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hnbb's review
I understand that sometimes in writing some things feel necessary. I did not finish this book because of content in language and situations that I did not want to have in my head. Darn. I wanted to know what happened.
bourbontrailbookfairy's review
5.0
Fell in love with this author and storyline. I really liked reading a love story happening in good old Kentucky.
ceta_cea's review
4.0
Re-Read 2021
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Reading it the second time, it is very obvious how far Kathleen Brooks has come in her writing style.
I love being back in the beginning, seing how the whole Bluegrass series started and why.
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Reading it the second time, it is very obvious how far Kathleen Brooks has come in her writing style.
I love being back in the beginning, seing how the whole Bluegrass series started and why.
dizzybell06's review against another edition
3.0
Quick and easy read - these free iBooks suck you in and then you find out they are part of a series.
erinnejc's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book, after I had already read three of the books in the Bluegrass Brothers series. While I found this didn't matter, I have enjoyed finally knowing the backstory that is referred to throughout the new series.
Nevertheless, this was an enjoyable read. McKenna and Will have a easy to read romance, and even though I would have enjoyed it being fleshed out a bit more rather than instant-in-love, their story showed promise for the future books to come.
The drama is described very well, and all of the new characters that are introduced are entertaining.
Nevertheless, this was an enjoyable read. McKenna and Will have a easy to read romance, and even though I would have enjoyed it being fleshed out a bit more rather than instant-in-love, their story showed promise for the future books to come.
The drama is described very well, and all of the new characters that are introduced are entertaining.
bookloverchelle's review against another edition
4.0
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, Bluegrass State of Mind by Kathleen Brooks. I was able to get this as a free read for my Kindle and had been disappointed by previous free reads that to be able to read this story with such depth made it so much more enjoyable. So much so that I’d love to pick up another book by Ms. Brooks because this was a first from her for me. I really enjoyed how she wove together a sweet contemporary romance with cowboys (who doesn’t love a cowboy!) with some suspense. I enjoyed the small town life aspect and how not only the hero and heroine, McKenna and Will, interacted with each other but with the town as well. These two may have been apart for years but were able to connect almost seamlessly. The conflict added from the various exes added some great plot and build up to a wonderful HEA. Great read!
jen286's review against another edition
3.0
This was an easy quick read but I really enjoyed it, so much so that I immediately read the rest of the books by the author.
ridewithu's review against another edition
1. It was in third person
2. The writing
2. The writing
kricks2016's review
1.0
I expected to love this book in a guilty-pleasure "this was SO cheesy, but fun" kind of way. I was looking for something light and easy and I really didn't expect it to be great literature. The plot was something I knew would be relatively formulaic, but was a solid plot idea. I was sadly disappointed. As others have mentioned, she needed a very heavy-handed editor. The rest of this review is basically just me venting about everything that I found unbelievable and terrible.
First and foremost-the author obviously knows little to nothing about any of the professions that she writes about. Kenna is supposedly this high-powered attorney who is moving up in the ranks at a big law firm in NYC (that has never made a woman partner (until her), which is difficult to believe in this day and age, if only because it would look bad for the firm). She's supposedly dating a high powered federal lobbyist who is based in NYC? This also makes no sense. She moves to this town to apply for a *part-time* ADA job? OK--MAYBE this is a thing in a small town, but it sounds weird. So she's hanging her own shingle, but also working in the DA's office. Add to that a lot of completely unrelated information about her case load--which is apparently broken up by "type of crime" each day (today is the day we hear the domestic violence cases--really, in this tiny town where she's a part-time ADA they have enough Domestic Violence cases to fill the docket for an entire DAY on a regular basis?) she's in court--where she gets to see her caseload for the first time because she's literally prosecuting these cases by the seat of her pants (who doesn't find out that the victim doesn't intend to press charges BEFORE you get before a judge? Where are the police who arrested the defendant for their violent crime? Why is there NEVER a jury?) Not to mention the incredibly unprofessional things she does (like pretending to be barely holding it together in front of the court room because of a breakup, only to "show them" that a little breakup can't get her down). Kenna is basically the least New York native New Yorker that I can imagine. She's also the least assertive attorney I can imagine. Then, there was the long (and inaccurate) rant about agriculture in general and the evil corporations that are buying out all the family farms (in case you were wondering, 97% of ALL farms are family owned and operated) then acting like a co-op was a new idea. The rest of the people are in professions I know less about--but seriously, it's like the author Googled a basic job description for each of these things that sounded all cool, and then made the rest of up on the fly.
