IT HAPPENED IN VEGAS.
I can't be held responsible. Things that happen there are supposed to stay there, right? Right? Yeeeah. Not so much.
Andie's just days away from tying the knot, but there's just ooooone little glitch. Apparently, she's already married. Or someone with her name is married to a guy out in Oregon of all places, and the courthouse won't issue her a marriage license until it's all cleared up. Tripping her way through cow pies and country songs to meet up with a man who gets around places on horseback is her very last idea of how to have a good time, but if she's going to get married, make partner at the firm, and have two point five kids before she's thirty-five, she needs to get to the bottom of this snafu and fix it quick ... before her fiance finds out and everything she's been working toward goes up in flames.
Nothing is set in stone. Except Andie’s life, that is. After a pretty sketchy childhood, she vowed to turn her life around by solidly and faithfully following a life-plan. Husband, 2.5 kids, and partner for the law firm she works at… all before she’s 35. It’s all coming together for Andie… until a fateful tryst with a stranger during her best friend’s Bacelorette Party in Las Vegas. It was just a one night thing, she thought. Boy, she thought wrong.
Two years later and two weeks from finally getting married to a guy who’s practically a male version of her, a little glitch comes up. Turns out, she’s already married... and she has no idea how the hell that happened. So off she goes to The-Middle-Of-Nowhere, Oregon to look for her supposed husband.
Nothing else says whirlwind romance than what was waiting for Andie in Oregon. What she expected to be a quick in and out to get a divorce became a life changing turning point for Andie.
Gavin “Mack” MacKenzie is one hot cowboy if ever there were one.
He lost her once, but he’s not losing her that easily again.
So two years after their fateful meeting in Vegas, Andie and Mack rekindle their romance (soon-to-be-ex-Fiance back in New York notwithstanding). But is Andie ready to let go of her life plan in exchange for a life with Mack?
I enjoyed reading SHINE NOT BURN because of how well it was written. I loved the quick wit and the easygoing way Elle Casey rendered Andie and Mack’s story. It’s an honest-to-goodness feel-good book novel. The lighthearted story offsets the hot and heavy romance, and I think it worked well. It added an extra layer of charm to the story.
It’s also swoon-inducing how Mack was so ready to fight for his marriage with Andie even though he knows that he does not really fit into her life plan. I loved how he won’t give up on her despite how much Andie kept on denying what was going on between them.
"Why can't you just let me go?" …
"I can't let you go because you're mine."
Ugh. I can’t even wrap my mind around how perfect Mack is! Even though he’s this tall tower of muscle, deep inside he is such a softie, especially for Andie. I kept squealing everytime there’s a sweet moment between those two.
Andie, despite here slightly messed up idea of following her life plan to the letter, is also a pretty decent character. She’s headstrong, she’s got a smart mouth and it’s not hard to imagine Mack falling for her. It was especially fun to read their personalities clash in the cutest and most romantic way possible!
All the other characters were so lovable! I especially adore Maeve and Ian MacKenzie and I’m hoping we get to see more of them. I am also kind of curious of what happens to Mack and Andie after the events of SHINE NOT BURN
SHINE NOT BURN was so fun to read. It was witty and there were some real laugh-out-loud moments. I’m now looking forward to more of Elle Casey’s work.