ARC #Review: The Trouble with Temptation by Shiloh Walker - 3.3 Wine Glasses

Title:  The Trouble with Temptation
Series:  The McKay’s   #2
Author:  Shiloh Walker
Format:  Paperback & eBook, 384pgs
Published:  May 3, 2016 by St. Martin’s
ASIN: B016IDMLW2
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N
Source: Netgalley
Reviewer:  Kimberly
Rating:  3.3 out of 5 Wine Glasses

Love is the greatest risk of all.

After seven days in a coma, Hannah Parker remembers nothing about the accident that landed her in the hospital--or how she ended up pregnant with Brannon's baby, the man she's loved since high school. Her body and heart have burned for him for years, and when she wakes up, he's sleeping by her bedside, anxious to keep her safe at all costs. But as Hannah struggles with her amnesia, a threat looms closer--one that could have deadly consequences if she recovers her memories. She will have to trust Brannon completely if she is to keep what haunts her at bay…and their baby safe….

Brannon McKay spent the last ten years fantasizing about Hannah. In his mind, he's explored every passionate scenario he can think of while, in real life, Brannon took their budding relationship and threw it away with both hands. Hannah doesn't remember what happened but, now that she is awake, Brannon would rather die than watch her walk away again. When Hannah and his unborn child's life is threatened, Brannon must stake claim to the woman who has held his heart captive for years…or risk disaster tearing them apart…

Kimberly’s Thoughts:
Brannon McKay has been Hannah Parker's crush ever since they were children but in a weird twist of fate, Hannah wakes up from a coma, pregnant, with Brannon's baby, and no memory. The police are saying she witnessed a murder and then had a car accident but Hannah can't even remember her own middle name. Brannon sees this as a second chance opportunity to start over with Hannah and with a killer on the loose; he is determined to keep her at his side. With two strong willed people battling it out and a killer growing more desperate, the town of McKay's Treasure is in for one tumultuous storm.

Second in the McKay's series, you definitely want to read the first before tackling this one. While the first highlighted the youngest McKay sibling, Neve, The Trouble with Temptation centers on the middle child, Brannon. He has always been drawn to his younger sister's friend Hannah but felt too old for her. In the first book, Hannah finally pushes Brannon enough that he takes that final step but we were left with Hannah in a coma. Here we start off with Hannah waking up but having amnesia.

I felt the first twenty percent or so was a bit slow, the scene and characters were being set but after getting glimpses of the crackling tension between Brannon and Hannah in the first book, I was more than ready to get their story rolling. I complained a little about the overall story eclipsing the couple in the first book and I'm going to complain a lot of that happening in this one. I really liked the characters of Brannon and Hannah and enjoyed them even more together but they were pushed to the side far too often in their own story.

The continuing storyline of the mysterious killer was a big front runner, necessary for an in danger element for our heroine and what seems to be a long held vendetta against the McKay family. This book especially and what I imagine will feel for the series as a whole, feels less specifically romance than general fiction with suspense and romance highlights. If you go in not expecting a complete focus on romance aspects, then you wouldn't be disappointed.

With the focus taken off Brannon and Hannah specifically, I felt it left the characters and their relationship very bereft. Brannon kind of became a one dimensional growly protective male and Hannah came off a bit overly stubborn. When they were together it was less hot sexual tension and more wary tension, Brannon worried Hannah would remember their last fight and Hannah not knowing exactly how Brannon feels about her. I missed them simply talking and seeing their relationship grow and while there seemed to be plenty of sexual situations, they also felt surprisingly short.

What really works for me in this series and this book is the large cast of characters and how the author intertwines their lives and stories into the overall tapestry. I typically like more of a focus on one couple, so it's the determent of that, but it does make for a pretty absorbing story. I mentioned it in my review for the first but these books really do feel like they could easily be a tv series, a lot of offshoot storylines going on.

There were some things I felt clogged the story up a bit, there was an added villain that showed up in the beginning and while it added some of those offshoot storylines I talked about liking, it disappeared at the end and I much rather would have had more of Brannon and Hannah. Hannah also had way too many times where she was attacked or almost attacked by various men; it started to become very redundant.

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this return to the town of McKay's Treasure and its people, as I said, it is an absorbing journey. The oldest McKay, Moira, is next and from what I have read so far about her and Gideon, childhood sweethearts, their story is going to be extremely emotional and Walker always excels in the emotional strife arena.


Series Reading order:
Headed for Trouble (McKays, #1) 

The Trouble with Temptation (The McKays, #2) 

The Right Kind of Trouble (The McKays, #3)