Jessica Bird - Heart of Gold

Her intense passion for unlocking the secrets of the past is what made Carter Wessex an archeologist. Now she's been given a chance to dig on Farrell Mountain where a doomed party of minutemen lost their lives--as well as the gold they were carrying during the Revolutionary War. Carter refuses to let the mountain's owner, Nick Farrell, rattle her, even though she's all too aware of his sexy yet sardonic presence. Her work on the mountain could be the most significant find of her career . . . if she can pull herself away from the smoldering attraction that is undeniably growing between them.
Beneath the steely facade Nick Farrell wears like a well-cut suit, he is a man of hidden tenderness. From his first meeting with Carter, there's an immediate flare--hotter than he has ever experienced before. But no one is more surprised than Nick when his desire for her deepens into something enduring. Now Nick must find a way to convince Carter that the real treasure to be found on Farrell Mountain is a true and lasting love. . . 

Comment: I've decided to read this one because after reading An Unforgettable Lady I realized this one is set before the other one and I didn't know that before reading it, so I got this one now to balance the reading order before reading the 3rd one in a following month.

This is the story of Carter, she's from a rich family but got angry with hr father and they sort of had a break up and she stopped seeing him. Carter is an archaeologist and wants to dig in Nick Farrell's mountain for a treasure. At first he says no, but there's a strong attraction between them and he changes his mind when he also finds out she and her father don't talk to each other and he figures her father can own him if he gets them together.

Nick is a business man and wants to control everything around him, including his orphan nephew. He sees in Carter someone he wants and sets up things in order to get her but he didn't count on having real feelings for her.

I liked this story much better than An Unforgettable Lady, simply because this one didn't mention the rich world as much and the characters seemed more likable too. I mean, it's more believable and interesting than to keep hearing about how wealthy someone is, and so on. This book wasn't as focused on the things around the fact the key players were rich and that didn't seemed as important in this book as it looked like in the other. For a poor person, in a way, it kind of feels better to like a character apart from his or her richness and in this book this happened for me. It sounds silly said this way, but after reading the books and being poor myself I felt closer to the characters in this book because the fact they were rich wasn't as mentioned or as obviously part of the plot.

The characters were also more fun to know about and their personalities more lovable for me and I liked knowing them. The dialogs were also funny and interesting. Some of the secondary characters were great and allowed for the story to feel more cozy and warm, just because they were there.

I liked the romance better too. Carter and Nick made a great couple and I liked how they both dealt with their fragilities concerning relationships before saying I love you or even before getting to a more advanced point in their relationship.Their attraction was believable and there was chemistry between them, I liked seeing them happy and was eager to see their HEA.

The writing as good, the plot was funny and interesting and apart from a cliché plot line almost in the end, the book run smoothly and in a balanced way. I liked it and I think it was quite strong. Many good scenes and reliable characters I truly wanted to see get their happiness.

I'll be reading the others in the future.