Handle With Care

Handle with Care finally introduces us to the elusive Lincoln, Armstrong’s (the douche) older brother. Lincoln is the opposite of Armstrong in every way but especially in the way he cares for and about others, distancing himself from his family by concentrating his efforts in remote areas across the globe. Due to his father’s untimely death, Lincoln has to return to his family business and at the bequest of his beloved grandmother, help run the company until a suitable replacement can be found. Wren is the strong-willed, sassy woman tasked with keeping Armstrong in check, and she has so much fun taking him down when he is in douche-mode. Although Wren has only taken on the challenge as a way of furthering her own hopes and dreams, she agrees to help whip Lincoln into shape when he returns looking like a Yeti rather than a CEO. What Wren doesn’t expect is the chemistry and connection that sparks between them. It is amazing just how perfect Wren and Lincoln are for each other, despite their circumstances their values mesh on every level. Plus their life experiences allow them to fully empathise with the other in a way only someone who has experienced the same sort of thing could. Handle with Care is overflowing with swoon but also with a few heart-wrenching moments thrown in to prove nothing worth having comes easily. I loved how Lincoln and Wren were able to find the path that suited them the best without compromising their values and still being able to make all of their aspirations a reality.

HANDLE WITH CARE is the fifth instalment in Helena Hunting’s contemporary, adult SHACKING UP erotic, romance series. This is heir apparent and new CEO of Moorehead Media Lincoln Moorehead, and fixer/handler Wren Starling’s story line. HANDLE WITH CARE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. Lincoln and his brother Armstrong were first introduced in book four-Making Up. Told from dual first person perspectives (Lincoln and Wren) HANDLE WITH CARE follows in the wake of Lincoln’s father Fredrick Moorehead’s death. Never wanting to follow in the family business, Lincoln has spent most of his life helping others but his return to Moorehead Media comes with a caveat-a handler in the guise of Wren Starling, a woman hired to create the new image of Lincoln Moorehead, and the woman with whom Lincoln will fall in love. What ensues is the building relationship between Wren and Lincoln, and the potential fall –out as their office romance comes to the light. Lincoln Moorehead wants nothing to do with Moorehead Media but his brother Armstrong’s reputation as a man-wh*re and his questionable business ethics find our hero at the helm of the company for the next six months. Having just returned from a project in Guatemala, Lincoln struggles with returning to New York, and the woman hired to handle our story line hero. Wren Starling’s job to keep Armstrong out of trouble has landed her in the position to reintegrate Lincoln back into civilized society. From new suits to business meetings, Wren, a feisty and capable heroine, takes control of Lincoln’s life including slowly falling in love with the man that calls to her heart. The relationship between Lincoln and Wren begins as a business arrangement but soon turns into something more. When other members of the Moorehead family discover the romance between our leading couple, information will be used to push Wren out of Lincoln’s life. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate; the sexual attraction is immediate and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text. We are introduced to Lincoln’s troubled and spoiled younger brother Armstrong, his mother Gwendolyn, and their spunky grandmother Penelope Moorehead, as well as an assortment of Moorehead Media employees; Wren’s mother Abigail, and her father Senator Starling; Wren’s friend and PI Dani,; and the return of Lincoln’s cousin and business partner Griffin Mills (Making Up #4). HANDLE WITH CARE is a story of family, betrayal, money and control, secrets and lies. The premise is engaging and captivating; the romance is seductive and hot; the characters are strong, impassioned and colorful. HANDLE WITH CARE is an energetic, edgy and emotional story line.

Well, it's official! Lincoln Moorehead has dethroned my beloved Bane Mills as my favorite Helena Hunting hero. I still love Bane dearly, but Lincoln was pretty much everything I love in a hero and more. He truly snuck up on me and I never expected the reclusive Moorehead sibling and beloved Mills cousin to be any competition for the #ChurchOfBaneCock. Boy, was I wrong! From the very beginning, I was pulled into the story and didn't want it to end. Handle With Care is book 5 in the Shacking Up series, but can be read as a standalone. I highly recommend the previous books however, because they're hilarious and characters from those books do appear in Handle With Care. It's so rare for me to love the hero and heroine equally, but this was definitely the case with Lincoln and Wren. I loved them so much both as individuals and as a couple. They had such electric chemistry and I thoroughly enjoyed watching them go head to head in this enemies to lovers/taboo office romance. They were both intelligent, driven, loyal, and stubborn people. They challenged each other and were so evenly matched. Both knew how to push the others buttons and that passionate banter and back and forth translated so deliciously well in the bedroom. I loved that once they were in, they were all in, and that there were no silly misunderstandings or unnecessary drama between them. They were an amazing team and handled problems maturely by communicating, listening, and supporting the other. The epilogue was sexy and sweet and left me with a happy heart and huge smile. There were plenty of laughs in Handle With Care, but there were also more emotional moments too. The overall tone of the story was less playful than some of the previous books in the series, but it worked well with our characters and made me love the book more. G-mom was absolutely amazing and Armstrong and Gwendolyn played their roles perfectly. Handle With Care is my new favorite in the Shacking Up series (sorry Bane!) and you definitely don't want to miss it! *I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*