Can’t Buy Me Love by Molly O’Keefe
Crooked Creek, Book 1
Bantam Books
Contemporary
ISBN: 978-0-440-42307-2
Reviewed by Miranda




Tara Jean Sweet gets the opportunity of a lifetime when elderly Lyle Baker makes her an offer she can’t refuse.  Lyle is sick and knows he’s losing his battle with his health.  Lyle wants to see his kids before he dies and knows the perfect way to get them back on the family ranch.  Tara accepts Lyle’s proposal and his offer to help make his leather company a success.

Star Hockey Player Luc Baker is looking at his last season on the ice.  The last thing that Luc wants is to see his hateful father once again but when he gets a look at his father’s new fiancé he can’t stay away from Crooked Creek.  Even in death Lyle Baker takes control of his children.  Now Luc is forced to stay in the one place he hates and deal with a woman he can’t stand.

The rapid changes happening force both Tara and Luc to take a long hard look at their lives.  Will they be able to work together? Might working together bring them together in a whole new way? Tara and Luc fight their attraction but some things are just destined but will their relationship burn bright or fade fast?

Molly O’Keefe’s Can’t Buy Me Love is a romance to be cherished.  Tara Jean is a scrappy woman with determination and heart.  Luc is handsome, stubborn  and good-hearted man.  Both of these characters deserve some love but have rarely experienced it in their lives.  I felt an intense and overwhelming love for these characters.  I love how open and honest Tara Jean is about where she’s been and where she wants to go in the future.  I could feel Luc’s pain from his childhood and the effect it is having on the person he is in the present.  I understand his brusque attitude with Tara Jean and his father, his fear of not being able to play hockey anymore and his desire to save his sister.

Tara and Luc sizzle whether they are having a conversation or making-out.  There is something so special about these characters.  I think the fact that they both desperately need to experience true love is something that gave me this great hope while reading.  I wanted them to be happy and knew they could find that together if they could get over their stubbornness.  The emotions that both characters experience feel so real.  Ms. O’Keefe does an amazing job of making her characters feelings come through clearly on the pages.

Can’t Buy Me Love should be put at the top of every romance lover’s to-be-read list!