Tail, Dark and Handsome by Nancey Cummings [Review]

Tail, Dark and handsome (Tail and Claw #3) by Nancey Cummings
Format: ebook
Source: purchased
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Date read: August 7, 2023

Tail and Claw
1. Have Tail, Will Travel
2. Pulled by the Tail
3. Tail, Dark and Handsome - Paperback | Kindle
4. Tattle Tail
5. Tail Me No Lies

Nancey Cummings
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Mari has terrible taste in men.

Her ex-fiance? Left her at the altar and ran off with her money. And now she’s mixed up with the reclusive mega-rich, mega-hot alien, Winter Cayne.
That doesn’t sound so bad.
Only rumor claims Winter murdered his first wife. Mari can’t reconcile the stories of a possessive, jealous man and the protective single dad that she met on a tropical planet. He wants to bring her home and claim her as his mate.
With the mystery surrounding the death of his first wife, can Mari risk being wife #2?

Thoughts on Tail, Dark and Handsome: Oh man. This might be my favorite in this series so far (and I've enjoyed them all, so that's saying a lot). Winter is SUPER socially awkward (along with his son, so it runs in the family) and fiercely protective of the people he considers part of his inner circle. Which is small, to be honest. Before Mari careens into his life, it's pretty much just him and his son. That actually makes me a little sad when I think about it. Poor Winter.

Anywho. Winter is a scowly grump who would probably tear down a planet to protect his son. He's gossiped about (thanks to the tragedy with his first wife) and he takes it all in stride until they target his kiddo. Then he's a papa bear on a mission.

Unfortunately, he has a tendency to jump to the worst possible conclusions. Like assuming Mari is the one who betrayed them when pictures show up online. Or assuming the man walking into Mari's apartment is her loathsome ex and jumping straight into doling out punches before asking any questions. Fortunately, Mari understands where Winter's coming from. She sees the fierce protective streak in him and gives him time to figure out what he did wrong before going all chaos gremlin on him. (Not that she's a chaos gremlin, but she makes choices that Winter doesn't always expect and it's amusing to watch an uptight, logical guy forced to face off against that.)

Complicated family dynamics (on both their parts), a charming (and socially awkward) kiddo who keeps the two of them from falling apart, the ghost of a first wife (not literally) who keeps riling things up from beyond the grave, a male who thinks he's happy being alone, and a lady who isn't going to let a grumpy rich dude give her guff. GOOD TIMES.