Teal's best friend since childhood has always been Carter Velasquez, but when he unexpectedly kissed her last year and that smoldering lip-lock almost landed them in bed, only for her to run into the arms of Nate Bowen, her sister Sage's boss, the relationship has been strained. Or rather, nonexistent. Teal's New Year's resolutions include getting her best friend back and making things right with both sisters, but it's easier said than done.
In the past year, Carter's beloved Abuelo Gene passed away, and Teal was always very fond of him. In addition to Teal missing his funeral, it seems Gene left a sizeable sum of money to Carter, but his vicious Abuela Erika holds the purse strings and refuses to release the funds unless he is married by age 30. So he asks Teal to marry him, just for the money, and despite the awkwardness of things between them, she agrees, especially since she is out of work and could really use the money to hire a PI to locate her absent mom.
This charade won't be easy, especially since all the women in Teal's family insist she and Carter have been in love with each other all their lives. But Teal feels unattractive and unlovable, which is exactly what her abuser, Johnny, always told her. As Teal and Carter navigate what married life is going to be for them, the pair tiptoe around their feelings for one another, even though any fool can see they both are smitten with one another.
So Teal is dealing with many changes in her life, including her conflicting love and lust for Carter, while simultaneously being rejected by him, Abuela Erika's abject hatred for her, her bipolar disorder and the dangerous weather her mood swings create for her hometown of Cranberry, and the search for her mother. While no one but Carter knows, her mother stole something from her when she abandoned the girls - a small piece of Teal's weather gift - and as a result, she can't fully heal until she gets it back.
I will say this book is a sex-fest. I really didn't remember that from the first book, but I think that's because the unfolding love between Tenn and Sage was so well-developed that it just worked well within the story. In this book, it seemed much more raunchy and overdone, in my opinion. The entire push-me/pull-me relationship between Carter and Teal bored me and it seemed to overshadow the far more interesting and exciting search and location of Cora Flores, and the necessary showdown between the Flores girls and the mother who abandoned them.
Additionally, Gilliland uses a lot of Spanish words and phrases throughout the book, most with no explanation. I don't speak Spanish, so unless I got the gist of what was being said from context, I just didn't bother, since I really hate a book that requires me to look words up to be able to enjoy it. Those who either are Hispanic or have learned Spanish may love it, but it didn't make the book more appealing to me for sure.
If you were enthralled with Witch of Wild Things and can't wait to see the progression of the Flores sisters, then you will want to check this book out. While I absolutely loved the previous book, this one left me cold. I assume the next book will focus on the youngest sister, Sky, and her gift of talking to animals, but since she seemed mainly focused on a particularly raunchy sex act all throughout this book, mentioning it over and over, I will probably be skipping that book.
