Discover the magic of New York Times bestseller Melissa
Foster's writing and see why millions of readers have fallen in love with the
fiercely loyal and sassily sexy characters in the Love in Bloom big-family
romance collection. Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone or may be
enjoyed as part of the larger series, so dive right into this fun, sexy
romance.
In SEARCHING FOR LOVE...
Zev Braden and Carly Dylan have known each other their whole lives. Their
close-knit families were sure they were destined to marry—until a devastating
tragedy struck, breaking the two lovers apart. Over the next decade Zev, a
nomadic treasure hunter, rarely returned to his hometown, and Carly became a
chocolatier and built a whole new life across the country. When a chance
encounter brings them back into each other’s lives, can they find the true love
that once existed, or will shattered dreams and broken hearts prevail? Find out
in Searching for Love, a deliciously sexy, funny, and emotional second-chance
romance.
**
Love in Bloom novels feature alpha male heroes and smart, empowered women.
They're flawed, funny, passionate, and relatable to readers who enjoy
contemporary romance and women's fiction.
Johnaka's Review
“Reunited, 5 stars”
Zev and Carly were once in love. They were childhood best friends turned sweethearts. But when a tragic event happens they go their separate ways. Now Carly is standing in front of Zev again and he has one week to make her fall back in love with him. He’s never loved someone the way he loves Carly. The question is does Carly still love him.
My heart hurt for both Zev and Carly. They were young when Zev left and they’ve grown a lot as adults since then. The things left unsaid will be their downfall. But the question is, do they stand a chance at a happily ever after? Or are they bound for heartache once again?
I loved these two. I think if you take a chance on Searching for Love you will love them. I also loved their unconventional jobs. It was refreshing.
Plot-5/5 Characters-5/5 Heat-5/5 Writing style-5/5 Overall-5/5
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Exclusive Excerpt:
ZEV BRADEN DIDN’T know which was worse, seeing the woman who
had captured his heart in second grade with another man or knowing his family
had betrayed him by leaving him in the dark about her attending his oldest
brother’s wedding. Beau had gone all out to give his new bride, Charlotte, a
fairy-tale wedding at Sterling House, the Colorado Mountain inn she’d
inherited. He’d built a wedding tent that brought the enchanted forest indoors,
with miles of white silk draped over an artfully built frame of tangled
branches and decorated with tiny white lights and strings of faux pearls. A
crystal chandelier hung from an ornate iron tree in the center of the tent, and
flowers spilled out of lush centerpieces. It was an intimate setting for their
large family and close-knit friends. But at that moment Zev didn’t feel quite
as close to his beloved family as he normally did. He and his five siblings
enjoyed giving each other a hard time, but they had always had each other’s
backs.
Until now.
He took another swig of tequila, chewing on that thought.
He should be celebrating the discovery of a lifetime this
weekend. He had spent the last several years, and tens of thousands of dollars,
searching for the wreckage of pirate Garrick “One-Leg” Clegg’s ship, the Pride,
which sank off the coast of Silver Island in 1716. Two days ago Zev had
discovered three concretions—hard masses that develop when metals start to
disintegrate and combine with salts present in ocean water, forming a
conglomerate that cements rock, sand, clay, and any nearby artifacts—at the
site where he believed the ship had gone down. An X-ray of the masses had shown
what appeared to be iron and silver artifacts and coins. Zev had given the
largest concretion, which weighed nearly one hundred pounds, and the supporting
X-rays and documentations to his attorney to begin the legal process of having
the vessel arrested, which would hopefully grant him exclusive salvage rights
to the sunken ship and all artifacts he hoped to find. But instead of
celebrating his history-making discovery, he was downing tequila to dull the
ache of seeing Carly Dylan again.
The Pride was supposed to be their discovery. They’d become
obsessed with the sunken ship when they’d seen a documentary about it in third
grade, and their interest had only grown over the years. They’d even made plans
to spend the summer after their freshman year in college searching for the
wreckage. When they were kids, Carly had been his fellow adventurer,
troublemaking cohort, and best friend, and as they’d matured, she’d also become
his lover and, he’d thought, his future.
