Dare to Love Again ~ Review

Dare to Love Again
The Heart of San Francisco #2
By Julie Lessman

Allison McClare has been hurt by fortune hunting men for the last time and every eligible man who comes near her is going to pay for the pain and heartbreak she's suffered.  And Detective Nick Barone is about to feel her wrath.  Nick has been hurt by wealthy upper class people and he's not about to take anything from a socialite who wants to play independent do-gooder to the children of the Barbary Coast.

But can two hurting angry people be just what the other needs to find healing and a chance to open their hearts to love again?  With orders to help Allison and the Hands of Hope School Nick feels more than a little annoyed at the turn of events.  Allison is even less thrilled to be assisted by a cracky opinionated detective.

Dare to Love Again is the second book in the Heart of San Francisco series and it follows the furthering efforts of the McClare woman to bring hope and healing to the dangerous and corrupt Barbary Coast.

Having spent some years in California in the Delta region I'm always interested in books that deal with the history of the state.  I have to say I find this an engaging and attention grabbing reading experience. Not only that it makes me want to delve further into the history of the area.  Set in 1903 one gets a feel for the time and how the McClare women are anything but conventional.

I look forward to further adventures with the McClares and am interested to see how the friendship/romance between Cait and Logan works out (yes this is a continuing secondary story that was also in Love at Any Cost).  I can't get a real feel for Logan yet and I'm not sure if I like him or trust him, though I do feel sorry for him.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher Revell in exchange for my honest review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

About the Book:

She's a sassy socialite burned by love. He's a jaded cop burned by the upper class.
When sparks fly . . . will love catch fire again?


Spunky Allison McClare is determined to be a fearless, independent woman. But when she takes a notion to explore the wild Barbary Coast, she quickly discovers she's no match for the unsavory characters that haunt the dark streets.

Detective Nick Barone would rather do almost anything than teach this petite socialite self-defense, but it seems he has little choice. Sparks fly every time the two meet until a grudging friendship develops into something deeper. But is he just a fraud like all the rest of the men Allison's cared for? Or is he the one who will let her dare to love again?

Award-winning author Julie Lessman brings the glamour of Gilded Age San Francisco to vibrant life in this journey to find a love that never fails.