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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was warned…
The book is “spicy,” and I don’t read “spicy.” Like, I just skip over those parts because I just don’t care. And I was warned that this book had a lot of those parts. That is correct.
But this book also has a hero worth holding out for. Everyone needs an Atlas in their lives, and his grumpy exterior but heart of gold interior made me want to keep reading.
The book is “spicy,” and I don’t read “spicy.” Like, I just skip over those parts because I just don’t care. And I was warned that this book had a lot of those parts. That is correct.
But this book also has a hero worth holding out for. Everyone needs an Atlas in their lives, and his grumpy exterior but heart of gold interior made me want to keep reading.
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Holy hotness, Batman. This is a spicy listen. Make sure you have your face filter locked in place before you attempt in public. I adored everything about this, from the sassy teenage daughter to the kitten delivery service. Grumpy v sunshine is one of my OG fav tropes and this was top tier of that trope. Add in forced proximity and a good fake dating ruse and this checked all my boxes. I could listen to this over and over and over again, chuckling and swooning with every scene. This was a really great read.
❤️ Tropes ❤️
💋 Small Town Romance
💋 grumpy v sunshine
💋 one night stand ➡️ new tenant
💋 fake dating
💋 forced proximity
💋 single mom FMC
💋 former football star MMC
Sutton may have been moving her teenage daughter across country for her next gig as a travel nurse, but the only thoughts she had in those last hours were about the man who blew her mind multiples times in less than an hour at the hotel last night. A quickie with someone she would never see again. Only see is seeing him again. Right now. In front of her. Scowling at her. Apparently he is her new landlord and he just accused her of stalking him. Welll eff you very much too. She has a fresh start to get going anyways.
Thank you to Hambright PR for the copy, all thoughts are my own.
Holy hotness, Batman. This is a spicy listen. Make sure you have your face filter locked in place before you attempt in public. I adored everything about this, from the sassy teenage daughter to the kitten delivery service. Grumpy v sunshine is one of my OG fav tropes and this was top tier of that trope. Add in forced proximity and a good fake dating ruse and this checked all my boxes. I could listen to this over and over and over again, chuckling and swooning with every scene. This was a really great read.
❤️ Tropes ❤️
💋 Small Town Romance
💋 grumpy v sunshine
💋 one night stand ➡️ new tenant
💋 fake dating
💋 forced proximity
💋 single mom FMC
💋 former football star MMC
Sutton may have been moving her teenage daughter across country for her next gig as a travel nurse, but the only thoughts she had in those last hours were about the man who blew her mind multiples times in less than an hour at the hotel last night. A quickie with someone she would never see again. Only see is seeing him again. Right now. In front of her. Scowling at her. Apparently he is her new landlord and he just accused her of stalking him. Welll eff you very much too. She has a fresh start to get going anyways.
Thank you to Hambright PR for the copy, all thoughts are my own.
challenging
emotional
funny
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
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is one of those books that can actually be described really well in tropes, and usually that would be a bad thing for me, but Brighton Walsh somehow made it work. So, here are the tropes:
- One Night Stand
- Single Mom
- Grumpy x Sunshine
- Forced Proximity (He turns out to be her landlord)
- Fake Dating
- Small-Town Shenanigans (festivals galore)
- FMC has a stalker (mild)
This book was tropey, but the tropes fit into the story well. Instead of writing a story around the tropes, it felt like they just fell into the story as tools rather than crutches.
The pacing was good, with nothing feeling too rushed or too dragged out. There was insta-lust, but that was quelled once they actually met in the daylight and Atlas proved to be that classically grumpy-for-no-reason MMC. While it did annoy me that he was being unnecessarily mean, I liked that Sutton matched his energy and we got very clear explanations of why he built his walls so high.
The supporting characters were really great, especially Atlas’ mom and Sutton’s teenage daughter. Sutton and her daughter, Laurel, definitely had a Lorelai/Rori thing going on, which only bothered me when it seemed like they were too friendly instead of having a parent/child relationship. There were multiple times where Sutton went to Laurel for relationship advice and Laurel seemed more mature than her. While that might make sense if they were completely alone in the new town, it didn’t make much sense here because Sutton had an adult female friend in town that she could have leaned on instead.
That being said, I really liked the overall dynamic between Sutton, Atlas, and Laurel. Watching them grow into a little family unit was super sweet, and Laurel and Atlas’ relationship always made me laugh.
If you’re a fan of Brighton Walsh’s Starlight Cove series, you’ll probably really like this, as it takes place in the same small town and follows different family of brothers. Overall, a fun read.
