Book Review

Sunny Shelly’s Review: Tangled Up With You by Jessica Prince

Tangled Up With You by Jessica Prince is AVAILABLE NOW

My mother always gave the best advice. I just wish she had advised me to stay away from bull riders.

One in particular.

Connor Bennett is a walking red flag I could see coming from miles away, but I was a sucker for his rakish smile, his irresistible charm, and that world class behind always wrapped in a tight pair of Wranglers.

I told myself I’d learned my lesson when I woke up and discovered he ghosted me, leaving a note behind on the pillow where his head should have been. Unfortunately, that wasn’t true.

High emotions and too much booze during a mutual friend’s wedding lands me back in his bed, but this time I make sure I’m not the one left high and dry once the sun comes up.

Even though I can’t stop thinking about him, I convince myself I’ve worked him out of my system. However, two pink lines a few weeks later make it impossible to pretend he doesn’t exist.

We make an agreement. We’ll co-parent once the baby is born, but nothing more.

There certainly won’t be any more hanky panky.

But it turns out Connor has other ideas and wants to share more than just custody with me.

I’m trying so hard not to fall for that charm a second time, but my hormones are going crazy and he’s doing and saying all the right things.

Despite all reason, I find myself wanting to get tangled up with him all over again. I just don’t know if I should trust the bull rider not to trample all over my heart.

𝑭𝑹𝑬𝑬 𝒊𝒏 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆 𝑼𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒅

𝗔𝗠𝗔𝗭𝗢𝗡 → https://geni.us/TUWYeBook

✦ 𝗣𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 → https://geni.us/TUWYPaperback

✦ 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟 𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗔𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 → https://geni.us/TUWYSEPaperback

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars

I remember Ivy as a sassy little preschooler in Hayden and Micah’s book (Love To Hate You from the Hope Valley series), so I was happy to see her all grown up and still a bit of a wild child! (Connor, meanwhile, is the son of one of the Cloverleaf couples; I have not read that series from Jessica Prince’s back catalog, so I didn’t have that connection going into this book that I had with Ivy.)

We got to see the beginning of Ivy and Connor’s friendship in The Little Things, as he is friends with Zach and occasionally worked on the ranch when he was in between bull riding stints. Tangled Up With You picks up after Ivy and Connor spent a wild night together — and then he freaked out and took off without a goodbye, leaving her humiliated and brokenhearted.

Once they got over their issues, I thought that Connor and Ivy balanced each other out well. At first, I didn’t like Connor all that much for ghosting Ivy. Ah, but he was burned by his ex and his mentor, and the boy has intimacy issues. When he returns to town for Zach and Rae’s wedding, Ivy consumes all of his thoughts and eventually he realizes what he let go and sets out to win her back.

Overall, I really enjoyed Tangled Up With You. I wish there would have been more of Connor and Ivy together as a couple. So much of the book is the push and pull between them, him trying to make things up to her, and her keeping him at a distance because he’d already broken her heart once before. I felt like their actually being together was rushed, and I didn’t get to enjoy that payoff.

I was super excited to hear from JP that Blythe will be getting a book and Tanner Fine will be coming back to town!

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

Book Review

Sunny Shelly’s Review: Shattered Dreams by Natasha Madison

SHATTERED DREAMS by Natasha Madison is NOW LIVE!

Blurb:

Charlie

It was supposed to be a regular day out.

Three couples celebrating the last days of summer.

When tragedy struck.

I thought I was going to marry her.

Instead, I was burying her.

I blamed the world for my pain.

I buried it all.

I became a man I didn’t even recognize.

Autumn

In a blink of an eye, everything changed.

My best friend was gone, and I was responsible for it.

I may not have been driving the truck, but I didn’t stop it.

Escaping the town was the only thing I could do to survive the guilt.

I thought I was strong enough to go back.

I was wrong.

One look from him and I knew I wasn’t welcome.

But this is my home, and I wanted to come back.

One night turned into more. But at the end of the day, I know he’ll never love me.

Besides, we all have shattered dreams.

