The Bradens at Ridgeport #2

ARC provided by author

Author: Melissa Foster

Thanks, @melissafoster_author for the ARC.

Gotta love a Braden! We’ve met Seth Braden before – the witty, brilliant billionaire with a penchant for quirky clothes. He’s highly successful and a great part of his success he owes to his buddy Taylor, or ‘T’, his virtual assistant, his right hand man who never met in person or even spoken to. As a gift, Seth sends Taylor to his home in an island in the Caribbean for some needed R+R and, on a whim, he decides to surprise T and finally meet him. When he gets there, he finds out T is not feeling well and sent his sister, Ellie, in his place. His gorgeous sister….

Ellie is caught like a deer in headlights. Seth is here?! How will she explain that T is not a man, but a woman who has hidden her identity for safety reasons. She chokes and says she is ‘Ellie”, T’s sister. And now she is going to deal with the fact her boss, who she’s had a crush on for years, is there and completely charming? Ellie and Seth click and things get really complicated…

When the truth is revealed, can they deal with the feelings?

I trust Melissa to write good chemistry but I was not ready for Ellie and Seth. There’s something special about love that grows from friendship and I loved how they managed to understand that they belonged together and that the ‘deception’ – that bothered Taylor immensely- was devoid of any malice. 

As in all Melissa’s books, family is key. Taylor is dealing with a father who’s trying to grapple with a life with MS that he wants to live fully. Her protectiveness is, though stifling, endearing. I loved how Seth embraced it all – no surprise there if you met him in previous books. 

If you want a swoony hidden identity romance with a billionaire who actually cares for people, wishes in jars, extreme trust in the mute button of cell phones (IYKYK), cute rescue dogs, glass orchards, cave expeditions and  a swoony HEA, you’ve got it covered. 

And now I want myself a Braden…

Content notes: parent dealing with a chronic, debilitating disease; mentions of a stalker situation (past), mentions of a cancer diagnosis (secondary character, minor)