'Til There Was U

Architect Ryan O'Fallon needs to leave San Diego and return home to Tennessee to help in a family emergency. But his co-worker Effie Wilson isn't about to let him finish their mall plans on his own and take all the credit! She's going with him. What happens when they take a break from their busy big-city lives? 'TIL THERE WAS U is the first book in Dianne Castell's FOUR O'FALLONS AND A BABY series. It's off to a great start! Plenty of steam, funny characters and cleverly interwoven storylines add up to a captivating book that's hard to put down. I loved watching Ryan and Effie shed their California habits as they fit right into the O'Fallon's Landing lifestyle. I hoped they would both come to the same conclusion about what they want most in their lives. I enjoyed the extensive secondary romance between Thelma McAllister and Conrad Hastings, too. I'm looking forward to meeting more of the O'Fallon brothers as the series continues. And I can't wait to find out the full story behind baby Bonnie!

With her trademark humor and three-dimensional characters, Dianne Castell launches her Kensington Brava "O'Fallon Family" trilogy with the winning `Til There Was U. Turning the popular "secret baby" plot on its ear, Castell presents us with a secret mother instead, an adorable if vocal baby girl, and the O'Fallon patriarch and his three hunky sons. `Til There Was U features Ryan O'Fallon, who returns to his rural Tennessee home to help his father find the missing mother of baby Bonnie. Ryan's San Diego architectural firm coworker, Effie Wilson, comes along so they can complete a pressing project. An attraction that simmered in California ignites in the sultry nights along the Mississippi River, and suddenly there's a lot more between Ryan and Effie than blue prints and deadlines. Complicating matters are sinister men who are also searching for Bonnie's mom and won't stop at murder to locate her - a plot line that carries the reader on to the second installment in the series. As a bonus to this engaging story, Castell offers a secondary romance - a moving if unlikely pairing of a "wrong-side-of-the-levee" heroine and a seemingly irredeemable, spoiled-snob hero. The next book, The Way U Look Tonight, can't arrive soon enough for me!

Ryan O'Fallon and Effie Wilson deserve this delightfully sexy story! A fast-paced book, laugh-out-loud funny, and must go on your keeper shelf! I look forward to more of Dianne Castell's books.

Ryan O'Fallon and Effie Wilson are co-working architects working on a huge mall project. Ryan makes the decision to visit his childhood Tennessee home on the banks of the Mississippi to get to the bottom of the rumor that he is the father of a baby that has been mysteriously left at his father's home. Effie insists upon tagging along, unwilling to let Ryan finish this project solo and be the recipient of the credit and likely awards from this fabulous project. After discovering that Bonnie is Ryan's half sister and that Bonnie's mother is suspiciously missing, Ryan vows to do whatever is necessary to help his father. Once he sees Effie with her arms and legs bare and her belly button ring shining in the hot Tennessee sun, Ryan realizes that it is going to be mightly difficult to keep his hands and mouth off of her. It isn't long before the two of them decide that one dose of hot steamy sex should be enough to get their mutual desire under control, but they are both very wrong and end up wanting each other more than ever. Between working on their project, helping with the baby and trying to find the baby's mother, Ryan and Effie are kept very busy. Not busy enough to keep them both from wondering what will happen between them after they return to California. Ryan and Effie are great together and while their romance is fun and lighthearted, they still generate an abundance of steam. Dianne Castell's descriptions of emotions and feelings are very realistically written, and her secondary characters are crucial to this story. I'm anxious to return to Tennessee and O'Fallon's Landing for the next book in this series. Great job, Dianne!

`Til There Was U by Dianne Castell is a treat from page one. Ryan O'Fallon is floored when he is told he has a daughter. He decides to go back to O'Fallon's landing to get to the bottom of this story. But he is in the middle of a huge project so he talks his fellow architect Effie Wilson to go home with him to work. This sounds good in theory but once Ryan gets a good long look at the relaxed Effie all thoughts of work are gone. Effie Wilson is determined to get that corner office so she wants this project to work. But now that she has left the big city her whole world changes. Effie has had this enormous crush on Ryan and no time like the present to act on it. Now that her heart is involved things change. Effie and Ryan tear up the sheet and any other place that they can find. While they are steaming things up, Ryan finds out his dad is the baby's father and thugs are after the baby's mother. `Til There Was U is a fast paced, hotter then hot, delightfully witty and a laugh out loud read. Besides the main characters there is a smoking romance between the O'Fallon's housekeeper and the local roundabout that will charm your socks off. Dianne Castell's book deserves top shelf in any keeper bookcase. Looking forward to the next O'Fallon's story.