I'd rate this 4.5 starts but enjoyed it enough to round it up. This was another, short, sweet story based around the Pondersosa Resort where the wealthy go to experience the wilderness but in 5 star surroundings. This novel focusses on Bree, the sister of the many Bracelyn brothers that feature in the other books in the series. If you haven't read the other books, you don't need to in order to enjoy this one. I haven't quite gotten through them yet or read them in order and apart from a few referrals to relationships that feature in the other books, the stories can be read as standalones. In Sergeant Sexypants, we're introduced to Austin, a local cop who's destined for big things career-wise and wants Bree in his life. The only problem? Bree's supposedly strict rule on not dating law enforcement.
Bree and Austin meet at a Resort gathering and they're both immediately attracted to each other. Bree constantly refers to an incident in her past that she's ashamed of and in order to avoid reliving a bad time in her past as well as embarrass a potential lover, she avoids dating police. Austin doesn't give up that easily and steadily worms his way into her life and heart with a good dash of steam. Yeah, there's also a good dash of instalove, but it was done in a cute, fun way and both characters were extremely likeable for me so it was forgivable.
Austin came across as a delicious boy next door type: charming, well-mannered, liked by everyone with clean cut looks and perfect behaviour. Phrases such as 'holy marshmallows, she's stunning' at the start of the book had me liking him immediately. Bree was also a solid character, coming across as lonely, but trying really hard to overcome her social awkwardness and poor little rich girl past that came from having no friends and two selfish, borderline cold parents. I spent most of the book feeling sorry for her with my only annoyance being the constant referral to the unspeakable past deed that we're not allowed to know until much later in the book. I get why authors do this, mainly to keep the readers interest on the hook, but it still frustrated me as it felt like there was a gap in the story that was frequently alluded to.
As I expect with this author, the humour in this book in on point and had me smiling frequently. I loved the nicknames that Bree would call Austin in her head (Sergeant Sexypants, Officer Hot Stuff, etc.) and their dialogue was witty and sweet. As I mentioned above, their love story is a quick one with Austin being sure she's the one early on. Fenske is one of my favourite authors as I find she can pull it off successfully while keeping the story cute and playful but with enough depth that I'm left satisfied.
While the plot was predictable, it's still an enjoyable read and a light, feel good story that's a great palate cleanser or a good choice if you want something easy, funny and with a happy ever after. Without giving anything away, Bree's past problems are resolved (almost too neatly that it nearly travelled into cheesy territory). The only tiny negative that readers might have is that the price is a little steep for a shorter read, but I love this author so it's a non-issue for me.