Caridad Piñeiro

Sabotage Operation by Caridad Pineiro
South Beach Security: K-9 Division series #1. Spin off from the prior South Beach Security series. Harlequin Intrigue. Can be read as a stand-alone but characters from the first trilogy appear as supporting characters in this story.
Teresa Rodriguez owns a ranch in Florida where she raises, trains, and breeds thoroughbred horses. After a series of accidents on the ranch, Frijoles, her top stallion, is poisoned via his feed. Teresa contacts South Beach Security in Miami to help investigate. She thinks it may be a former employee that was fired but his offenses wouldn’t be a significant sentence from the Racing Commission. Security Expert Matt Perez and his K-9 partner Butter are assigned to Teresa and her ranch to investigate and protect. As the danger escalates, so does the attraction between Teresa and Matt.

Matt, Butter, and Teresa search and follow clues around the ranch as more threats occur. As they work and spend time together, Matt and Teresa get to know each other. He was initially hesitant about the “rich girl” but she soon disabuses him of that notion and shows him that she’s just a hard working ranch hand. Butter does a lot of the work tracking down scent trails.

A good combination of anxiety, romance, investigation, and sexy interludes.
Latinx characters with several phrases in Spanish throughout the text.
Engaging, suspenseful and steamy.… (mais)

South Beach Love by Caridad Pineiro
Contemporary romance. Own voices, Cuban descendants. Made into a Hallmark movie. Best friend’s sister troupe.
Tony Sanchez is an accomplished chef running a restaurant in New York. He’s home in Miami to mange his niece’s fifteenth birthday quinceanera.
Sara Kelly runs a local popular restaurant and she’s agreed to cater her niece’s quinceanera.
Two parties. Two 15 year old school rivals. Two chefs. One newspaper article to report on one of the events - but which one?
Tony and Sara’s older brother were best friends when growing up. Sara may have had a crush on Tony hen she was younger but she’s over it. Tony didn’t really notice Sara until now. She makes some excellent food at her restaurant and he realizes she’s going to be competitive. Which one will win the reporters eye when it comes to print time?

The slow burn romance between Sara and Tony is sweet as they become friends during their two events. Even better, is the friendship that develops between the two girls. It’s heartwarming.

The text contains a lot of phrases in Spanish which are easy to interpret in the settings and ongoing conversations.

Tres Leche recipe included at the end of the book.… (mais)

What Happens in Summer by Caridad Pineiro
At the Shore series book #2. Contemporary romance. Can be read as a stand-alone bit directly correlates events with the first so this would contain spoilers if that matters to the reader.
Connie Reyes spent at lot of summers with her friends Maggie and Ellen at the Jersey shores. They were and still are supportive friends. Back in their teens, when Maggie spent time with Owen, Connie naturally spent time with his brother Jonathan. They even had a teenaged fling but went their separate ways when she went to college. Connie is dedicated to be a good lawyer and is determined to make partner. Going back to the shore with Maggie and seeing Jonathan again won’t disrupt her life goals. At least it shouldn’t. But Jonathan wants to show Connie he’s been successful himself and maybe they can take up where they left off.

The timeline of this book is the same as the first book but from the perspective of this second couple. This was a bit disconcerting to me as I knew certain facts along the way. I felt almost disassociated from this couple as I perceived where we were along the storyline.
Connie and Jonathan both grew up with single parents but under much different circumstances. Their ideals are quite different but as teens, didn’t talk about reasons with any depth. Now that they are back together in a relationship their goals are different. He’s in it for love and a future. She is still focused on her career and not her actual life. They need to really talk and make some self assessments before they can do anything.

As with the first book, I fell for the hero in love and wanting his desire to give her everything.… (mais)

One Summer Night by Caridad Pineiro
At the Shore series book #1. Contemporary romance. Second chance.
The families of Maggie Sinclair and Owen Pierce own houses side by side on the Jersey shore. Maggie and Owen were once friends but a feud between their parents had them going in different directions before their college years. Now, many years later, Maggie and Owen are again friends and Owen is willing to help Maggie with her family business, even when it’s against his father’s wishes. Owen knows and trusts Maggie and is willing to put his long time friendship on the line.

I admired Owen and his ability to finally step up and ignore his father’s proclamation. It helped knowing how Owen felt. But they both knew that lies, or lack of full disclosure was going to come back and bite them. I don’t think Maggie was fair so I didn’t her actions.
Fortunately it’s a romance, and the two work out their relationship and get a second chance at love and a future together.

Throughout the story, we found out quite a bit about friends Connie and Emma. There were a few intriguing descriptions along the way that made me realize this was a series and that I would be reading book 2 next.… (mais)