The Wanting Heart (by Rionna Morgan)

Rionna Morgan to appear on Ravishing Romances tomorrow!

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The Wanting Heart rating:  3 out of 5

Release Date:  July 9, 2012

How are sex scenes?  

Sweet and curious.  There's not many naked moments, and the first one involves the hero lighting multiple candles somewhere in the room and then roaming back to the bed to kiss the heroine after each one.  Sweet.  Sensual.  Inconvenient?

How are the story lines?  

Good.  This is a romantic suspense novel.  There's no mystery (i.e., you immediately know who the killer is and when a "mystery" is written it's unveiled shortly thereafter), but there is plenty of plot tension.

Would you read this again?  

Yes.  I'd also like to read about Blake and Kate a few years down the road.  

Summary

The Wanting Heart by Rionna Morgan is a contemporary/suspense romance based in Colorado.

Kate White never stopped loving Blake and he just moved back into town.

Blake Spencer never stopped loving Kate, but it's taken him three years to prove it.

Only problem is, Kate won't speak to him and she's dating Luke Ferral now.  Smooth, rich, psycho...

When Kate is targeted by a serial killer, Blake is determined to protect her.  She's just not ready to let him.

Review

The Wanting Heart is Rionna Morgan's debut album and she enters the romance scene wearing rhinestones and sequins.  Okay not really, but her heroine does.  In fact, I enjoy how Kate wears sequins and rhinestones for the crowd and how that information is given right after we're introduced to Blake.  Somehow it makes Kate appear more human, trying to please the one constant (the rodeo crowd) she has left in her life.

And we do meet Blake.  He has the very first line.  Morgan drops the reader directly into Kate's misery of unrequited love.  She loved him.  She loves him, and we already ache for her pain.  Because he's here.  He's right here and won't go away.

Enter Luke Ferral, Kate's new beau and freak extraordinaire.

In small town, Colorado Luke always wears a tuxedo.  The tux seems over-the-top.  A suit would have the same affect.  He's also really, really, really smooth. Like when he writes Kate a note saying, "...your magic green eyes" and takes her on a private plane.  I feel he's trying too hard and Kate should notice that private planes aren't normal for first dates.

Kate's friends are, like her, just out of college.  They seem immature to me, going on hardcore "buy silly things" shopping trips and always being present when Luke picks up Kate for an outing.  Some girls probably do act this way, but for some reason I expect more adult behavior from a savvy woman who works in LA, a school teacher and a woman who is looking to take on a mortgage.

Kate teaches summer school to seventh graders who play on a playground.  (I get that this could be a filed.  Maybe the word playground has me thinking monkey bars.)  One seventh grade boy tells her he feels, "That [he has] to lose two moms in the same lifetime."  Is two weeks a long enough time to get that reaction from a seventh grader?

We never find out why Blake left!  He says why he felt the need to leave, but what did he do while gone?  Did he rent an apartment or stay on some other chic's couch?  Did he never visit his grandparents who live in Kate's town?  Did he sleep with someone else?  He says he never stopped loving Kate so I hope he proved it.  This is the 21st century buddy and "I'm a man" just doesn't fly.

I also wish I knew exactly how old Kate and Blake are.  I'm not sure why this is important.

Still, Morgan's writing style is natural.  I particularly enjoy how she writes in layers.

"If the tux hadn't been enough to prove that he wasn't from around here, his hand was.  It was smooth."

She compliments the cowboy work ethic while describing Luke at the same time.  Love it.

There's also a few details dropped along the way that are used during the end.  I really like that.

All this makes The Wanting Heart a decent read.  I wish there was more explanation and that the turn of events weren't so sudden, but I was entertained and three days later I can still recall the story.  Despite having read two additional books in between.

Hear what others are saying about The Wanting Heart!

Goodreads has 9 reviews with a 4.5 star average

“The Wanting Heart is a sexy, intriguing, modern-day western romance.  

A fun summer read.”  

-- Kat Martin, New York Times Best Selling Author

Learn more about Rionna Morgan and her upcoming titles on her website, Facebook and Twitter.

Published by Crimson Romance an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.

Disclaimer:  No compensation was received for this review.  ARC provided by author.