Giveaway and Review: Saltwater Kisses by Krista Lakes

When small-town girl Emma LaRue won a vacation to an exclusive tropical island, a last minute cancellation meant she would be going by herself. Shy and studious, she never had time to fall in love, and often wondered if she was just meant to be alone. However, that all changed when a handsome stranger literally walked into her life while on the beach and sparks began to fly.

New York's most eligible billionaire bachelor Jack Saunders thought this vacation would be the perfect escape, one last hurrah, before taking full control of his father's company. When an innocent Emma didn't recognize him, he figured that he might get a chance to have a vacation from being rich. He didn't tell her about the cars, the yacht, or the penthouse. All he did was let her fall in love with him.

Soon, Jack found that he was the one falling in love with Emma. When they enjoy a fantasy marriage ceremony on the beach, they thought it was a bit of harmless fun before returning to their normal lives. A bittersweet goodbye was supposed to be the end of their perfect vacation romance, but when photos of the ceremony were leaked to the press, everything changed.

Feeling lied to and thrust into a world of wealth and privilege, Emma must choose between following her dreams or following her heart. Will she be content at being nothing more than the billionaire's wife, or will she return to her normal life with only memories of saltwater kisses?


4 Star Review by Guest Reviewer Allison East

When small-town girl Emma LaRue won a vacation to an exclusive tropical island, a last minute cancellation meant she would be going by herself. Shy and studious, she never had time to fall in love, and often wondered if she was just meant to be alone. However, that all changed when a handsome stranger literally walked into her life while on the beach and sparks began to fly.

New York's most eligible billionaire bachelor Jack Saunders thought this vacation would be the perfect escape, one last hurrah, before taking full control of his father's company. When an innocent Emma didn't recognize him, he figured that he might get a chance to have a vacation from being rich. He didn't tell her about the cars, the yacht, or the penthouse. All he did was let her fall in love with him.

Soon, Jack found that he was the one falling in love with Emma. When they enjoy a fantasy marriage ceremony on the beach, they thought it was a bit of harmless fun before returning to their normal lives. A bittersweet goodbye was supposed to be the end of their perfect vacation romance, but when photos of the ceremony were leaked to the press, everything changed.

Feeling lied to and thrust into a world of wealth and privilege, Emma must choose between following her dreams or following her heart. Will she be content at being nothing more than the billionaire's wife, or will she return to her normal life with only memories of saltwater kisses?

A small town girl, Emma, gets swept off her feet with an free vacation and romance?  It starts off as two people wanting to have a fling with one another and it escalates into something more than she could have imagined. The premise has been done before- young 20 something's, meet- one ends up being a billionaire, the other a small town nobody.

The story almost reminded me a small bit of Love Unscripted by Tina Reber, which is one of my all-time favorites. In this one, a sexy billionaire man, Jack, comes into a small town girl's life, Emma, and they don't want anything to happen- but they end up falling for each other. 

Emma's resort vacation is exotic and lush, along with all the excitement of a blossoming romance with Jack. Both of them are just real world people with normal problems. Emma, wants to go into Vet school, and doesn't know if she will be accepted or not. And Jack has to take over his dying father's role as head of the company. Then the vacation ends and everything changes. Suddenly, Emma is being whisked away to New York because of a silly pipe dream that happened on vacation. And while Emma should be excited about the possibility of this new lifestyle, she is not. She struggles to find her way in that world, and especially to find a way to save her connection with Jack.

Emma is a sweet, loving heroine. But sometimes it seems she doesn't really have a backbone. She is very timid when it comes to Jack. I understand being a small town girl; she would have some issues with that. She needed to learn to confront her fears especially after leaving the island. She was this fiery character on vacation, and after they left- it seemed like "what happened on vacation, stayed on vacation". She grew up a little towards the end- 

 "You wanted to push me away. You saw one thing that you didn't like, and instead of trusting me, you accuse me. You wanted to hurt me. Go back to your perfect life in a perfect office, where you don't feel anything or trust anyone. Where you don't have to be vulnerable or even human. Congratulations. You'll get it all back. I'll leave you and your precious money. I know better than to stay where I'm not wanted."

Jack is a smoking hot main character. I did kind of feel bad for him that he has to take over his dying fathers company without really even wanting to. And because this company is so famous, he is treated like a celebrity, always having to watch his back, and having his pictures taken. He was learning all the roles he would have to play, and it was very stressful on him. I did not like that he wasn't more sympathetic to the situation that he put Emma in. They both were to blame for that.

They had great sexual chemistry, you could tell they were meant to be together- it was just a matter of them both being on the same page. It was more like a "he said, she said, "deal where they would think it's too soon to be in love, but they were both thinking it already after just knowing each other a minimal amount of time. Sometimes those books are tough to believe, like "YEAH RIGHT", they have known each other and week and its already moving this fast?? But for some reason Krista Lakes had me believing that even I would be able to snag myself a billionaire in a week!

 "You have magic about you, Emma. I believe every word you say, and I rarely believe anyone."

It is a nice, fun, summer, beach read- and check out the second book Rainwater Kisses!  It is Emma's  sister's story!

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