As promised yesterday, here is my review for Falling for her Soldier!

*****

She fell for the nice guy, but will she fall for the real guy?

Ex-ballerina Ellie Bell has twenty-four days left until her self-imposed man-less year is up. No more falling for the wrong kind of guy—charming, sexy, bad. Why can’t she find someone sweet like Charlie Johansson, her soldier pen pal? His e-mails meant the world to her, and she can’t stop thinking about him…until she meets Hunter, whose muscles and cocky smile threaten to have her relapsing.

Before Charlie “Big Game Hunter” Johansson’s last tour of duty, he’d gone through women like crazy. But after connecting on a real, emotional level via letters with his best friend’s sister, Charlie’s ready for a relationship—with Ellie Bell. But then her brother introduces him as Hunter. Proving he’s no longer a player by becoming Ellie’s dance partner for an Army benefit seems like it could convince both siblings he’s changed, but the harder he falls for Ellie, the harder it is to come clean. Can he convince her to fall for the real him before it’s too late?

I’m not usually a fan of deception romances, even if it was an accident on Charlie’s part, but this one worked for me. There wasn’t really a good way for him to come clean any earlier than he does because I don’t know that Ellie would have believed he had changed until she got to know him.

Charlie and Ellie are so much fun together – snarky, funny, entertaining, sexy and sweet. London does a fantastic job of slowly building their relationship – if you can call 5 days a slow build, but it makes sense in context. I remember reading Tessa’s story (Charlie’s sister) in Playing at Love and really enjoying it. But I think that London may have even gotten better with time – the characters have depth and emotion, their interactions are charming and touching, and their issues are realistic and enthralling.

Charlie finds himself in a bind that isn’t quite his fault and he does the best he can to minimize the damage to his relationship with both Sam and Ellie. His last mission causes him to rethink the way he’s living his life and he’s trying hard to be a better man. I cracked up when he uses his Hunter charm on Ellie and rooted for him as he tries to figure out how to fix his mess. I definitely think he’s going to have to go on my fake boyfriend list.

Ellie also had me laughing as she deals with Charlie and his flirting. She’s had a bad history with men but is hoping that she can change that. Her reaction is totally understandable when she finds out the truth about who Hunter is and London does a great job of having her behave in a realistic and relatable way. I could totally see where she is coming from and things resolve themselves quickly but gratifyingly.

With Falling for her Soldier, London once again delivers a romantic treat full of heart and humor that left me feeling satisfied at the end. I think that at this point I’d pick up any story that had her name on the cover without even reading the blurb.

(This is the third book in the “Perfect Kiss” series, but even though I had read the first book I don’t think it made any difference. I haven’t read the second one and didn’t really feel like I missed anything. Like most series, there are appearances by the characters from the other books, but their stories don’t really play a part here. So if this is the first book for you, go ahead and take a chance. I think you’ll find yourself very happy you did.)