Reforming the Playboy (Passion Creek, #1)

by Inara Scott

[Angie]

Reforming the Playboy is a second-chance romance between Kira and Max, who fell in love during college, but then she left him one night with just a note. Five years later, Max is an internationally known artist, and Kira is back in her hometown where she had been taking care of her sick aunt. Now, Aunt Polly is dead, and her will has some questionable yet specific terms which require Max and Kira to come face to face for the first time in years. Neither are happy about it, and the reunion certainly doesn't go as either of them planned.

I enjoyed Reforming the Playboy. It has a bit of my favorite trope--stranded together! Of course, it's been snowing, so Max is forced to stay in town longer than he anticipates. He also "has" to stay with Kira for a bit, because of course he does. It's all part of his plan for revenge though! But we all know how that goes. This man is far too emotional to seduce and dump his true love. As soon as he's inside her, it's over. He's gone. Not to say that they don't have some drama, because they do. It's more like all of the words they left unsaid in college come exploding out, and they have to figure out how to put the past behind them.

Reforming the Playboy is less about reforming a playboy and more of comforting the tortured artist. Max was heartbroken, has an estranged family, and was in a car accident that left him completely uninspired. Being back with his teenage love sparks something inside him, which gets his career back on track. He also helps Kira with her own artistic fears. In the end, it's a pretty standard small town, second-chance romance with a side of angst.