Title:  Shine Not Burn
Series:  Shine Not Burn #1
Author:  Elle Casey
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  July 28, 2015 (original July 2013)
Publisher:  Montlake Romance
My Rating:  4 stars
Source:  NetGalley
Cover Description:

Andie Marks, known as “Party Girl” in her college days, is now a whip-smart lawyer on the fast track to success. Determined to move on from a bad break-up, she joins her girlfriends for a wild bachelorette weekend in Las Vegas, promising to let her hair down just this once.

Vegas is a blur of cocktails and blackjack, and in the middle of it all she meets Mack, a real-life cowboy with a winning hand and an irresistible body. They get lucky in the casino and luckier back at the hotel, a hot night of passion that was definitely not part of Andie’s life plan.

By dawn Mack is gone and all she has to remember their one-night romance is a hangover and a pile of casino chips. Or so she thinks…

Read on for my thoughts on Shine Not Burn.  No true spoilers, promise.

What an absolute delight Shine, Not Burn was to read.  Full of fun, romance, sexiness and characters that simply pop off of the page.  As my Grandma Maude would have said “It was a hoot and a half.  Now where do I go to get seconds.”

Las Vegas.  Where diamonds and rhinestones stand side by side without a second thought.  It made perfect sense for the craziness of Mack and Andie’s story to start out in the casinos of Las Vegas.

Both Andie and Mack were in Las Vegas with friends and family for that last dash of freedom before her friend and his brother (to totally different people) tied the matrimonial knot. Bachelor pre-wedding parties for guys and gals usually involve far more liquor than sense, and this particular night was no exception.  A very drunk Andie and a feeling good Mack met at the blackjack table, where as an introduction Andie spilled a drink straight into Mack’s lap and then tried to help him clean it up.  Amm, yeah – that didn’t work out so well but it was a hell of a start to a romance that neither one thought they’d be heading into earlier that day.  Mack proceeded to teach the lovely, drunken lady the art of blackjack and eventually they made their way back up to the suite the girls had for the weekend.  Being drop down drunk didn’t seem to impair either of them when it came to sex because these two heated up those Las Vegas sheets like a broken air conditioner… hot, hot and more hot.  They eventually headed out of the hotel for a bit, but unfortunately for Andie she remembers very little of the latter part of that night.  She remembers the cowboy, the fantastic sex but not much more – and when there is no number to call, no messages, no nothing from Mack, Andie heads back home to continue along the dotted lines of her lifeplan.  Until one small detail stopped her in her tracks, and made remembering that Las Vegas night a whole lot more important than she ever imagined.

This is where I strongly suggest you go pick up Shine, Not Burn to read the rest of this truly funny, sexy and heart stopping story.

I laughed so hard at the antics of most of the characters in this story.  And while some are over the top, they needed to be for the point to get across.  With characters so realistic you would not have a bit of trouble picturing some of your friends on these pages, Shine, Not Burn will be very familiar territory for most of us..  Cos we all have a couple of “those” friends, right?  Andie was blessed and cursed by her friends, but they told her straight about her life and her silly lifeplan.  Mack and his family were jewels, I absolutely adored each one of them… well, maybe Ian was a pain but that actually made sense.

If you are looking for a story that is above sexy and steamy.  Should you be in the market for a novel that will have you glued to the pages until the last word.  When you need to laugh until you cry or fart… this one is for you.  Shine, Not Burn is such fun that you won’t want to leave these fine folks.  I sincerely hope that you take a chance on this one because when you do you will be rewarded with a story that will stick with you.  The value of the laughter you will enjoy far outweighs the cost of this novel.  Go on, pick it up – you know you want to figure out what happened.

*I received an e-ARC of Shine, Not Burn from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*

 

Available in paperback, audio and for the Kindle