Secrets and Charms by Lou Harper

91i1pEeMt-L._SL1500_Title: Secrets and Charms
Author: Lou Harper
Series: Secrets, #2
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel (191 pages)
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (December 23rd 2014)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4 Hearts
Blurb: One hot ginger. One cool blond. The result is anything but lukewarm.

Out and proud from a tender age, Olly Blackwood is content with life in LA, working at a Hollywood gourmet grocery. There’s only one thing missing: romance. He’s had his fill of casual hook-ups. He wants a man for keeps, and he wants sparks.

He certainly gets them when he meets Rich Willson, who has the stormy temper to go with his fiery hair. But is he keeper material? He might be if only he’d come out of the closet.

After losing his disapproving father, his job, his girlfriend, and pretty much all his money, Rich packed up his secrets and moved to his actress sister s house to regroup and help her renovate. He doesn’t like the curmudgeon he s become, but something about the perpetually cheerful Olly rubs him in a way that should be wrong, yet feels pretty damned right.

Over paint buckets and sanding tools, Rich finds Olly getting deeper under his skin. But when an altercation with a paparazzo comes back to haunt him, he finds that sordid Hollywood secrets can be murder maybe his own.

Warning: Contains a hot-tempered ginger, a cool-headed blond, redecorating shenanigans, and sordid Hollywood secrets. Happy ending guaranteed or your ticket price refunded.

Product Link: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5284/secrets-and-charms

Reviewer: Tams

Review: Rich Wilson’s attitude blazes as bright as his ginger, red hair, especially in the presence of his sister’s best friend, Olly. Rich feels a pull to Olly, an attraction he is not willing to admit to or act on for that matter. So in an attempt to cover up his true feelings, he does what he does best, he barks.

Olly is nothing but nice to Rich, so he is taken aback at the negative attitude he receives from the guy every time he comes around him. Once Olly figures out exactly what Rich is trying to cover up with false bravado, Olly pushes the envelope, but he pushes too far and Rich pulls back. Olly will have to be patient with Rich if he plans on taking their relationship to the next level.

When they learn completely by accident that Rich’s sister is being blackmailed, they learn to navigate their way around their mutual attraction with minimal effort in order to discover the identity of the blackmailer. The stakes are raised when Rich stumbles upon the supposed blackmailers body though, and when Olly is put in the line of fire, Rich learns quickly just how much Olly has grown on him.

I absolutely loved the chemistry between Olly and Rich, how it was anything but love at first sight. Rich had to come to terms with his own personal demons about his attraction to other men, and Olly has to trust that his heart will be safe with Rich.

There was mystery and suspense with the blackmailing, I seriously had no idea who it was and when the culprit is revealed I was a little surprised. There was also a lot of sexy, steamy passion between Olly and Rich that literally jumped off the pages. There were a few little inconsistencies in the how and why of the whole blackmailing scheme, but overall I was completely engaged in this read.

This is the second book in a series apparently but I haven’t read the first, that being said, I wasn’t lost and never felt like I was missing anything in the story because I hadn’t read the first. A must read for fans of mystery, suspense and steamy guy on guy action!

* I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *