Parks and Provocations

de Juliette Cross (2022) - SmartyPants Romance

Résumé : Lola Landry stares through the window of her locked car with the keys in the ignition and the radio blaring Beck’s “Loser.” While standing there and sweltering in the soupy Tennessee humidity, she wonders how her orderly life had crashed and burned so badly. Then her high school nemesis saunters up in all of his tall, strapping, fireman-to-the-rescue glory, slapping her with the humiliating proof that it can always get worse.

When the uber-confident Jedediah Lawson requests a date in return for popping her lock, a lightbulb goes off. Revenge is sweet. He would make the perfect victim—guest, that is—for her next podcast episode on Kiss and Tell. What shocks her is the casual way he not only agrees to the post-date interview on air, but ends up hijacking her audience and wooing them with his swoony, southern charm. Not even a low score on the date-o-meter can dissuade the man or keep her fans from demanding more of the charismatic Jed.

What’s worse, she secretly wants a second date with this man who is so different from his teenage self. His unwavering patience and dimpled smile erodes her will, until she breaks the Kiss and Tell rules by agreeing to a second…and a third date. It’s a disaster. Not the date. They’re wonderful. The disaster is that she is falling for a man she once dubbed Jockstrap Jed.


Si vous ne voulez pas vous prendre la tête sur une intrigue compliquée et que vous voulez couiner à chaque apparition du héros, cette romance slow burn est faites pour vous !

Lola et Jed se connaissent du lycée, au début ils avaient rien l'un contre l'autre, et puis un jour c'est devenu un champs de bataille. Dès que Lola a pu partir de Green Valley, elle l'a fait, pour l'université et un boulot, mais voilà quelques années plus tard, elle obligée de revenir. En attendant qu'une meilleur opportunité arrive, elle partage son temps entre un job de serveuse et l'animation de son podcast "Kiss'n Tell" avec sa meilleure amie. Le sujet du podcast ? Débriefer les premiers rencarts qu'elle a, en faisant participer aussi les messieurs.

Jed quant à lui a dû arrêter ses études pour s'occuper de son père et est devenu pompier professionnel. Il est habitué à voir tout et n'importe quoi à Green Valley, alors quand sa soeur lui demande si il peut aller secourir quelqu'un qui a verrouillé sa voiture avec les clés dedans, il y va sans sourciller. Quelle surprise quand il découvre que le quelqu'un n'est autre que Lola, son grand crush d'ado, que dis-je ? C'est son grand amour, celle qui lui a échappé... Cette rencontre fortuite, c'est l'occasion rêvé, il invite Lola à diner. Et Lola va accepter, seulement pour elle ce sera un cobaye pour son podcast, de quoi se venger des misères que Jed lui faisait au lycée...

Seulement un rendez-vous c'est pas assez, Jed insiste pour qu'ils se revoient, une 2e, puis une 3e fois. Pour Lola c'est dans l'intérêt du podcast ? Quoi que... plus elle passe du temps avec Jed, plus elle oublis son émission.

Ce slow burn fait très bien son travail, Jed séduit petit à petit Lola, qui essaie de résister, mais au final à quoi bon hein... surtout après une certaine scène à la caserne avec tous les pompiers, comment résister. Evidemment le happy ending n'arrive pas comme ça, il fallait bien un petit challenge à traverser pour Lola.

If you don't want a complicated plot and want to squeal every time the hero appears, this slow burn romance is for you !

Lola and Jed know each other from high school, at first they liked each other, and then one day it became a battlefield. As soon as Lola could leave Green Valley, she did, for college and a job, but a few years later she had to come back. While waiting for a better opportunity, she divides her time between a waitress's job and the animation of her podcast "Kiss'n Tell" with her best friend. The topic of the podcast ? Talk about the first dates she has, involving the gentlemen too.

Jed meanwhile had to stop his studies to take care of his father and became a professional firefighter. He's used to seeing anything and everything in Green Valley, so when his sister asks if he can go rescue someone who's locked their car with the keys in it, he goes without batting an eyelid. What a surprise when he discovers that the someone is none other than Lola, his big teenage crush, what am I saying ? She is his great love, the one that got away... This fortuitous meeting is the perfect opportunity, he asks Lola to dinner. And Lola accept, only for her it will be a test subject for her podcast, enough to take revenge for the miseries that Jed caused her in high school...

Only one date is not enough, Jed insists that they meet again, a 2nd, then a 3rd time. For Lola is it all in the interests of the podcast ? Well... the more time she spends with Jed, the more she forgets about her show.

This slow burn does its job very well, Jed gradually seduces Lola, who tries to resist, but in the end what's the point... especially after a certain scene at the barracks with all the firefighters, how to resist. Obviously the happy ending doesn't happen like that, there had to be a little challenge for Lola to go through.

 

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Beard in Hiding

de Penny Reid (2021)

Résumé : Diane Donner—recently divorced pillar of polite society—is craving danger. She’s tired of playing it safe and she knows just the sexy criminal motorcycle man to proposition for a good time. Problem is, she doesn’t actually know his name.

Jason “Repo” Doe never takes risks. So when the queen of local commerce walks into his club, looking to get risky and frisky, Jason knows the smartest thing to do is save himself a headache while saving the new divorcee from her worst impulses.
But then one thing leads to another, and the memory of just-one-night doesn’t feel like enough.

Theirs is a story with no future, because how can a dangerous criminal win (and keep) a queen?


