The Captivity Alaska Series, Book 1
From the publisher:
Ambitious L.A. lawyer Isabelle Marcano would rather run a mile in her Manolos than fly off to rustic Captivity, Alaska. But close the client’s sale successfully and her firm will find room on the letterhead for one more name. Still, taking a career detour to a place that doesn’t even have a Starbucks sounds like the seventh level of hell.
Then her best friend points out the town has something stronger on tap than caffeine. Testosterone. With two single men to every single woman, this assignment might just be the best thing to happen to her sex life since the invention of the waterproof Rabbit.
Until her sexy client introduces her as his fiancée to hide what she’s doing in town, and all her aspirations of hot Lumberjack Sex fly out the airplane window.
Though…fiancés do have sex, right? Those who don’t want to answer to small-town busybodies better look like they do, epically, even when the mere prospect plays havoc with her professional responsibilities. And her hormones.
Her firm’s getting antsy to finalize the merger. But the more she learns about Trace, about why he’s selling, the more conflicted she becomes about the deal. Failure to close means losing the partnership she’s always wanted, but the bigger failure might just be kissing Trace goodbye…
Trace suffered a terrible loss when his younger brother died in a plane crash, and he still hasn’t recovered. He’s decided to sell the family business, running the airport and the planes in Captivity, Alaska, and his good friend has sent a bright young attorney to help him get everything in order. Captivity is a small town, and he doesn’t want anyone to know he is thinking about selling, but the offer he has in hand may be too good to pass up. His parents are retired and traveling the world, and his younger sister has half ownership in the airline, but she isn’t vested until she turns 30 so he still has some time.
Izzy is thrilled to have this assignment – her boss is dangling a partnership if it all goes through. She has worked her butt off for years to get to this point, and is determined to reach her goal. But when she arrives in Alaska, Trace takes one look at the big city lawyer and realizes he is in trouble. No one will believe she is a tourist here to climb a mountain, not with those heels and those clothes. When they finally arrive in Captivity, a couple of his employees/friends are there to meet them. In a panic, Trace blurts out that Izzy is here because he’s trying to convince her to marry him.
Stunned, she isn’t sure what to say but realizes he is the client and she better go along with it. The whole town gets involved as they want to see Trace happy, and if this is the woman he wants, they are all in. So while they work on getting his business in order to sell, they also have to date – and that presents a tiny problem. Izzy has been so busy working she hasn’t had a relationship or even a date in over a year. She figures the odds are pretty good she can have some casual sex while in Captivity, but not after Trace announces his intentions.
As they work together and spend time together, Trace realizes he has some strong feelings for Izzy, but she is fighting it. It is unethical for her to get involved with a client, but Trace eventually wears her down and the sex is blazing hot. Izzy gets to know his sister and his friends, and everyone is trying their best to convince her to stay, but she has other plans. Except when she finally leaves to go back home, she is miserable.
There is another character in this book that I just loved, a giant Husky/Malamute mixed dog named K’eyush, or Key for short. The dog is brilliant and talks – he somehow says his favorite peoples’ names. Anyone who has spent any time poking around my website knows that I am a cat person, but I also love dogs. My husband has gotten me a tiny bit obsessed with this dog: K’eyush the Stunt Dog and couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the dog in the book and the dog in the video. So I reached out to the author, who confirmed she is also a K’eyush fan and was inspired to use a dog with similar traits in the book. I love when my worlds collide like that!
I love anything set in Alaska so this really worked for me. There were a few surprises along the way before Trace and Izzy reached their happily ever after. There is a lot of humor and heat in this terrific romance and first book of a series. I can’t wait for the next one!
10/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
WILD IN CAPTIVITY by Samanthe Beck. Entangled: Amara (October 18, 2021). ASIN: B09H5J7S5W. 325 pages.
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