A Blogging Bibliophile

ALC provided by Home Cooked Books and Jill Brashear.

This was a really awesome small town romance with a little bit of suspense thrown in to spice things up. Mia and Jay had pretty instant chemistry from the moment they laid eyes on each other. It was definitely more of a “He falls first, and harder” situation, as Mia does everything in her power to crush Jay’s hopes of being with her.

While I loved Jay as a book boyfriend, he was kind hearted, protective, patient, and so many more excellent qualities – I just wish he had a little more backbone when it came to how he allowed Mia to treat him.

Mia, on the other hand, was very much an ice queen trying to throw up walls so no one could see the pain she’d been carrying inside. I get that she had unresolved trauma she was still trying to deal with. What I couldn’t appreciate was how she was downright cruel to Jay at times. She would often play mind games where, in one moment she was asking him to trust her during an intimate experience, and the next moment she’s back to dismissing his feelings and letting him know she’s embarrassed by him. It wasn’t fair.

The suspense aspect wasn’t a huge focus in the story, but it played a part to get the MCs in close proximity. I did like how things were handled with that situation in the end. I also really loved the book club members! I will definitely have to go back and read their stories, but this was truly a standalone as I didn’t feel lost or as if there were important chunks missing from the rest of the series.

Samantha Brentmoor and Connor Crais were a fantastic team. Samantha played Mia’s cold and callous tone very well in addition to the moments when her walls were coming down. Connor, fans face, had the dreamiest tone in his voice when he’d get that deeper “I want you” tone 🥵. Their pacing, as always, was perfect, I never felt like I needed to alter the playback speed.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and hope to return very soon!