Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Review
Options – that’s something Chloe Patterson has never had…until now. After breaking off her engagement to a man she neither loved nor felt satisfied with, she escapes to her father’s family home in Monterey and tries to figure out what to do with her life now that it’s more her own than it’s ever been.
Everything in Chloe’s life has always been controlled; she was expected to act a certain way and speak a certain way in order to keep up her beauty queen appearance and not embarrass her mother who only cares about society’s perception. Now that she’s flown the nest, so to speak, she can spread her wings and start doing the things she’s always wanted to do, starting with rescuing pit bulls and being a part of the “Our Gang” Pit Bull Rescue team. Training therapy dogs and helping abused animals find homes has been a passion of Chloe’s since she started participating in pageants, and now that she can give herself fully to a cause she truly believes in, her life becomes less of a monotonous routine and more of a thrilling ride as she helps set up a satellite located for “Our Gang.”
Love is definitely on the backburner for Chloe since she just got out of a long, committed relationship, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to feel it one day. She doesn’t want the comfortable, safe relationship; she wants the “swoony,” “sparkly,” “maddening,” “sexy” love that curls her toe nails with passion and has her thinking up all kinds of ways to keep the spark of love alive.
When Lucas Campbell, the town’s veterinarian, enters her life one day into her arrival in Monterey, Chloe knows that it’s too soon to enter into another relationship, but that doesn’t stop her from swooning over the hunky ginger and imagining the type of lover he would be. There’s definitely a spark between Chloe and Lucas, but like Chloe, Lucas just ended a long term relationship and his hearts not ready to move on from the pain of being dumped at the altar. The pair decide to go the friend route and spend their nights and weekends together, getting to know one another and enjoying each other’s company. But the more time they spend together, the more the slow burn churning inside of Chloe starts to ignite until she feels like she’s going to spontaneously combust if she doesn’t act on her feelings for her “friend.” But things aren’t that simple and Chloe may lose out on Lucas as an option in her life if she doesn’t come clean with a dishonest answer she gave him at the very start of their friendship.
Mai Tai’d Up is another great read from the witty mind of Alice Clayton, and while readers will have to work for things to heat up between Chloe and Lucas, their story is still a worthwhile read because it’s chuck full of humorous moments and clever one liners that will keep readers invested until Chloe and Lucas’ connection is solidified. Book four in the Cocktail series is not so much about Chloe’s burgeoning relationship with Lucas and the will they or won’t they step out of the friend zone argument; it’s more about Chloe growing as a person and woman and realizing that there are limitless possibilities in front of her now that she’s living for herself and not everyone else. The story is sweet, humorous, and filled with the right amount of angst to keep readers guessing about what the future holds for Chloe and Lucas as well as Chloe’s relationship with her mother.
I don’t think there will ever be an Alice Clayton book that I don’t enjoy, and while Mai Tai’d Up isn’t at the top of my list in terms of her other romantic comedies, it’s still an Alice Clayton original and those will always be must reads for me.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
4 poison apples
About the Author
Alice Clayton is a novelist with an unholy love for her KitchenAid mixer. Making her home in St Louis, she enjoys gardening but not weeding, baking but not cleaning up afterwards, and is trying desperately to get her long time boyfriend to make her an honest woman. Hi sweetie!!
After working for years in the cosmetics industry as a makeup artist, esthetician, and national educator for a major cosmetics company, Alice picked up a pen (read laptop) for the first time at 33 to begin a new career, writer. Combining her love of storytelling with a sense of silly, she was shocked and awed to be nominated for a Goodreads Author award in 2010 for her debut novels, The Redhead Series.
Alice has penned three novels, The Unidentified Redhead,The Redhead Revealed, and coming soon in November 2012, Wallbanger. She thinks you should purchase them immediately. She’s not kidding, not even a little bit. Everyone needs some comedic erotica in their lives. She is hard at work on the third book in The Redhead Series, set to release in Spring of 2013, continuing the saucy and sexual escapades of everyone’s favorite couple, Jack and Grace.
Additionally, Alice loves spending time with her besties on Not Your Mother’s Podcast, make sure you check them out at notyourmotherspodcast.com or over on iTunes. 3 women rushing towards their forties still acting like teenagers. A saucy little mix of sex, love, relationships, pop cultural, celebrity gossip and All Things Jake Ryan.
Alice enjoys pickles, Bloody Mary’s, 8 hours of sleep, and a good pounding.
Finally Alice would also like all her readers and listeners to help her convince Mt. Alice that the only other thing that would make her truly happy is finally bringing home a Bernese Mountain Dog. She is totally serious. And done talking about herself in the third person…
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