I also feel like the author has never visited places she's trying to paint a picture of. No one drives in NYC, yet one of the reasons her best friend is with her when she stumbles upon the gang-rape in the office, is that she is coming back to get her car (after Kenna has also driven them both in her car to a club--where they drink a lot for her birthday, then drives them both back to the office. Yet her parents were killed by a drunk driver, and part of her decision to become a prosecutor is to deal with people who drink and drive). Seriously, no one drives in Manhattan! Then, DC is supposedly this super-glitzy place, where it's all just wining and dining and "famous" people?
Then--there are the list of other characters. The evil ex-wife--who is apparently a fame-hungry Senator's daughter. So much weird here. If someone wants the kind of "fame" that this chick is into, they move to LA. DC is SO not into the kind of attention she was actively seeking out. The daughter of a Senator would never apply to be in a trashy reality TV show because it might cost her father his next election. Seriously--why didn't they just have his football career be in LA or Atlanta or ANYWHERE else. I love a "character" character--but everyone else in this book is just that, which makes it unbelievable. The Rose sisters would be awesome, if every other character in the book wasn't just as wacky. And it's WEIRD how the whole town, upon meeting her briefly in a cafe pull for her to get the job. Just weird. Add in a royal bestie of indeterminate middle eastern origin (but who still was often in NYC to "speak before the UN") it's just...all too unbelievable.
And the dialogue. The dialogue is literally laughable. I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud because it was just so bad.
There was little character development. And the plot gets entirely lost in the ridiculous minutia. She's suddenly got a best friend that we've only seen briefly and mostly talks about hats and dessert. Her insta-love situation with Will is meh. There's no chemistry. We hear SO MUCH about everything everyone wears, including what brand it is (I like clothes as well as the next girl--but this was excessive). Plus, it's like this author is stuck in the 90s based on the brands she was choosing. I've never heard so much gushing about Ralph Lauren. Add to this that the girl is literally fleeing a life or death situation, has a part-time ADA job, and as far as I can tell, no clients on the side, but when she's getting ready for the Derby, she buys TWO designer gowns because she can't choose. Cuz an extra couple grand is no big deal, apparently. Even when you're not using your credit cards.
Which brings me to the biggest issue of all: This girl is apparently running for her life. She somehow managed to clear out her bank accounts in the middle of the night on her way out of town (a neat trick), and hide out in Hershey PA (which I thought was a fun, if cheesy, choice--until I kept reading) until she decides she's going to apply for this ADA job in middle-of-nowhere Kentucky, where her childhood crush just happens to live. She moves. She takes the Kentucky Bar exam. She's living under her real name. She keeps her car--because that's not hard to trace... The author even addresses the situation with the Bar making it easy to find her in Kentucky--but writes it off as the powerful bad guys being unable to find her because they must assume she's still in the city. Really? Add to that an email that there's apparently a warrant for their arrest in NYC, but she's practicing law, no issues in Kentucky? She also saw a crime, called 911, then disappeared, so she's probably in a position to be disbarred (Just one more instance of "author has no idea what is actually entailed in an attorney's job"). Honestly, the plot started to feel like an afterthought. She witnessed a terrible crime--being committed by her bosses, and coworkers, and boyfriend. Then she was nearly brutally raped and killed for seeing this. Runs away. Doesn't take any real precautions to keep herself hidden. In the meantime, manages to find a man and fall in love (neglects to tell him the story for MONTHS), and mostly forgets about why she's there, except the occasional nightmare, until the bad guys find her (shocking!). What's really shocking is what sad, bottom of the barrel PIs these rich and powerful men hired to find her.
There's so much more--but I'll leave it at this. I honestly wouldn't ever suggest anyone read this book. Unless you wanted to read it so I had someone to rip apart all of the gaping, gaping holes the that author left for anyone to walk through with me.
First and foremost-the author obviously knows little to nothing about any of the professions that she writes about. Kenna is supposedly this high-powered attorney who is moving up in the ranks at a big law firm in NYC (that has never made a woman partner (until her), which is difficult to believe in this day and age, if only because it would look bad for the firm). She's supposedly dating a high powered federal lobbyist who is based in NYC? This also makes no sense. She moves to this town to apply for a *part-time* ADA job? OK--MAYBE this is a thing in a small town, but it sounds weird. So she's hanging her own shingle, but also working in the DA's office. Add to that a lot of completely unrelated information about her case load--which is apparently broken up by "type of crime" each day (today is the day we hear the domestic violence cases--really, in this tiny town where she's a part-time ADA they have enough Domestic Violence cases to fill the docket for an entire DAY on a regular basis?) she's in court--where she gets to see her caseload for the first time because she's literally prosecuting these cases by the seat of her pants (who doesn't find out that the victim doesn't intend to press charges BEFORE you get before a judge? Where are the police who arrested the defendant for their violent crime? Why is there NEVER a jury?) Not to mention the incredibly unprofessional things she does (like pretending to be barely holding it together in front of the court room because of a breakup, only to "show them" that a little breakup can't get her down). Kenna is basically the least New York native New Yorker that I can imagine. She's also the least assertive attorney I can imagine. Then, there was the long (and inaccurate) rant about agriculture in general and the evil corporations that are buying out all the family farms (in case you were wondering, 97% of ALL farms are family owned and operated) then acting like a co-op was a new idea. The rest of the people are in professions I know less about--but seriously, it's like the author Googled a basic job description for each of these things that sounded all cool, and then made the rest of up on the fly.
