September is a warm month on the beach, and a Navy SEAL runs while getting some well-earned R and R. Andrew Lanham, or Drew, is idly thinking of girls in a one-night-stand context, when he meets a stunning young lady called Jenna. However she's busy supervising the safety of sea turtle nests, and she doesn't have much time to think about men. Even military ones, which she can recognise at fifty paces, having grown up around them. Jenna works with the Fish and Game Department, though it doesn't say so on her bikini.

Drew is staying with his elderly godmother, Aunt Evie, and in no time he spots that her callers are after the quirky lady's money, for one cause or another. Evie is less delicate than she appears and capable of making up her own mind, but Drew is still concerned. And what exactly is going on between these marine biologists, Jenna included?

I love the sea turtle hatchery which Jenna plans to establish, bringing tourists and scientists alike to the town and helping to save endangered Loggerheads. If she can get it off the ground, on a more personal note, her parents will finally respect her and approve of her degree. Sadly the bright, devoted naturalist ladies are sometimes easily fooled by manipulative men, and Jenna's had a bad run of those guys. While there's a vacancy in her life, I can well see how a SEAL who freaks out from post-combat stress would not be the wisest choice to fill it. Miss Evie is also hiding a secret, and the more I saw of her the more I liked her. So there is plenty of tension to keep the reader busy as the story swings along via the beach to a Christmas finale.

I love this adult romance and will be grabbing Tracy Solheim's works any time I see them. HOLIDAY AT MAGNOLIA BAY would suit me at any time of the year.

Book Summary