But that was before…
Zev spotted Beau and their brothers Nick and Graham heading
his way. Traitors. He stared them down as they approached. He and his brothers
were all tall, broad shouldered, and athletic, but Zev and Beau had something
else in common—the torturous past that had changed both of their lives.
Goddamn Beau. If they weren’t at his wedding reception, Zev
would be tempted to knock the big-ass grins off each of their faces.
“I know you’re celebrating your discovery, but if you keep
sucking down that tequila, it’ll be the only thing leaving you flat on your
back tonight,” Graham said with a smirk. He was the youngest of Zev’s siblings.
Graham and their brother Jax could be Beau’s doppelgängers, with short brown
hair, meticulously manicured scruff, and serious eyes, while Zev and his older
brother Nick wore their hair longer, and Zev let his scruff go long stretches
without a thought, much less a trim.
Zev offered the bottle of tequila to Graham, chewing over
the fact that he’d had to learn about Carly’s living there, her close
friendship with Beau and Charlotte, and the fact that she’d catered desserts
for the wedding secondhand when he’d overheard a conversation during the
reception.
“No thanks, man. The only thing I want knocking me on my
back is my beautiful Sunshine.” Graham glanced across the lawn, where their
twin siblings Jax and Jillian were chatting with Graham’s wife, Morgyn, aka
Sunshine.
Zev’s attention was quickly drawn past Morgyn and the others
to the woman who had haunted his thoughts and starred in his every fantasy for
as long as he could remember. When he’d first seen Carly before the ceremony,
stunning in a sexy peach dress that showed off her long legs and slim waist,
their eyes had connected with the heat of summer lightning, and Carls had
slipped from his lips like a secret just as Zevy had fallen from hers. Hearing
her sweet, breathless voice after nearly a decade had left him momentarily
numb. She’d been carrying a tray of chocolate desserts, following Cutter Long,
a real-life fucking cowboy who Zev knew was one of Charlotte’s closest friends.
Cutter had barely left Carly’s side since the ceremony, and now Carly was
holding his arm, laughing at something he’d said. Zev had once been the guy by
her side. They’d even attended the same college. But that was a long time ago.
He couldn’t look away from her. She was even more beautiful
than he had remembered. Her hair was a lighter blond now, but even after all
this time he could still feel the silky strands trailing through his fingers.
He could still see her big blue eyes sparking with heat and playfulness as they
rolled around in the grass or treaded water in the ocean.
He gritted his teeth, struggling to push away the happier
memories he’d held on to like lifelines since the day he’d broken up with her
and left their hometown of Pleasant Hill, Maryland, two days after her best
friend, and Beau’s then-girlfriend, Tory Raznick, had been killed in a car
accident. Tory had been visiting a girlfriend and she’d flown home early
without telling anyone. She’d wanted to surprise Beau, but Zev had taken him
out to a party. When she’d texted from the airport, they’d been drinking, and
Beau hadn’t heard the phone. She’d called several other people looking for a
ride home, but in the end, she’d taken a cab. It was a stormy night, and the
driver lost control of the car less than three miles from the airport. Zev knew
it wasn’t his fault Tory had been killed, but guilt from taking Beau out that
night, and the realization that someone they loved could be torn from their
lives at any second, had tipped an iceberg that had crushed him.
Nick nudged Zev’s arm, jerking him from his thoughts, and
said, “Dude, Carly’s looking hotter than ever. If I’d known she was into
cowboys—”
“Shut the fuck up.” Zev took another swig of tequila.
Nick chuckled and tipped his hat. He was a horse trainer
with a body built for a fight and an attitude that always seemed to be begging
for one.
Zev had seen Nick knock a man out with a single punch, but
that wouldn’t stop Zev from going after him if he continued pushing his
buttons. He might be leaner than his massive brother, but his nomadic
treasure-hunting lifestyle had also made him quicker. Fearless and fast was a
dangerous combination when frustrations burned through Zev’s veins, as they
were now. But he didn’t give Nick a chance to get any deeper under his skin.
