Racing the Sun by Karina Halle Pages: 336
Published by Atria Books on July 28, 2015
Series: Where Sea Meets Sky #2
Genres: contemporary, Romance, New Adult
Source: eARC from Publisher
From the New York Times bestselling author of Where Sea Meets Sky comes a new adult novel about a young woman who becomes a nanny in Capri and falls for her charges’ bad-boy brother.
It’s time for twenty-four-year-old Amber MacLean to face the music. After a frivolous six months of backpacking through New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia, she finds herself broke on the Mediterranean without enough money for a plane ticket home to California. There are worse places to be stuck than the gorgeous coastline of southern Italy, but the only job she manages to secure involves teaching English to two of the brattiest children she’s ever met.
It doesn’t help that the children are under the care of their brooding older brother, Italian ex-motorcycle racer Desiderio Larosa. Darkly handsome and oh-so-mysterious, Derio tests Amber’s patience and will at every turn—not to mention her hormones.
But when her position as teacher turns into one as full-time nanny at the crumbling old villa, Amber finds herself growing closer to the enigmatic recluse and soon has to choose between the safety of her life back in the States and the uncertainty of Derio’s closely guarded heart.
Racing the Sun is the second book in the Where Sea Meets Sky series, but it is a complete standalone. I didn’t read the first book, but I did read the summary and those characters did not show up in Racing the Sun. Not to mention it takes place in a totally different area of the world. Racing the Sun takes place on the island of Capri, and I have to say that Karina Halle has made me bump Capri up on my list of places that I need to visit ASAP. It sounds absolutely gorgeous! Maybe a country is more gorgeous with a sexy budding love story though, who knows.
Racing the Sun is told entirely from Amber’s point of view. Amber takes a tutoring position with a broken family in Capri after spending all of her money on her jaunt through Europe, leaving her with no money for a plane ticket home. I thought that was hilarious. I have no idea why, but I for some strange reason, I absolutely loved that she has been traveling so long and she just up and got a job in a foreign country to make more money to get home. (I know, I sound like a crazy person, but that is so far out of my comfort zone, that I just loved she was brave enough to do all of it.)
I loved Racing the Sun. The romance, the writing, the setting, all of it was a homerun. Karina Halle was inside my head with Amber. Even though she is way more impulsive and brave in a much different way than I am, I feel like our feelings and thought process were so similar. I felt like I was in capri tutoring those kids. At any given point in the story, I could take a situation that Amber was in and think “oh man, this is what I would do.” or “uh uh, that would not stand with me.” and then lo and behold, not more than a few pages later, Amber was doing just what I would do! Get out of my head Karina Halle. (or rather, stay but make me a Derio ::winkwink::) And I loved that while this was a heartwarming romance, it was a complete romance- with all of the ups and very realistic downs.
And the romance in Racing the Sun was great. I lurveed Derio. A lot. He only did one thing to annoy me in the whole story (and it certainly annoyed Amber too…of course) But watching Amber peel Derio back layer by layer until they each admitted their feelings was a beautiful thing to witness. Racing the Sun is the perfect book for summer. You will be instantly transported to Capri. Karina Halle’s writing is pure magic. Grab a copy, lay out by the pool or on the beach (or under covers if its’ raining) and enjoy.
Check out @BookBriefs review of @metalblonde's #RacingTheSun Italy, brooding Derio, sexy times – get into it! @AtriaIndies Click To Tweet
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Atria Indie Authors and Karina Halle are giving away: (1) grand prize of a $50 AMEX Gift Card + 1 signed copy of RACING THE SUN and 1 copy of WHERE SEA MEETS SKY….PLUS: (6) Runner Up Prizes of 1 signed copy of RACING THE SUN
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Note: this book satuisfies COYER scavenger hunt #68-Read a book where the main character is a teacher. (I used tutor)
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
kindlemom1
Yay! Love that you loved this too. It really was a fun read with a gorgeous setting!
jazmen
I’ve been wanting to check out Halle’s books for a while. Maybe I’ll start with this one, and thanks for the giveaway!
Dee Swan
Great review! Thanks!