Only You
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4.3 • 6 Ratings
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- $2.99
Publisher Description
Fake has never been so real…
Mallory "Baby" Gillham needs a second chance. Give a guy a private lingerie show and suddenly everyone in town is talking about you. Again. But Mallory wants to stay in Starlight Hill permanently, the one place she feels safe, even if the only men interested in her now are SLs (stripper lovers.)
His contract with the U.S. Army complete, Ranger Liam Turlock is stateside again and must decide whether he'll re-up for another four. He's been invited for a stay in Starlight Hill and some much-needed R&R. Liam suspects this is just the Turlocks' intrusive way of fixing him up. They've got their choices lined up for him and he's not interested in any of them.
When Liam meets Mallory while hiding behind a rack of banana hammocks at the Tatas and More lingerie shop (don't ask) he has an idea. He and Mallory will pretend to date so that 1. Mallory can repair her good-time girl image; and 2. Liam can get his family off his back. So for now, or at least until Liam goes back home to Colorado, he and Mallory are a thing to anyone who asks, especially anyone with the last name of Turlock.
Customer Reviews
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.
Packed to bursting with sweet emotions
It may not be long, but this book is absolutely packed to bursting with all the sweet emotions of a Hallmark movie. Mallory nearly broke my heart with everything she'd been through in her short life. And her crisis of self confidence was a point where I could easily connect with her. Liam comes across as just a great big teddy bear; everything that makes the best book boyfriend material, really. I loved these two together, and their holiday epilogue was the best way to closeout this book.