ARC REVIEW: Racing the Sun by Karina Halle

 TITLE: Racing the Sun

AUTHOR: Karina Halle

PUBLISHED: Atria Indies

RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2015

BLURB

It’s time for twenty-four-year-old Amber MacLean to face the music. After a frivolous six months of backpacking through New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia, she finds herself broke on the Mediterranean without enough money for a plane ticket home to California. There are worse places to be stuck than the gorgeous coastline of southern Italy, but the only job she manages to secure involves teaching English to two of the brattiest children she’s ever met.

It doesn’t help that the children are under the care of their brooding older brother, Italian ex-motorcycle racer Desiderio Larosa. Darkly handsome and oh-so-mysterious, Derio tests Amber’s patience and will at every turn—not to mention her hormones.

But when her position as teacher turns into one as full-time nanny at the crumbling old villa, Amber finds herself growing closer to the enigmatic recluse and soon has to choose between the safety of her life back in the States and the uncertainty of Derio’s closely guarded heart.

MY REVIEW: 

4.5/5 STARS 

Karina Halle, yet again, enchanted me with her sunny writing prose and her deep passion for traveling. Racing the Sun is a story of hope, pain, dreams, broken hearts, and conquering fear with the best medicine of all--love.

He lives like he loves, with passion and perseverance and complete commitment. 

Desiderio Larosa is drowning in the huge waves of dark memories brought by his past. He was a broken man bereft of feeling and hope, an everlasting night with no light. Karina Halle perfectly balances Derio's brokenness with his determination and passion. His romantic lines really got to me and gave all the right sensations I needed from a hero. Unlike Miss Karina’s other heroes, Derio was bit more serious and less crass. But of course, she astonishingly maintains the brooding sexiness of her heroes. Derio definitely measures up to what I expected from this book!  

I’m pretty sure I’m just a person composed of nothing more than good intentions and bad habits.  

Amber MacLean was a woman bathed with sunshine and hope. Determined to find herself by travelling around the world, she found a place that she knew she will never leave for a very long time. She found herself in a place where she found the other piece of herself--inside Desiderio Larosa's house and heart. Amber was a feisty little rose. I loved her to bits, similar to how Miss Karina embarked her previous heroines in my head. Amber was a tough-hearted yet loving and passionate woman.  Although she shared her own set of insecurities, Amber was a source of sincere passion, hope, and love, much like the most-awaited sunrise after a long, dark night.  

“You know sometimes I feel so trapped. So lost and alone. And then I look at you and I feel found.” 

Karina Halle continues her legacy of making readers fall in love not just with the characters but with the location of the story. Capri stole my heart in Racing the Sun. Amidst the romance and the beautiful description of Italy, Karina Halle added real-life dilemmas and lessons in her works, establishing a normalcy in a fictional story. Studded with rich characters that clawed through my heart, Racing the Sun is a must-read for every reader who knows about fears and conquering them, hope, and love. And Derio being a fucking hot bronze-skinned sex machine is a huge bonus.

The story started and seeped slowly for me, but towards the end, I was hit big time and loved it completely! KHalle's enchanting prose always entertains, her words knowing their way to a romance reader's heart.