Desert Isle Keeper

This is the second story in the Fairy Tales of New York series but can easily be read as a standalone. This particular story features Zelda, the bad girl of the group and Tyrone, her friend Faith’s older brother. When Tyrone reluctantly answers an emergency call from Zelda at the precinct where she’s being held on public indecency charges for some midnight swimming, he thinks that he knows everything about this woman and that it’s all bad news. But to his surprise, Zelda is much more than he bargained for, including having a heart that’s been battered and bruised and in need of some TLC. When Tyrone finds that he wants to be the man to give that to her, Zelda is afraid to accept his overtures at face value. Can she learn to trust this man who embodies a white knight to her damaged princess?

I really enjoy bad girl/good guy romances and this one is written in an engaging and delightful manner. Zelda has suffered through the childhood trauma of losing her parents and subsequent abandonment by her brother,who dumped her off in the boarding school where she was finally able to make some friends.  For several years she was on a downward spiral, but with the help of those friends she’s picked herself up, gotten help with her addictions and is not the woman she used to be. I liked her character, her strength of will, and her friendly and vivacious nature. Beneath her facade of flippancy though is a woman who is still searching for love. Tyrone, on the other hand, is the quintessential protective alpha male, a lawyer who champions the downtrodden and those in need of legal aid. Meeting Zelda again as an adult, he has expectations that she will be the same spoiled, willful girl she was as a teenager. But as they spend time together he realizes how wrong he’s been and how much he has misjudged her. The chemistry between them is smoking hot and leads to several steamy love scenes. What starts out as a weekend fling turns into more for both of them, though Zelda doesn’t want to admit her vulnerability to Tyrone.  I love how the plot progresses as they open up to each and there is a very sweet and satisfying happy ending to their story.

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