Racing the Sun is the first book from Karina Halle where I didn't find the heroine insufferable. I actually (gasp) liked Amber a lot! I was incredibly pleasantly surprised to say the least. Overall, it was a pretty standard set up for a romance. Racing the Sun isn't re-inventing the wheel by any means but it doesn't really have to either. It's a piece of book candy and sometimes I just want a fun story to read for a distraction. 
 Racing the Sun is Amber's (Gemma's cousin from Where Sea Meets Sky) further travel adventures in Capri, Italy. The premise is she takes a job with the Larosa family as she's flat broke and doesn't have any money for a plane ticket home. She is supposed to be an English tutor for the 7 year old twins. They are now living with their older brother, Derio - a sexy, brooding Italian motorcycle racer, who's their guardian as their parents have died. Amber infuses light into their gloom and sexy results with Derio follow. To be honest, this whole story had like of a "Beauty and the Beast" theme. There's a young maiden (Amber) expected to live in a castle (the Villa) with a nasty man beast (Derio... he's a super brooding jerk extraordinaire in the beginning) and the animated objects of the other inhabitants (the twins, Felicia) and through her light she makes her way into the beasts heart and they fall in love and HEA, etc.... It's essentially that premise but with a contemporary setting and without the fantasy elements. O and there's also a bunch of steamy sexy results. 
 Like I mentioned earlier, I really found Amber to be quite likeable. Unlike other works by Karina Halle, Racing the Sun was told entirely from Amber's point of view. At times I wished that I could get into Derio's head and hear the story from his perspective. Luckily, I like Amber enough that I could get through the narrative entirely from her point of view without wanting to scream at her. Well, expect for one thing: Amber applies to the teaching position that specifically asks for a woman and gets on a boat with a stranger to go to the interview without telling anyone she was leaving or having a way to get back to the mainland. GIRL! THAT'S HOW BITCHES GET MURDERED! That was a serious lack of good common sense on her part. Yes, obviously it turned out to be a big HEA but still it could just have easily turned into a pack of cannibals or something! Outside of the dimwit beginnings, Amber was such a fun relatable heroine and I was really rooting for her. Also, she was surprisingly quite funny. I need a sense of humor in my MC's and I was glad to be in on the joke with Amber. 
 So while Racing the Sun isn't groundbreaking literature, it was a delightful read. It had all the elements of a nice piece of book candy: likeable characters, sense of humor, good smut, and low stakes. It was just a good distraction novel. Perfect for travel or just a night on the couch. Speaking of travel, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that Karina Halle writes such wonderfully detailed depictions of the places her characters go. It really makes you feel like your there or makes you want to drop everything to go there. The settings themselves act as a whimsical character in the story. With the inclusion of the scenery, it paints a really beautiful tapestry to highlight the characters on their adventures.