Bayou Beauty
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4.3 • 11 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Love returns to Louisiana's Butterfly Bayou in a new small-town contemporary romance sure to charm hearts, from New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake.
Sylvie Martine was prepared to take Washington D.C. by storm, but she put that dream on hold when her beloved hometown of Papillon, Louisiana, needed her most. Now Sylvie's the mayor of the tiny town on the bayou that holds her heart. But for Sylvie, this can only be a pit stop on the way to bigger and better things. The last thing she needs is an old love to resurface and threaten her goals.
Rene Darois’s whole life has been about serving his family—no matter how much it hurts. He’s used to sacrificing for his large extended family and the company his grandfather created. But he can’t believe the latest demand: he needs to find a wife and quick or he could lose it all. It would be a horrible situation. But he has just the solution: his high school sweetheart. Sylvie is everything he wants in a wife—smart, funny, and caring—and he planned to woo her anyway.
Now he just has to convince Sylvie that their love is worth it all, or he and the bayou will lose her forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blake returns with the sweet, steamy, but flawed fourth Butterfly Bayou romance (after Bayou Dreaming). Papillon, La., Mayor Sylvie Martine is "fairly certain she'd been born with a crush" on her brother's best friend, Rene Darois, the scion of an old Bayou family. The pair were close as children and grew closer in college; for a time, Sylvie was Rene's "first thought in the morning and the last thing he saw in his mind" at night. A decade ago, they shared a single kiss before their lives took different paths. But when Rene learns he must marry to maintain control of the family business, Sylvie agrees to a marriage of convenience. Given the match's financial motivation, Sylvie struggles to trust their feelings—and Rene's treacherous, greedy family only makes things harder. There's a hint that their relationship is complicated by class and race: Rene is white and old-money; Sylvie is Black and working-class. But the story shies away from the racial politics at play, focusing instead on the Darois family's respect for the Martine family's connections and Sylvie's mother's psychic powers. This awkward color-blindness drains an otherwise lovely story of some of the zest and specificity of previous installments. It's missing some flavor, but will still go down smoothly enough for most readers.
Customer Reviews
Heart warming
BAYOU BEAUTY is the fourth instalment in Lexi Blake’s contemporary, adult BUTERFLY BEAUTY romance series. This is thirty-two year old, businessman and heir Rene Darois, and twenty-eight year old, Papillion, Louisiana Mayor Sylvie Martine’s story line. BAYOU BEAUTY can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Sylvie and Rene) BAYOU BEAUTY follows the second chance romance and relationship between is thirty-two year old, businessman and heir Rene Darois, and twenty-eight year old, Papillion, Louisiana Mayor Sylvie Martine. Sylvie Martine has been in love with her brother’s best friend Rene Darois for most of her life but ten years earlier, following a proclamation of need and want, Rene kissed our heroine, then walked out of her life. Fast forward to present day wherein Rene Martine is now Papillion Louisiana’s mayor, previously having worked in Washington DC, and in the ensuing years she has only seen Rene a handful of times. Rene Darois has never forgotten about Sylvie Martine but Sylvie continues to keep her distance much to the chagrin of our story line hero. Rene is in desperate need of a wife, and the only woman that calls to his heart is the woman whose heart he is about to break. What ensues is the marriage of convenience between Rene and Sylvie, and the potential fall-out as someone is sabotaging the Darois family business, and our couple have been targeted in the process.
Rene Darois had been groomed to take over the family business but greed, jealousy, secrets and lies are about to push Rene to walk away in an effort to save the woman he loves. As CEO, Rene has been at the top of his game but the greed and selfishness of several members of the Darois family are pushing at Rene’s barely controlled anger and need to throw it all away. The Darois dysfunctional family dynamics is about to play into the hands of a long, family history of secrets and lies, and in this Rene is growing tired of the betrayal. Sylvie Martine has never forgotten about the boy/man that had stolen her heart but when Rene walked into her office with a proposal of marriage, Sylvie was torn between head and heart knowing this may be her only chance to for a ‘happily ever after’ with the man that she loves.
The relationship between Sylvie and Rene is a friends to lovers, best friend’s younger sister, marriage of convenience for two people whose love for one another is obvious except to the people involved. Most of the family suspects that Rene’s marriage is a fraud but our couple are determined to prove that their marriage is anything but. The $ex scenes are all implied or fade to black.
There is a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including many of the previous story line couples and characters, and several members of the Dubois family. We welcome the return of Sylvie’s brother and Rene’s best friend Andre, a photojournalist, and of course Sylvie’s mother Marcelle Martine, and Delphine Dellacourt Guidry who like to ‘work’ with the supernatural. The reader is introduced to Rene’s mother Cricket, Rene’s uncle Charles, cousins Gabriel Layton and his sister Ashley, as well as Rene’s right hand man Louis.
BAYOU BEAUTY is a story of family, friendships, relationships and love; of greed, jealousy, secrets and lies; of betrayal and deceit, conflict, power and control. The character driven premise is fast paced and imaginative; the characters are animated, sassy and spirited; the romance is heart warming. BAYOU BEAUTY is another welcome addition to Lexi Blake’s BUTTERFLY BAYOU.