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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
kind of bored me even though it was well done. Felt like more of the same from JAL
Avalon runs a successful game company in San Francisco, but when she finds her boyfriend and partner in a compromising condition with their intern, she takes off for home in Hellcat Canyon. She finds out that the mansion where her childhood sweetheart is up for auction, and on impulse, she buys the place with the intention of flipping it to a friend who wants to use it for corporate retreats. What she didn't count on was that the guy she was bidding against and the current groundskeeper for the estate is Mac, her old sweetheart. Mac wants his house back after his billionaire father lost everything in a Ponzi scheme and went to prison. When he finds that Avalon is the purchaser, he can't believe it. She ran away from him when she was seventeen and left a hole that he's never been able to fill, no matter how much he likes his new life.
This is a slow burn romance as the two grow up and find each other again. First, there are a lot of hijinks as the two revert to their childhoods and compete against each other for the decision about what to do with the house. These different tricks are hysterical as well as the banter between the two; it's literally laugh-out-loud funny. Ava and Mac gradually come to realize that what they thought was important as teenagers in love was only the basis for what they feel for each other now.
Avalon is smart, witty, and a worthy foe for Mac's tricks. It's a revelation when she finally realizes that all he wants is for her to be safe and why. I fell in love with Mac a little myself. He's intelligent, introspective, and so grown-up from his spoiled childhood. He has a lot of difficulty showing his feelings, mostly because he feels so much. When he finally succumbs to the "Grand Gesture", it's the best. And Avalon's response?
"Your heart is the most precious thing in the world to me," she could have said. But he'd already filled the air with romance and she knew he liked it when people said exactly what they meant.
So she said, "I love you."
I loved Ms. Long's Pennyroyal Green series. It's taken me a while to warm up to this contemporary series; I liked the first two books, but they didn't touch my heart as her regencies did. But this book, oh my word, I loved it. I've been thinking about it for the last day because so much of the romance is internal, shown in gestures rather than words, but so real. I can't wait for the next one in the series which I think is Eden's story.
This is a slow burn romance as the two grow up and find each other again. First, there are a lot of hijinks as the two revert to their childhoods and compete against each other for the decision about what to do with the house. These different tricks are hysterical as well as the banter between the two; it's literally laugh-out-loud funny. Ava and Mac gradually come to realize that what they thought was important as teenagers in love was only the basis for what they feel for each other now.
Avalon is smart, witty, and a worthy foe for Mac's tricks. It's a revelation when she finally realizes that all he wants is for her to be safe and why. I fell in love with Mac a little myself. He's intelligent, introspective, and so grown-up from his spoiled childhood. He has a lot of difficulty showing his feelings, mostly because he feels so much. When he finally succumbs to the "Grand Gesture", it's the best. And Avalon's response?
"Your heart is the most precious thing in the world to me," she could have said. But he'd already filled the air with romance and she knew he liked it when people said exactly what they meant.
So she said, "I love you."
I loved Ms. Long's Pennyroyal Green series. It's taken me a while to warm up to this contemporary series; I liked the first two books, but they didn't touch my heart as her regencies did. But this book, oh my word, I loved it. I've been thinking about it for the last day because so much of the romance is internal, shown in gestures rather than words, but so real. I can't wait for the next one in the series which I think is Eden's story.
I actually really liked this book. The only thing that kept me from rating it higher was that I felt that much of the plot and of the characters, specially the male mc, felt a little too much like things she already wrote in previous books in her Pennyroyal series. Marc at times felt like a mixture of Lyon(book 11) with the childhood sweetheart and his dad reminded me a lot of Lyon's, the financial thing reminded me of the character from book 6, and they say the same thing that everything they've done after the financial fall out wasn't thoughtless. When he says to the female mc "takes a coward to recognize another" when they were talking about love, that's a scene of book 4 of Pennyroyal green. And the final gesture of giving the land to her to give her "options" and in a way hoping she'll realize her feelings was already done in What I did for a duke.
I don't want to sound like I didn't like the book, I really enjoyed it, and was exactly what I needed to read, is just that, while I understand some things can repeat themselves because it's based in how the author views romance, too much repeated stuff feels like the author used things she's already done to finish the book as quickly as possible.
I don't want to sound like I didn't like the book, I really enjoyed it, and was exactly what I needed to read, is just that, while I understand some things can repeat themselves because it's based in how the author views romance, too much repeated stuff feels like the author used things she's already done to finish the book as quickly as possible.
This is my favorite of the Hellcat Canyon books so far. I love that our heroine has her own sense of agency and seems to take life by the proverbial balls.
