I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Would I recommend? It's a quick easy read for when you're short on time and want that mountain man trope, but it's still pretty light on character dev and plot. So it depends on your preferences and what kind of tropes you like. If you like mountain men who've been pine-ing (see what I did there?) for nice kind of shy girls in a small town, then step right up. If you need something a little more developed and want to be all serious about life and things, then prob pass this one. (I'm a mood reader and can go either way. While I don't regret the time I spent reading this, I'm unlikely to read again)
Things I liked:
- The main female character was very relatable (with her propensity to care for others over her own needs, I think a lot of women find themselves in that position and will be able to connect with that.)
- Prob my favorite thing is the fact that "love handles" were mentioned during a sex scene. It feels like the "casual acceptance" kind of body positivity that isn't preachy or distracting, but is appreciated. (Maybe "body acceptance" is a better term? Just a sense of, "yes this FMC has love handles and they are being ✨handled✨, and he's into it").
But then I didn't like:
- She was also a doormat with her shitty boss in a way that felt less relatable for me personally. And it's hard to believe she's been dealing with him for as long as she has and oh just suddenly (for the sake of a very flimsy plot) it becomes an issue one day. It's cool that King will stand up for her but wish she would do it for herself first.
- I also wish there was more showing, less telling. I know it can be difficult in a short story format, but still felt off. For example, there is a scene where he is making this proclamation about his reasons for loving her, and he mentions a specific thing she does to show care for him. But it's not something we ever got to see happen on the page. The author just says a few weeks go by and suddenly now the relationship (which was already instalove/they've been pining for each other for years) has progressed to x point. Just wish we could have seen a little more of the actual romance. And the sexy parts of the relationship too, for that matter. The sex scenes we get are ok and the dirty talk is promising, just wish there was more. I guess it's not a bad thing to say I wished there was more of this.
- I also had some issues with a handful of punctuation errors and run-on sentences. Nothing too egregious, but distracting and occasionally led me to having to reread a sentence to ensure correct understanding.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.