Instead, he set an angry stare on Beau and said, “Why didn’t you tell me she
was coming?” He eyed his other brothers. “You all knew she lived here, and nobody
clued me in. What the hell is up with that?”
Beau rolled his shoulders back and said, “The last time I
brought up Carly, you said you’d slaughter me if I ever mentioned her name
again.”
“You did, bro,” Graham agreed. “Remember? We were at Mom and
Dad’s last Fourth of July, when Beau and Char got engaged.”
How could he ever forget the day he’d never seen coming?
After Tory died, the pain and guilt had been so overwhelming
that Zev and Beau had both needed to get the hell away from Pleasant Hill. Beau
hadn’t been able to even be in the same room with his childhood best friend,
Tory’s older brother, Duncan, without wanting to tear something apart. Although
Zev had rarely returned home, he’d kept up with his family and had known about
the ever-growing rift between Beau and Duncan. Which was why when Duncan had
walked into their parents’ house the night Beau had gotten engaged, Zev had
been ready to take him down—until he’d learned that Beau had found a way to
move past Tory’s death and had made amends with Duncan.
That was the day that had made Zev wonder if he could find a
way to move past all that had happened, too. But the only person he wanted to
move forward with was Carly, and before the wedding, he’d seen her only once
since they’d broken up, and she’d made it clear she was over him.
“I know what I said.” Zev leveled Beau with a serious stare
and said, “But come on, man. You couldn’t have warned me? You and Char are
close to her. You knew she’d be here with Cutter. What the hell?”
“Hey, I have no idea what’s up with her and Cutter.” Beau
glanced at Charlotte, heading their way with Morgyn and her toughest sister,
Sable, just one of the many Montgomery siblings who had made it to the wedding,
and said, “But please tell me you’re not going to back out of watching the
animals for us while we’re on our honeymoon.” He had surprised Charlotte with a
weeklong honeymoon to the small village in France where her maternal
grandparents had lived.
Zev had agreed to stay at the inn and watch their chickens
and thief of a dog, Bandit, prior to his epic discovery because none of his
siblings had been able to commit. Last night he’d arranged for the remaining,
smaller concretions he’d found to be sent to his cousin Noah’s marine biology
laboratory on the outskirts of town, where he could work on extracting the
treasures while he was watching the inn. He’d spent every minute since
wondering which sibling he could wrangle into taking his place. But now that he
knew Carly lived there, he didn’t know what the hell he wanted.
“The horses are at Hal’s ranch, so you won’t have to muck
the stalls,” Beau said, as if it were a selling point. “I know you’ve got a lot
going on right now, but nobody else can do it.”
“Yeah, dude, I definitely can’t stick around to take care of
their animals,” Nick said. “I’m heading to Virginia to buy a couple of horses
at the end of the week.”
“Morgyn and I are leaving tomorrow for two weeks in Seattle,
and everyone else is taking off first thing tomorrow, too,” Graham added.
“Jilly and Jax have a big-city fashion show and will be gone for two weeks, and
Mom and Dad have a meeting about the winery expansion.” Their mother’s family
owned a chain of wineries called Hilltop Vineyards, and their father, an
engineer, was helping with the designs. “Sorry, Zev, but it’s all on you.”
Charlotte came to Beau’s side, looking gorgeous in her
fairy-tale-style wedding gown, which Jillian and Jax, both fashion designers,
had made for her. Beau put his arm around her and leaned in for a kiss. Seeing
his brother happy and so in love again brought warm memories of how it felt to be
with the person he loved. Zev stole another glance at the only woman who had
ever made him feel damn near anything. He may not know what he wanted, but one
thing was certain: Leaving was no longer his highest priority.
“Don’t worry,” Zev said. “I’d never leave you hanging.”
“Bet you say that to all the girls, Foreplay,” Sable said
with a raise of her brows, earning chuckles from his brothers.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Zev countered. Morgyn had come
up with the nickname Foreplay, which she claimed meant he was the guy women
sought for a good time but never for anything long term. As far as Zev was
concerned, that was pretty damn accurate.
