Only You by Heatherly Bell

Short and Sweet and Smiley

Wow, this book was so cute and really made me smile! Only You by Heatherly Bell is a novella in the Starlight Hill series. It is book 8 but it can be read as a standalone. You do have visits from past characters in the book but all that made me want is to go back and find their stories. When it came to Liam and Mallory's story, I didn't feel lost in the least, and in fact felt welcomed by the great couples from Starlight Hill.

Only You is about Liam, an Army Ranger just returned who has to decide if he will re-up, or if he will return to his home state of Colorado. He goes to visit his relatives, the Turlocks, in Starlight Hill, for some much needed R and R and to make some decisions about his future. Once there, it soon becomes clear to him that he won't be getting to relax at all - because all of the women in his family are determined to match him with the love of his life - and they all have their own ideas as to who that is. Liam is definitely not there for that. When he meets Mallory, a clerk at a lingerie store that he ducks into to hide one day, the two of them make a pact to pretend to be together. Mallory has motives of her own. She is determined to make Starlight Hill her home, and in order to do that, she wants to have a good reputation. Being with Liam Turlock will accomplish that and stop everyone from seeing her as only "the sexy" at the store where she works.

It's a great plan - as these things always are. And it starts to work perfectly. Except that soon, both Liam and Mallory find themselves wishing that this love affair were the real deal.

I loved this short and sweet novella. My only complaint is that I wanted more. I wished that the romance could have been fleshed out a bit more, that we could have delved a bit deeper into both Liam's and Mallory's pasts. And it would have been lovely to see them having to "fake" their attraction for each other in a few more amusing situations. But I really did love the story and the characters, and there are a few genuinely funny, laugh-out-loud moments in this book. Now I'm going to go find all of Ms. Bell's other books because I need more and I intend to get it!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.