Buy Link:

https://books2read.com/KUShatteredDreamsNM

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars

Yay! Another new spinoff series from Natasha Madison and Shattered Dreams started off STRONG! Get the tissues ready because this book is TOUGH but has the most wonderful HEA once

Charlie is the son of Quinn and Willow from the Southern series and the grandson of the magnificent Casey Barnes. As the book begins, Charlie, Autumn and their friends are in a horrible car accident that ends in two fatalities: Charlie’s girlfriend Jennifer (also Autumn’s best friend) and Autumn’s boyfriend Waylon, who was driving. For several reasons, Autumn took the brunt of blame for the accident, and ended up leaving town to get away from it all.

Eight years later, Charlie is a shell of his former self. Consumed by grief, he has never moved on and still visits Jennifer’s grave almost daily. Autumn isn’t doing much better, and when she comes back home to help with her family’s bar, she quickly learns that Charlie — and most of the town — still blames her for the accident.

Shattered Dreams is an emotional, heartbreaking story of grief, loss, and recovery. Once Charlie learns all that Autumn went through and realizes that she was an easy target for his grief, it’s like a switch is flipped and he is ALL IN when it comes to trying to make things up to her.

There are so many emotional moments in this story, each one better than the last. Shattered Dreams is definitely going to be on my re-read list! I can’t wait for the rest of this series!

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

Meet Natasha Madison:

When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…

Connect with Natasha Madison:

https://linktr.ee/natashamauthor

Book Review

Sunny Shelly’s Review: Shuttered Hearts by Erin Graves

SHUTTERED HEARTS by Erin Graves is NOW LIVE!

Blurb:

One phone call changes everything.

Returning to Ashford Falls was never part of the plan for Quinn Marks. It reminded her too much of her mother and a past she was desperately trying to keep there. But sometimes plans have to change. Quinn knew the chances of receiving that phone call from her brother about their father were high, but she hadn’t been ready for it. She also hadn’t been ready to meet Declan Day, her new co-worker and, apparently, her brother’s best friend.

Running from a messy situation of his own, Declan hadn’t been sure he would stay in Ashford Falls when he first arrived, but it’s been five years, and he’s still here. He didn’t know how he made it all that time, not once meeting his best friend’s sister, but something about Quinn Marks calls to him. Making him feel things he never thought he’d feel again.

Both had their reasons for steering clear of romantic relationships: Declan with his failed marriage and Quinn with her mother’s example of why nothing was permanent. As they struggle with their feelings and confront the past, will Declan and Quinn realize that it might be worth opening their shuttered hearts to face an uncertain future together?

Shuttered Hearts is a return to hometown, brother’s best friend, found family, emotional contemporary romance set in a fictional small town. This is the first book in the Love in Ashford Falls series, each book in this series can be read as a standalone. Happily ever after, guaranteed!

Buy Link:

https://a.co/d/9jEQHeu

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars

I’m pretty sure that Shuttered Hearts is the debut novel from Erin Graves, and it was a great read! This emotional story deals with love, loss, trauma, coming home again, and finding oneself again.

I thought that Declan and Quinn had such a great connection. Not only that, but he was such an integral part of her family, who adopted him as one of their own after he had a rift with his own parents. It’s been a few years since Declan got divorced, and he’s still kind of raw and hesitant to get involved with another woman. The last person he expects to fall for his his best friend’s little sister, who is only planning to be in town for a limited time. But these two just *got* one another from their first meeting, and it was a joy to see them blossom and open up to one another as they spent more time together.

Quinn is carrying a lot of baggage. She’s got trauma from her mom’s abandonment, as well as trauma from an attack. Both of those incidents had a huge impact on her, and she questions herself at times… especially when it comes to whether or not she can be the partner that Declan deserves. But these two were so open with their feelings and made it a point to communicate with one another even when the going got rough. I really appreciated that mature approach to their relationship.

Shuttered Hearts is beautifully written. Don’t miss the bonus epilogue, because it was so worth it to get a glimpse into Max’s life, eight years in the future! I am looking forward to more books from Graves!

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

Meet Erin Graves:

Born and raised in Maryland, Erin Graves lives with her husband and two cats in a small town in Pennsylvania. She rediscovered her love of writing after finding some old stories she wrote in high school and decided to give the author thing a try. She still works full-time in corporate America and isn’t sure that will ever change, but she’s open to the idea of making writing a full-time thing. She won’t call it a job because it doesn’t feel like one … yet.

Connect with Erin Graves:

https://beacons.ai/eringravesauthor