I love the Grayson brothers – so far we’ve had Seb in Deep Autumn Heat and Theo in Blaze of Winter.  Now we get delicious, bad-boy Cole.

Julie Kensington grew up in Star Harbor with the Graysons and remembers the troublemakers well.  Now, she’s back to open a practice in her home town and the last thing the by-the-book doctor needs is an overwhelming attraction to broody Cole.  Cole came back from war with his shares of demons.  He’s always had a thing for straight-laced Julie but he’s never felt good enough for her, even more so now that he’s haunted by his past.  But when Julie decides to loosen up a little, he can’t resist being the one to show her the joys of being wild.

So far I think Cole is my favorite.  He’s tormented by the things he’s seen and done – not only as a soldier, but also as a hell-raiser of a child.  He knows he has a problem and he’s seen someone about it but, in that typical tough-guy way, he’s trying to power through it as much as he can. When Julie is threatened by known and unknown people, and when Cole realizes the depths of his feelings for her, things get very overwhelming for him and he has to decide if he can overcome his issues.

Readers of the previous Star Harbor novels will appreciate the on-going mystery surrounding the Lorelei as well as the drug problem that has been featured in the previous books.  However, if this is your first one, don’t worry – Barrett does a great job of giving the pertinent details (and in a way that won’t feel overdone to those returning readers), adding a great suspense element to what was already an enthralling story.

Long Simmering Spring is a great mix of intrigue and angst, complimenting a really sweet second-chance love story.