Secrets of Bella Terra: A Scarlet Deception Novel [Paperback]

I've finished "Secrets of Bella Terra" the first book in her Scarlet Deception series by Christina Dodd.


Product Description

Brooding and sexy Rafe Di Luca has returned to his family's luxurious vineyard resort for one reason: to find out who attacked his beloved grandmother. His homecoming stirs up a decades - old feud, forcing him to work with Brooke Petersson, the woman he once seduced and betrayed ... but never forgot.

Product Details
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Signet Select; Original edition (August 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451413091
ISBN-13: 978-0451413093

My Review:

The book opens up with Sarah being viciously attacked in her own home.  Rafe Di-Luca is security expert who is on a rescue mission who returns home to his family's Bella Terra Vineyard and Resort in Bella Valley, California when he finds out his grandmother has been attacked.  With his two half-brother Eli and Noah they are determined to find out who attacked their grandmother and who is sabotaging the Resort and killing off people.

Brooke has been close to the Di-Luca family since she has been a teen when first moved to Bella Valley.  She was friends with Rafe in elementary school and then fell in love in high school.  They had a huge fight and he left for the military and when he came back Brooke was engaged.  They made love that night and then he left again in the morning without a backwards glance.  He hurt her deeply and she vows never to let him hurt her again when they are forced to work together.  She's a strong and independent woman who is quite stubborn.

Rafe is an alpha male who is broodingly sexy but clueless when it comes to Brooke.  He doesn't understand why she is angry after a conversation with her mother who doesn't really like him for hurting Brooke.

This book is more mystery suspense than romantic suspense because it deals more with the mystery and the romance is secondary.  It was fast paced and well written with such great characters that I can't wait until "Revenge at Bella Terra" comes out in September.

4/5