Sealed with a Kiss, by Carly Phillips

This is the fourth book in a row that I have read that was written by Carly Phillips. It was pretty good, but I did get a bit frustrated with the characters now and then, in a similar way that I did in the book that precedes it: "Cross My Heart". In both books, the two main characters have a lot of hang-ups that seem really irrational to me, especially once it is obvious that they are crazy about each other. Other than that, they are both good.

The two supporting characters from the last book become the main characters of this one; just as Phillips did in her "Bachelor Blog" series. In this case, those characters are Molly and Hunter, who are both lawyers who originally met in law school, but never dated until years later; as also explained in "Cross My Heart," in which the story ended with Molly leaving Hunter behind to search for her birth father.

So this story begins with describing what Molly had experienced after finding her birth father, which includes his being accused of murdering his best friend and business partner, whom he had discovered was embezzling from their company. Molly knows that her father is innocent, but the odds against her father are not good, so Molly decides that his only chance is to be represented by Hunter, the best criminal lawyer in the state of Connecticut.

Molly is not sure that Hunter will help them, since he had asked her not to leave town without giving what they had started a chance; he even offered to go with her, but she turned him down. She decides to go ask him anyway, hoping that he will not hold a grudge and take the case.

Since Molly had left him behind, Hunter stopped caring about everything, from his appearance to keeping his apartment clean. He got drunk every night and slept with a string of different women. In fact one of them was still in his bed when Molly showed up unannounced at his door one Saturday morning.

It's a bit rocky at first, but Hunter ends up representing Molly's father, and he and Molly spend a lot of time together while working on her father's case together. They of course grow closer over time, and it is not long before they get intimate. The mystery part of the story is equally as compelling, which is what I love best about Phillips' books.

As was the case in the previous book, the love scenes were very detailed and hot, but I found the emotional baggage of the main characters to be overly frustrating, perhaps more so in this book, but other than that, I was pleased with the story in general, especially the ending.

I give it four stars.