Chase and Megan should be called The Bickersons. Because that is what they do best. Well, maybe some other stuff too, but you’ll have to keep listening for that. He’s the very picture of Grumpy Guy and she never lets a thought roll around in her head for too long before she just comes right out and says it.
Megan is kind of at loose ends. Downsized out of her California job. She was maybe done with that phase of her life but she would have preferred to transition to a next phase on her own timeline – and after she has figured out what the next phase should be. She doesn’t want to live with her mother in Texas forever but for right now she’s feeling a little lost and a bit of a failure. Which is why she’s available and agrees to go to Indiana in place of her mom and help a friend out. Megan’s mom was going to stay with her old friend Maggie’s son and feisty 14-year-old granddaughter while Maggie is out of town for a few weeks. When Megan’s mom breaks her leg Megan agrees to fill in. She doesn’t have anything else to do, and how hard can it be? When she arrives in town her rental car breaks down, and this impatient, cranky guy stops to help her. Impatient, cranky – and HOT HOT HOT. She hesitates at first because – late, dark lonely road, stranger. His attitude is “take my help or not but stop wasting my time.” They each think the other is pretty easy on the eyes and there’s a little sizzle going on between them, but he doesn’t worry much about being polite and she pretty much blurts out whatever she’s thinking, because they’ll never see each other again, right? Yeah, about that . . . .
When she finally gets to her (little) hotel and goes to the only place open to eat, the local bar, she tells the bartender about her experience and he seems to think it’s rather amusing. What’s up with that? When she goes to the house in the morning and meets with Maggie she also tells her about her night and the impatient, HOT, cranky, HOT, did I say HOT, guy who she compares to a grumpy cat. Turns out it’s a small world after all, and this small town is even smaller. Can you guess who is changing clothes in the next room and hears Megan’s story? Terrific, laugh out loud start to a book that just keeps getting better.
Chase is a single dad, never expected to be but his love for daughter Kennedy is boundless. And his frustration with a stubborn boundary-pushing teenage girl is nearly boundless now, too. He can’t leave her alone while his mom and dad go to visit his sister. But after his encounter with Megan the previous night he doesn’t think she is responsible enough to trust with his daughter. She thinks he’s rude and insulting and not sure she needs to stay and put up with him. So they start out with suspicion, little trust, a lot of annoyance. The only thing that is certain is this fiery attraction between them. And then their concern for Kennedy as Megan begins to see a lot of her young self in this girl.
Megan may often speak without thinking, but she is capable, responsible and trustworthy. Chase may wear that frown like a shield but under it is fear at disrupting Kennedy’s life, doing anything for himself that may cause her harm in any way. And in addition to the HOT HOT HOT part, this man has a romantic streak a mile wide. He’s warm and cuddly and protective. This has to work out, it just has to, but how? They just met, Kennedy doesn’t want or think she needs a babysitter, and just what is Megan supposed to do for a job and a place to live in this tiny little town?
Well, that’s for author Adriana Locke to work out, isn’t it? And work it out she does. We meet a full cast of very likeable, loveable, intriguing characters that we want to get to know better. Small town life, and life with people you just might love, can be pretty charming and fulfilling. If only . . . . Narrators Maxine Mitchell & Tor Thom are perfect. She chatters away as Megan, he is baffled and frustrated and sexy as Chase. Perfect dialogue, perfect pace, pretty perfect story. Chase has a lot of brothers so a series would be wonderful, but if not this is a totally sweet, swoony standalone.
I received free reading and listening copies of Tempt from the author. Highly recommend. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own. Note: This title was originally published as More Than I Could.