Hard to Handle

Attorney Michaela “Mikki” Correlli loves her job as a child advocate. She represents children who desperately need someone to stand up for them. She does such a good job because she was once in their shoes. When one of her foster sisters hosts a lock and key party to raise money to help build a transitional home for young girls, she doesn’t hesitate to buy tickets for herself and her two other foster sisters. Though the main goal is to help raise the money needed for the project, she is also hopeful that she will meet someone who can “unlock the possibilities” for her. She never dreams that the man who holds the key to her lock will be her ex-husband.

Nolan Baylor knows that Mikki is going to be absolutely livid when she sees him after a nine year absence. He doesn’t even want to imagine how she will react when he drops his bombshell on her. One look at his feisty “ex” wife has him remembering all of the reasons that he fell like a brick the first time he laid eyes on her. It also takes only one encounter to remind him that she always kept a part of herself hidden from him. He strongly suspects that hidden part is the reason she pushed him away nine years ago. He vows that this time he will not capitulate so easily. He has a second chance with the only woman that he has ever loved and he is determined that this time around he will “unlock” all of her secrets, beginning with the suitcase charm hanging around her lovely neck.

I’m used to Jamie Denton delivering a story that sizzles from beginning to end, but I must admit that I was surprised at the emotional intensity of Hard to Handle. Several times throughout the story I wanted to reach out and give Mikki a huge hug because if anybody deserved it she did. I’m not going to ruin the story for you by mentioning the issues with which she had to deal, but I will say that I have a whole new respect for Jamie Denton. I am waiting with bated breath for the remaining two stories in the Lock and Key trilogy.

Reviewed by: Missy