“You’ve been staring at Cutter and Carly for so long, I’m
starting to wonder which one you’re into,” Morgyn teased.
“You know I don’t swing that way, Sunshine. But if I did, it
wouldn’t be with that cowboy.” Zev took another swig of tequila, his gaze
shifting to Carly again. Jillian and Jax had joined her and Cutter, and it
looked like they were all having a great damn time.
“Funny, I was thinking a cowboy was exactly what I needed.”
Sable flipped her thick mane over her shoulder and turned her attention to
Nick. “What do you say, burly boy? Can all those muscles move on the dance
floor, or are they only good for toiling away on your ranch?”
“Baby, there’s nothing this body can’t do.” Nick put a hand
on Sable’s lower back, leading her toward the makeshift dance floor.
“I want to dance!” Morgyn exclaimed. She grabbed Graham’s
hand, and they followed Nick and Sable.
Charlotte took Beau’s hand and said, “They’re playing our
song, hubby. We should dance, too.” She stepped closer to Zev and lowered her
voice to say, “Carly doesn’t bite, you know.”
“Well, that’s a damn shame, cutes,” Zev said with a grin. “I
always loved the way she used that sexy mouth of hers.”
Charlotte gave a happy little squeal and said, “I bet she’d
bite if you asked her to!”
“Come on, beautiful. I’m sure Zev doesn’t need any help in
that department.” Beau led her away, leaving Zev alone with his dirty thoughts
of Carly and her talented mouth.
No one knew Zev had run into Carly in Mexico when she was on
spring break the year after Tory’s death. He’d just finished a diving
expedition, and he was having a drink in a bar when he’d heard her infectious
laugh. He’d thought he’d imagined it, but then he’d seen her across the room,
stunningly beautiful and enticingly familiar. The second their eyes had
connected, an inferno had blazed between them, and the all-consuming emotions
he’d been trying to forget had nearly swallowed him whole. Their connection had
always been so strong they’d never needed many words to convey their thoughts,
and that night had been no different. They hadn’t talked about losing Tory, or
his leaving Pleasant Hill. In fact, they hadn’t talked much at all, except for
Zev to say he was in no position to make any promises, to which Carly had said,
I don’t want promises. I only want tonight. They’d spent one incredible night
in each other’s arms. Zev had known then that he’d made a mistake leaving the
way he had, and he’d thought—hoped—they might be able to find their way back
into each other’s lives. But when he’d woken up the next morning, Carly was
gone without a trace, leaving him confused, hurt, angry, and fiercely
determined never to feel that way again.
As he looked at her now, flashing her radiant smile at that
fucking cowboy, he accepted the truth he’d spent years trying to deny. Carly
Dylan hadn’t just captured his heart when they were kids. She’d claimed his
entire being—mind, body, and soul—and she’d own them until long after the day
he took his last breath.
About the Author:
Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today
bestselling and award-winning author. She writes sexy and heartwarming
contemporary romance, new adult romance and women's fiction with emotionally
compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page.
Readers adore Melissa's fun, flirty, and sinfully sexy, award-winning big
family romance collection, LOVE IN BLOOM featuring the Snow Sisters, Bradens,
Remingtons, Ryders, Seaside Summer, Harborside Nights, and the Wild Boys After
Dark. Melissa's emotional journeys are lovingly erotic and always family
oriented.
Melissa also writes sweet and clean romance under the pen name Addison Cole.
Melissa has painted and donated several murals to The Hospital for Sick Children
in Washington, DC. Her interests include her family, reading, writing,
painting, friends, helping others see the positive side of life, and visiting
Cape Cod.
Melissa is available to chat with book clubs and welcomes comments and emails
from her readers. Visit Melissa on social media or her personal website.
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gossip again by simply signing up to receive your newsletter from Melissa.
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Giana Darling is a USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Top
40 Amazon bestselling Canadian romance author who specializes in the taboo and
angsty side of love and romance. She currently lives in beautiful British
Columbia where she spends time riding on the back of her man’s bike, baking
pies, and reading snuggled up with her cat Persephone.
