Only Mine – Susan Mallery

You can’t win if you don’t play…

Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers—the perfect contestants—off the show. Despite Dakota’s better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious outsider. Like her, Finn knows about heartbreak and how a family can fall apart, so she doesn’t dare to hope for anything more than a fling. After all, even in the Land of Happy Endings, finding true love is never as easy as it looks on TV.

Let me start by saying I love Susan Mallery’s books.  LOVE THEM!  She has that perfect combination of wit, humor, and romance to go with the character she develops for her books.  This book, #4 in the Fool’s Gold series is set around Dakota Hendrix and Finn Andersson.  Based on my statement 2 sentences ago, Finn Andersson has just topped the list of my favorite male character in this series!

When we meet Finn, he’s fit to be tied because his twin 21 year old brothers decide to bail on their last semester of college to participate in a dating reality show being filmed in Fool’s Gold.  He pleads with just about anyone connected with the show to find a way to make sure the twins don’t get on.  When he doesn’t get what he wants, he storms away (which he does quite frequently…poor baby) or threatens.  Finn is stubborn, hard-headed, and disinclined to acknowledge that someone else’s opinion or assessment of a situation is better than his.  Of course, having to raise his brothers for the past 8 years has probably caused him to react the way he does to situations that threaten his family.  He does have his sweet moments and his dry sense of humor make him all the more adorable.

Dakota has her own set of issues.  Coming from a large, close knit family hasn’t stopped her from feeling broken inside, especially after being diagnosed with two medical conditions that make her dreams of an ordinary family less of a reality.  Add to that the fact that she’s never been in love or currently have any prospects and you have a woman ripe for a fling when she mets our dear Finn.
Finn and Dakota connect with each other (and not just on a sexual level) but the two tap dance around what’s happening because she’s looking forever and he’s looking for just until I leave for Alaska.

While Finn and Dakota try to figure out what they’re doing, we have the best secondary character romance I’ve read in a long time between Finn’s brother Stephen and Aurelia.  They’re paired together in the reality show (which is another funny scene with Finn blowing his lid over Stephen getting paired with ‘the cougar’.  After you meet Aurelia, you will understand just how far off base Finn is with that assumption) and so begins their story.  He’s cute, she’s cute…they’re just so damn cute together.  AWWWW!

We get to catch up with a few of the characters from previous Fool’s Gold books.  Josh and Chastity’s baby is there (although Josh is absent).  Pia and Raoul make an appearance (she’s seven months pregnant now with the twins).  Dakota’s sisters, Nevada and Montana are very involved, along with their mother, Denise.  Dakota’s sister-in-law, Liz Sutton, shows up briefly but no Ethan (BOOO!).
Great addition to the Fool’s Gold series.  Can’t wait for Montana’s story next.

4 Cocktails