Ce livre est à lire si vous avez lu Marriage & Murder et les Winston Brothers à partir du tome 5 avant, sinon vous n'allez pas comprendre la moitié des évènements. Ce tome lève le voil sur ce qui est arrivé à Diane sur l'année avant qu'elle disparaisse pour échapper au FBI, étant la principale suspecte dans le meurtre de son ex-mari... Bon je vous rassure, elle est totalement innocente, mais les circonstances du drame son pas les meilleures.

Et donc, après son divorce et en même temps qu'elle renoue avec sa fille, Diane décide de se lancer ses challenges personnels pour reprendre sa vie en main. L'un de ces défis n'est autre que de passer une nuit de passion sans lendemain avec un inconnu. Le soir de Noël, Diane décide d'aller trouver l'inconnu sur lequel elle a flashé : Repo.

Evidemment, ce qui devait être une nuit sans attache et sans sentiments, va en être autrement. Diane et Repo vont prendre leur temps pour revenir l'un vers l'autre, mais un évènement sans précédent va sceller de les rapprocher. L'histoire mise à part, la romance entre ces 40naire est très agréable à lire, ça parle de seconde chance à l'amour, de nouveau départ de vie, de confiance en soi. J'espère qu'on aura des nouvelles d'eux ^^.

This book must be read if you've read Marriage & Murder and the Winston Brothers from Book 5 before, otherwise you won't understand half of the events. This tome lifts the veil on what happened to Diane over the year before she disappeared to escape the FBI, being the main suspect in the murder of her ex-husband... Well I assure you, she is totally innocent, but the circumstances of the drama are not the best.

And so, after her divorce and at the same time as she reunites with her daughter, Diane decides to take on personal challenges to get her life back in hand. One of those challenges is having a one night stand with a stranger. On Christmas Eve, Diane decides to go find the stranger she was attracted to : Repo.

Obviously, what should have been a night without attachment and without feelings, will be otherwise. Diane and Repo will take their time to come back to each other, but an unprecedented event will seal them together. Story aside, the romance between these 40 something is very pleasant to read, it's about second chance at love, new start in life, self-confidence. I hope we hear from them ^^.

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Before and After You

de Hope Ellis (2021) SmartyPants Romance

Résumé : Leigh D'Alessandro is a fighter. She fought to escape her dysfunctional family, to end a soul-killing marriage, and to build a new life in a small Tennessee town. When the fate of the community hospital she works for is threatened, she's primed and ready for battle. What she can't fight any longer is her unshakable attraction to her best friend's brother, who has a notorious reputation and triggers all her worst fears about trust and betrayal.

Walker Leffersbee is a lover. At least that's the reputation he's built in his hometown. Scion of a prosperous Tennessee banking family, he's a known ladies' man and a confirmed bachelor. His hands are full as he juggles competing demands from his family's bank and his growing property renovation business. The last thing he needs is to give in to his long-standing craving for his sister's headstrong and hot-tempered best friend. Especially because she's the only one who knows the secret that threatens to upend his life.

When a home renovation project brings them too close for comfort, they both struggle to withstand the growing heat. As they grow closer helping each other navigate family minefields, Walker learns that love is not a four-letter word, and Leigh realizes that some battles are meant to be lost.

But Walker's secret is the one thing that could keep them apart, unless they both decide to fight for the love they never looked for but now can't live without.


Leigh et Walker se connaissent depuis longtemps, lui est le grand frère de Zora, la meilleure amie de Leigh. Ils sont aussi tous les deux à un moment charnière de leur vie personnelle et professionnelle, entre conflit familial et remise en questions de leurs valeurs vis-à-vis de leur boulot... Ils ne sont pas près à s'engager dans une relation romantique.

Evidemment, comme ils se plaisent tous les deux, ils vont quand même succomber aux charmes de l'autre ^^ . Leigh et Walker sont vraiment fait l'un pour l'autre, mais leurs obstacles respectifs vont les ralentir dans leur réalisation de leurs sentiments.

Cette romance fait partie de mes préférées des sorties Smartypants de cette année, on a affaire à deux personnages qui n'ont pas peur d'aller au bout de leur convictions (au niveau professionnel), et même si c'est difficile et que leurs proches ne comprennent pas toujours, ils n'abandonnent pas car ils savent qu'ils sont sur la bonne voie pour leur bien-être à eux.

Alors certes, ils vont commettre des petites erreurs ça et là, mais on peut difficilement leur en vouloir, ils ne sont pas nécessairement dans leur tort. C'est grâce à ces erreurs qu'ils grandissent et vont être là l'un pour l'autre, faire des compromis pour leur bien commun, ne veut pas dire qu'ils effacent qui ils sont.

Je sais que ça fait très cryptique comme review, mais je ne voulais pas tout spoiler ^^

Leigh and Walker have known each other for a long time, he is Zora's big brother, Leigh's best friend. They are also both at a pivotal moment in their personal and professional life, between family conflict and re-evaluate their values ​​at work... They are not ready to engage in a romantic relationship.

Obviously, as they both attracted to each other, they will still succumb to the other'as appeal ^^. Leigh and Walker are really meant for each other, but their respective obstacles will slow them down in realizing their feelings.

This romance is one of my favorite Smartypants releases this year, we are dealing with two characters who are not afraid to follow their convictions (on the professional level), and even if it's difficult and that their loved ones don't always understand, they don't give up because they know they are on the right track for their own well-being.

So of course, they will make small mistakes here and there, but we can hardly blame them, they are not necessarily in the wrong. It is thanks to these mistakes that they grow up and will be there for each other, making compromises for their common good does not mean that they fade away who they are.

I know it's very cryptic as a review, but I don't want to spoil it all ^^


Find Hope Ellis online
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