The book opens with Avalon (really? Really?) finding her boyfriend/co-business owner in bed with the company intern. So she runs back to her parents' in Hellcat Canyon. But not for long. She finds out that the old Coltrane house is up for auction. The house where she spent a LOT of time as a teen. Mostly with Mac Coltrane. But that was before he called her a hick. Then his father was arrested for fraud. So she buys the house intending to flip it. But she doesn't realize that there's a groundskeeper that comes with the house.
Mac is disappointed that Avalon bought the house, mostly because he wanted it for himself. I'm not sure the "why" of that was ever explained. Maybe to win back some family honor or something? He's determined to make Avalon leave, except that he's still attracted to her, even two decades later. The two spend some time working to bring the old house into the 21st century and also figuring out that they're still attracted and clearing up old misunderstandings.
I liked the byplay between these two. They were smart about their needling but it gave the readers a chance to see their true characters. I'm not sure I loved the ending but I did love Avalon's sister (and the unnamed father of her daughter) as sequel bait.
The book opens with Avalon (really? Really?) finding her boyfriend/co-business owner in bed with the company intern. So she runs back to her parents' in Hellcat Canyon. But not for long. She finds out that the old Coltrane house is up for auction. The house where she spent a LOT of time as a teen. Mostly with Mac Coltrane. But that was before he called her a hick. Then his father was arrested for fraud. So she buys the house intending to flip it. But she doesn't realize that there's a groundskeeper that comes with the house.
Mac is disappointed that Avalon bought the house, mostly because he wanted it for himself. I'm not sure the "why" of that was ever explained. Maybe to win back some family honor or something? He's determined to make Avalon leave, except that he's still attracted to her, even two decades later. The two spend some time working to bring the old house into the 21st century and also figuring out that they're still attracted and clearing up old misunderstandings.
I liked the byplay between these two. They were smart about their needling but it gave the readers a chance to see their true characters. I'm not sure I loved the ending but I did love Avalon's sister (and the unnamed father of her daughter) as sequel bait.
Loved it... Though now there's a song stuck in my head. The one that Mac HATES... I kinda like it. I do however, tell ya'll to look it up on YouTube with a bit of caution. The main video for it is a little disturbing, lol. Great book, can't wait for the next one in the series!
This isn’t going to be an all time favorite Julie Anne Long for me but every time I read a JAL book I get fuzzies and a slight book hangover because of how freaking romantic her characters are, so that’s why this is overall a 4 store book for me, even if I didn’t love the individual elements of the story.
JAL really excels at writing characters’ exploration of each other, the way they learn, understand, and build their lives around the other person. It’s all very deeply felt and observed and it’s wonderful to read the kind of introspection that she gives her characters.
JAL really excels at writing characters’ exploration of each other, the way they learn, understand, and build their lives around the other person. It’s all very deeply felt and observed and it’s wonderful to read the kind of introspection that she gives her characters.
Buy This Book
As I looked back over my notes so as to be able to write this review, two words kept popping out: relatable and refreshing. Relatable because the characters are just that and refreshing because that’s how this book felt. In Dirty Dancing at Devil’s Leap, the third installment in her Hellcat Canyon series, Julie Ann Long delivers an engrossing story of second chances and enemies shifting to lovers, full of heart, banter, and sexytimes. What more can anyone ask for?
This is the first book by Ms. Long that I’ve read, but I’ve been reading my fellow AAR reviewers rave about her for a while. Based on those reviews, I expected to enjoy myself, but I didn’t expect to literally be unable to put this book down. Seriously. I started after dinner one evening, expecting to read a few chapters before getting ready for bed. The book gods laughed at that one, y’all, because the next thing I knew it was midnight and I was nearly hugging my Kindle for love of this book.
Full review: https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/dirty-dancing-at-devils-leap-by-julie-anne-long/
See the full review at HarlequinJunkie.com
Smartly written with characters you can’t help but love, Dirty Dancing at Devil’s Leap had me in stitches almost the whole way through. Well, when I wasn’t swooning over our hero Mac, that is…
This was actually my first time reading any of Julie Anne Long’s work (although I do have a couple other books by her on my TBR) and I had such a blast with it. I loved everything from the easy flow of the story itself to the rapid fire bantering full of innuendos and to the character development she used. It all worked together to create a modern, extremely fun romance that had a lot of heart to it. Read More
Smartly written with characters you can’t help but love, Dirty Dancing at Devil’s Leap had me in stitches almost the whole way through. Well, when I wasn’t swooning over our hero Mac, that is…
This was actually my first time reading any of Julie Anne Long’s work (although I do have a couple other books by her on my TBR) and I had such a blast with it. I loved everything from the easy flow of the story itself to the rapid fire bantering full of innuendos and to the character development she used. It all worked together to create a modern, extremely fun romance that had a lot of heart to it. Read More