Caught Up in You by Claire Hastings
Leona Filipe- Island native. Daughter and sister. Strong connection to her family. She is a hard worker who has been working at the Resort since she was 15 to help her family make ends meet. She is now the Manager of House Keeping at the Indigo Royal Resort. A mature 27 year old
Cullen Cruz- Famous English Football Player. Forced into retirement, unsure of his future. Son of Immigrants. Yearly visitor to the Indigo Royal Resort
A love story ten years in the making. Cullen and Leona have fought an attraction to each other since a fateful night 10 years before. Cullen was all in with Leona until her learned she was only 17. Since that time, he has done everything in his power to alienate her and push her away, all the while demanding she be the one to clean and care for his bungalow while visiting the resort.
Leona loves big! She is a caretaker. She would do anything for the people she loves. Their needs seem to always come before hers. You can tell in her young life she has lived 3 lifetimes. Leona tends to be closed off and hard to get to know. Once she opens her heart you, she is all in. The Night she lost her virginity to Cullen she was infatuated, however he quickly turned that in to loathing with his actions towards her.
At the beginning of the book I kept shaking my head thinking Cullen is an ass. Dude really needs a reality check. But as the story develops and we get to know Cullen he is a pretty good guy. He does care. The life of fame has not been easy for him. He very much is attracted to Leona but has always felt he need to fight it because of their age. Once he opens himself up to her you see he has a very caring heart.
I really enjoyed this story. Claire Hastings is a newer author on the scene, but her stories are very well done. Caught Up in You is book 2 of the Indigo Royal Resort but can be read as a standalone. But you should read Can’t Fight this Feeling! The love affair with 80’s music in these stories makes me so happy. I am a child of the 80’s and love the music.
This was a 5/5 read for me. It is a Slow Burn Romance with an age gap. Even though you only see Leona and Cullen’s interaction over the 3 weeks they are on vacation, there are plenty of flashbacks and dialogue that show you how long these two have been fighting against their attraction for each other.
