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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Dnf 70%
So I liked the double pansexual rep in this. It was otherwise a fine decent book. I was having a hard time with audio and decided to finish in ebook.
I made it to chapter 21 where Jasper is planning on leaving to go to Boston to have lunch with Magnolia. They are talking about rotaries and her used station wagon and driving and just not very sexy when suddenly Linden just flips up her skirt yoinks down her panties and is like time to fuck and it just absolutely short circuit my brain I couldn't stop laughing. Their was nothing sexy about this scene at all. Normally I'd manage to just skip past a scene but it was so fucking random and so not sexy in anyway.
My point of less sex scenes in books still stands.
So I liked the double pansexual rep in this. It was otherwise a fine decent book. I was having a hard time with audio and decided to finish in ebook.
I made it to chapter 21 where Jasper is planning on leaving to go to Boston to have lunch with Magnolia. They are talking about rotaries and her used station wagon and driving and just not very sexy when suddenly Linden just flips up her skirt yoinks down her panties and is like time to fuck and it just absolutely short circuit my brain I couldn't stop laughing. Their was nothing sexy about this scene at all. Normally I'd manage to just skip past a scene but it was so fucking random and so not sexy in anyway.
My point of less sex scenes in books still stands.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Grief
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent
Minor: Religious bigotry, Pregnancy
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
1st-person narrative is hard to do well, and it just doesn't work here for me. Both characters' internal dialogue were very annoying, repetitive, and dull. I began skimming much too soon and didn't feel the need to care about what happens to either of them.
Also...what kind of grown-ass campaign advisor/political fixer consciously chooses to clean a musty, rotting, poop-filled house in skirts & heels?!? Sooo OTT ridiculous.
Also...what kind of grown-ass campaign advisor/political fixer consciously chooses to clean a musty, rotting, poop-filled house in skirts & heels?!? Sooo OTT ridiculous.
Absolutely adored this book.
Jasper is free thinking and independent and fierce.
Linden is grumbly and growly and imperious. And exactly what Jasper needs.
When Jasper’s world crashes around her and Linden ends up as her new neighbor worlds collide and sparks fly. They argue. They banter. They learn what they need from each other.
Jasper has a hard time relying on anyone but with Linden’s help, that slowly changes. I loved, LOVED their relationship.
Kate Canterbary has such a way with story telling, weaving romance and humor and heavy, real life topics into her gorgeous novels, and this one handled everything so beautifully.
⭐️4/5
Jasper is free thinking and independent and fierce.
Linden is grumbly and growly and imperious. And exactly what Jasper needs.
When Jasper’s world crashes around her and Linden ends up as her new neighbor worlds collide and sparks fly. They argue. They banter. They learn what they need from each other.
Jasper has a hard time relying on anyone but with Linden’s help, that slowly changes. I loved, LOVED their relationship.
Kate Canterbary has such a way with story telling, weaving romance and humor and heavy, real life topics into her gorgeous novels, and this one handled everything so beautifully.
⭐️4/5
This makes 3 straight 5 star reads after Loring's The Love Interest and Hogle's Twice Shy.
Canterbary's characters are layered and complex and Linden and Jasper-Anne are no different. There was so much here to chew on - they both avoid relationships because they don't think they deserve it for different reasons. If you judged the book by its cover, you'd think this was a grumpy/sunshine trope, and while Linden is definitely a grump, Jasper is far from sunshine once you look beneath the southern belle surface. She was a special advisor for a presidential candidate wannabe from Georgia which, I'm not American, but I feel like there may be a lot of subtext I'm missing about how soul-crushing her job was since a quick google search tells me that up until the most recent election, the state had elected Republicans to the senate since 2002. She's fired by tweet after an unfortunate hot mike moment which leads to her retreating to the house she inherited from her aunt to lick her wounds. There's a full chapter in which we learn why Jasper has a visceral reaction to being called beautiful and it's an amazing chapter about how women uphold misogyny, sexism and toxic masculinity.
Linden and Jasper are both also bisexual - he had pined for a friend through college but never pursued anything permanent with him after a one-night stand/short-term fling (this was not clear) and by the time he'd worked up the nerve to do something about it, it was too late because his friend died after being taken off life support after an accident - this is a lot of the reason why he's been a commitment-phobe; meanwhile, Jasper was in a long term same-sex relationship which ended in a rebound-one-night-stand-turned marriage with her work best friend.
There's a lot of levity here, too - the house is literally a bat cave because a swarm of bats fly out of the house the first time Jasper enters it; there's the hilarious scene after Jasper's opened a couple of shoeboxes in her aunt's closet and discovers more than she's bargained for; and, of course, there's all the scenes with Linden's family - his interactions with his brother and sister as the youngest triplet and his weed-smoking/pot-candy eating parents although mom is the star.
I'll probably re-read this again before the year is out, just like I did Ash's HEA last year.