ARC provided by The Smuthood PR.
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Definitely more smut than plot. Just meh.
“You bought all my favorite books for your library?” “No, trouble. I bought all your favorite books so I could read the endings, see how those swoony motherfuckers turned shit around, and get a clue about how to win you back.”
atlas. whew the man that you are, my god. this man is so down bad for his girl, even though he doesn’t want to be.
this is the first book by brighton walsh that i’ve read and it definitely will not be the last! this starts with a one night stand between atlas and sutton, picking up when sutton shows up in atlas’ hometown. atlas is such a grumpy human being and i was here for it the entire time. sutton is such a bad ass and i love her dearly. i thoroughly enjoyed this book and the found family that sutton created when moving to this town.
thank you to hambright PR and the author for the ALC!
atlas. whew the man that you are, my god. this man is so down bad for his girl, even though he doesn’t want to be.
this is the first book by brighton walsh that i’ve read and it definitely will not be the last! this starts with a one night stand between atlas and sutton, picking up when sutton shows up in atlas’ hometown. atlas is such a grumpy human being and i was here for it the entire time. sutton is such a bad ass and i love her dearly. i thoroughly enjoyed this book and the found family that sutton created when moving to this town.
thank you to hambright PR and the author for the ALC!
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
🎧 Narration
The narrators were excellent and embodied the characters really well.And did i mention it's a dual narration!!!!
To be honest,this is a book you will enjoy more if you listen rather than read.The audiobook brings the story to life in a way that the text alone doesn't quite manage.
🌶 Spice Level
Three scotching hot peppers...The sex scenes were well balanced within the overall plot;not too many that you would roll your eyes by the final one but also not so few that you would forget it's a romance novel.
📝Storyline and Plot
Now here's where i have some thoughts.
The author included content warnings, so I went in expecting that these sensitive topics would be explored with depth and nuance. Unfortunately,they were only mentioned and not meaningfully unpacked and that pulled down my rating of this book that had started out very high because these supposed "issues" were the fundamental reasons these characters acted the way they acted.All this just dulled the overall plot and got me bored 80% in.
⏱ Pacing
The pacing was great 50% in but after they hooked up in starlight cove everything moved so fast...it's almost like the author just wanted to explore only the relationship between the main leads and everything else took a back seat so when these "issues" come back close to the end, they are so rushed and poorly resolved that the ending felt anticlimactic.
👫Main characters
Sutton and Atlas were solid, well written main lead characters even with a large cast of strong side characters around them, and that's one thing I will credit the author for doing really well.
👥 Side characters
The female characters are pretty forgettable, and I don't know if that was intentional or not. However, I am very curious about the rest of Atlas's brothers, especially with that ending!!
⭐️ Overall rating
3.5 stars.
The stellar narration,steamy moments, and strong leads kept me going to the end however, the underwhelming exploration of the serious topics highlighted in the content warnings ultimately led to this less than 5 star rating.
The narrators were excellent and embodied the characters really well.And did i mention it's a dual narration!!!!
To be honest,this is a book you will enjoy more if you listen rather than read.The audiobook brings the story to life in a way that the text alone doesn't quite manage.
🌶 Spice Level
Three scotching hot peppers...The sex scenes were well balanced within the overall plot;not too many that you would roll your eyes by the final one but also not so few that you would forget it's a romance novel.
📝Storyline and Plot
Now here's where i have some thoughts.
The author included content warnings, so I went in expecting that these sensitive topics would be explored with depth and nuance. Unfortunately,they were only mentioned and not meaningfully unpacked and that pulled down my rating of this book that had started out very high because these supposed "issues" were the fundamental reasons these characters acted the way they acted.All this just dulled the overall plot and got me bored 80% in.
⏱ Pacing
The pacing was great 50% in but after they hooked up in starlight cove everything moved so fast...it's almost like the author just wanted to explore only the relationship between the main leads and everything else took a back seat so when these "issues" come back close to the end, they are so rushed and poorly resolved that the ending felt anticlimactic.
👫Main characters
Sutton and Atlas were solid, well written main lead characters even with a large cast of strong side characters around them, and that's one thing I will credit the author for doing really well.
👥 Side characters
The female characters are pretty forgettable, and I don't know if that was intentional or not. However, I am very curious about the rest of Atlas's brothers, especially with that ending!!
⭐️ Overall rating
3.5 stars.
The stellar narration,steamy moments, and strong leads kept me going to the end however, the underwhelming exploration of the serious topics highlighted in the content warnings ultimately led to this less than 5 star rating.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No