Tempting by Susan Mallery

Synopsis compliments of Shelfari....

After three romantic flame-outs in a year and a restaurant career going nowhere, Dani Buchanan needs a fresh start. She goes looking for her biological father, but never expects to find a senator running for president. As his long-lost 'love child,' Dani could seriously derail the election— something his handsome campaign manager Alex Canfield isn't going to let happen. Dani isn't about to let Alex run her life, no matter how tempting she finds him—and Alex isn't going to allow Dani to melt his cynicism, no matter how close he has to get. The last thing either of them wants is love, especially with scandals brewing and family trouble on the way. But Dani and Alex are forced to trust each other, and when trust turns to passion, the potential for disaster is only a tabloid scandal away.

My thoughts....

I am finding myself becoming more and more of a fan of Susan Mallery after every book I read by her. This is the second Buchanan book that I have read and one of my favorites. Although I couldn't identify with Dani's struggles to find her true place with a different family while maintaining her connection with the family she was raised in, Mallery does an excellent job of helping the reader empathize with the situation. I found this to be true with the other books I read by her also.

The Buchanan family has a wonderful dynamic and it makes one wish to be a part of it. Even though this is Dani's story we get a special treat to get back in touch with the other Buchanan's from previous books. This included Gloria, Dani's wicked witch of a grandmother. Susan Mallery once again proves that she can take a character that a reader can dislike and somehow redeem them and make them likable.

The romance of the book is good but I think what I like best was Dani's "new" family. The Canfields have created a family that I admire greatly. All the children are adopted and all have either been labled unadoptable or not "normal". We get to meet Bailey, Alex's 15 year old sister with down syndrome, Ian who has a brilliant mind but who's body struggles with CP and Sasha, the youngest of the bunch who happens to have HIV. This is just a few of them and I absolutely loved reading about them. After working for over a decade with people with special needs they definitely found a spot in my heart.

Katherine Canfield, Alex's mother, is another character that you just identify with. You feel her struggles to accept Dani into their home and lives with the knowledge that the husband she loves more then the moon had a biological daughter with someone else. Even though there was no cheating involved that resulted in Dani's conception, you can just feel that she is torn between taking Dani under her wing and being jealous of the fact that another woman gave her husband something she never could.

Over all I would give this book a 4.5 Stars.