Note that this book needs a content warning for parent who died of suicide, since Jasper's dad apparently suffered from depression, and his suicide when she was a child was a trigger for a lot of the challenges in her childhood.
Reading Challenges
Apr/21: In the Wild square of the Spring Break Romance Bingo
Apr/21: Spring Cleaning square of the #SpringIntoLove Bingo
Canterbary's characters are layered and complex and Linden and Jasper-Anne are no different. There was so much here to chew on - they both avoid relationships because they don't think they deserve it for different reasons. If you judged the book by its cover, you'd think this was a grumpy/sunshine trope, and while Linden is definitely a grump, Jasper is far from sunshine once you look beneath the southern belle surface. She was a special advisor for a presidential candidate wannabe from Georgia which, I'm not American, but I feel like there may be a lot of subtext I'm missing about how soul-crushing her job was since a quick google search tells me that up until the most recent election, the state had elected Republicans to the senate since 2002. She's fired by tweet after an unfortunate hot mike moment which leads to her retreating to the house she inherited from her aunt to lick her wounds. There's a full chapter in which we learn why Jasper has a visceral reaction to being called beautiful and it's an amazing chapter about how women uphold misogyny, sexism and toxic masculinity.
Linden and Jasper are both also bisexual - he had pined for a friend through college but never pursued anything permanent with him after a one-night stand/short-term fling (this was not clear) and by the time he'd worked up the nerve to do something about it, it was too late because his friend died after being taken off life support after an accident - this is a lot of the reason why he's been a commitment-phobe; meanwhile, Jasper was in a long term same-sex relationship which ended in a rebound-one-night-stand-turned marriage with her work best friend.
There's a lot of levity here, too - the house is literally a bat cave because a swarm of bats fly out of the house the first time Jasper enters it; there's the hilarious scene after Jasper's opened a couple of shoeboxes in her aunt's closet and discovers more than she's bargained for; and, of course, there's all the scenes with Linden's family - his interactions with his brother and sister as the youngest triplet and his weed-smoking/pot-candy eating parents although mom is the star.
I'll probably re-read this again before the year is out, just like I did Ash's HEA last year.
Note that this book needs a content warning for parent who died of suicide, since Jasper's dad apparently suffered from depression, and his suicide when she was a child was a trigger for a lot of the challenges in her childhood.
Reading Challenges
Apr/21: In the Wild square of the Spring Break Romance Bingo
Apr/21: Spring Cleaning square of the #SpringIntoLove Bingo
I'm pretty sure I had written a review when I read this the first time around, so thanks a lot GR for losing it because I don't have the energy write a new one because I'm all in my feelings.
Reread 6/22 - Reading the Rainbow 2022 Challenge - Gettin' Bi square
Reread 6/22 - Reading the Rainbow 2022 Challenge - Gettin' Bi square
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent
"I didn't know but I had the sense people weren't supposed to be one stationary, static thing their entire lives. People were supposed to live a lot of lives in their time on this planet. They were supposed to reinvent themselves and reevaluate their beliefs. They were supposed to look back and shake their head at the things they did before they knew better. They were supposed to get all the second chances."
Jasper-Anne Cleary has barely escaped the scandal that cost her the job that was her whole life. The last thing she needs is lumberbear Linden Santillian in her life. But he's her new neighbour and against his own best instincts he can't help his interest in this contradiction of a woman.
This book is cosy to the extreme. Walks in the woods, potentially toxic baked goods, so much flannel and growly lumberjack demands (yes, there is a scene that pays homage to that Captain American woodchopping scene and I was *here for it*). Kate Canterbary writes characters who seem like people you know in real life, with real life problems. She has a gift for writing families and complicated women with big decisions to make, and bedroom scenes that are Carolina Reaper hot (not for closed door/sweet romance readers). Read The Belle and the Beard if you want a Beauty and the Beast inspired story about how our second acts (and third and fourth...) can be even better than our first if we are brave enough to step on stage. Five Fancy Toast Stars from me.
Jasper-Anne Cleary has barely escaped the scandal that cost her the job that was her whole life. The last thing she needs is lumberbear Linden Santillian in her life. But he's her new neighbour and against his own best instincts he can't help his interest in this contradiction of a woman.
This book is cosy to the extreme. Walks in the woods, potentially toxic baked goods, so much flannel and growly lumberjack demands (yes, there is a scene that pays homage to that Captain American woodchopping scene and I was *here for it*). Kate Canterbary writes characters who seem like people you know in real life, with real life problems. She has a gift for writing families and complicated women with big decisions to make, and bedroom scenes that are Carolina Reaper hot (not for closed door/sweet romance readers). Read The Belle and the Beard if you want a Beauty and the Beast inspired story about how our second acts (and third and fourth...) can be even better than our first if we are brave enough to step on stage. Five Fancy Toast Stars from me.