Barefoot Beach by Debbie Mason

Author: Debbie Mason

Release Date:  June 4, 2019

This book barely takes place on a beach and Barefoot is not mentioned once.  Why title a book "Barefoot Beach" when it doesn't actually takes place on a beach, but in a manor.? Weird… anyways, this is the second book in the Harmony Harbor series that I have read and I have to say that I liked the other one much better. This book is titled Barefoot Beach involves Marco who is a very  hot firefighter and  Theia, a retired navy flight fighter. With the town's matchmaker on the prowl, Marcos decides to ask Theia if she can be his fake girlfriend and I'm sure you can imagine how this plays out.  Will Theia stay in Harmony Harbor for love or will her secrets keep her from finding love?  Let's find out.

I was really entertained by the premise of the story, but I did not care much for the romance

aspect of the story. You see, there is this weird thing with family marrying each other. Not like sister and brother, but more like cousin in laws and this was very off putting to me. This town made it seem like there were only two families that you could marry and it was very weird and I can't really go deep into it without spoiling it, but these two families marry each other and it really should cause some type of gene mutation. I mean not really, but everything is kept in the family for sure. On the other hand, this story has suspense, intensity and, to be completely honest, was the saving grace of the story.  As I mentioned before, the romance was meh and their chemistry was not there. I feel as if the author was so busy trying to set up the suspense and mystery of the story that the romance was kind of an afterthought.  The heat was missing and I had no idea that they had sex until I was told by the author that they spent "a long and magical night together".  Say what?  I need some heat to keep me in the story and the author failed terribly.

The strange thing about this story is the fact that a ghost is giving all of details of the story and reveals the big secret. I really would have liked for the scenes to play out, but they were told to me instead of showed and that happens a lot in this story.  This story is filled with twist and turns in which I love, but there is one scene in question that I loathe.  Don't worry it's not a spoiler, but Marco receives a phone call about a major plot point in the story and the name of the caller is never revealed or mentioned again. What?  I need details and facts to put this story together and I am missing some pieces. A villain is in the story and when he decides to show his face in place, things start to really move and with this character is excitement and action.

Although I enjoyed this story, I will have to give this story a 3.5 rating. The suspense and the

story arc was great but the romance was left out in the bitter cold and this is supposed to centered around romance…So yeah…. My tea turned cold while reading this book because the romance did not give me chills and this is what I live for.

Rating:⭐⭐⭐½