I also feel like the author has never visited places she's trying to paint a picture of. No one drives in NYC, yet one of the reasons her best friend is with her when she stumbles upon the gang-rape in the office, is that she is coming back to get her car (after Kenna has also driven them both in her car to a club--where they drink a lot for her birthday, then drives them both back to the office. Yet her parents were killed by a drunk driver, and part of her decision to become a prosecutor is to deal with people who drink and drive). Seriously, no one drives in Manhattan! Then, DC is supposedly this super-glitzy place, where it's all just wining and dining and "famous" people?
Then--there are the list of other characters. The evil ex-wife--who is apparently a fame-hungry Senator's daughter. So much weird here. If someone wants the kind of "fame" that this chick is into, they move to LA. DC is SO not into the kind of attention she was actively seeking out. The daughter of a Senator would never apply to be in a trashy reality TV show because it might cost her father his next election. Seriously--why didn't they just have his football career be in LA or Atlanta or ANYWHERE else. I love a "character" character--but everyone else in this book is just that, which makes it unbelievable. The Rose sisters would be awesome, if every other character in the book wasn't just as wacky. And it's WEIRD how the whole town, upon meeting her briefly in a cafe pull for her to get the job. Just weird. Add in a royal bestie of indeterminate middle eastern origin (but who still was often in NYC to "speak before the UN") it's just...all too unbelievable.
And the dialogue. The dialogue is literally laughable. I can't tell you how many times I laughed out loud because it was just so bad.
There was little character development. And the plot gets entirely lost in the ridiculous minutia. She's suddenly got a best friend that we've only seen briefly and mostly talks about hats and dessert. Her insta-love situation with Will is meh. There's no chemistry. We hear SO MUCH about everything everyone wears, including what brand it is (I like clothes as well as the next girl--but this was excessive). Plus, it's like this author is stuck in the 90s based on the brands she was choosing. I've never heard so much gushing about Ralph Lauren. Add to this that the girl is literally fleeing a life or death situation, has a part-time ADA job, and as far as I can tell, no clients on the side, but when she's getting ready for the Derby, she buys TWO designer gowns because she can't choose. Cuz an extra couple grand is no big deal, apparently. Even when you're not using your credit cards.
Which brings me to the biggest issue of all: This girl is apparently running for her life. She somehow managed to clear out her bank accounts in the middle of the night on her way out of town (a neat trick), and hide out in Hershey PA (which I thought was a fun, if cheesy, choice--until I kept reading) until she decides she's going to apply for this ADA job in middle-of-nowhere Kentucky, where her childhood crush just happens to live. She moves. She takes the Kentucky Bar exam. She's living under her real name. She keeps her car--because that's not hard to trace... The author even addresses the situation with the Bar making it easy to find her in Kentucky--but writes it off as the powerful bad guys being unable to find her because they must assume she's still in the city. Really? Add to that an email that there's apparently a warrant for their arrest in NYC, but she's practicing law, no issues in Kentucky? She also saw a crime, called 911, then disappeared, so she's probably in a position to be disbarred (Just one more instance of "author has no idea what is actually entailed in an attorney's job"). Honestly, the plot started to feel like an afterthought. She witnessed a terrible crime--being committed by her bosses, and coworkers, and boyfriend. Then she was nearly brutally raped and killed for seeing this. Runs away. Doesn't take any real precautions to keep herself hidden. In the meantime, manages to find a man and fall in love (neglects to tell him the story for MONTHS), and mostly forgets about why she's there, except the occasional nightmare, until the bad guys find her (shocking!). What's really shocking is what sad, bottom of the barrel PIs these rich and powerful men hired to find her.
There's so much more--but I'll leave it at this. I honestly wouldn't ever suggest anyone read this book. Unless you wanted to read it so I had someone to rip apart all of the gaping, gaping holes the that author left for anyone to walk through with me.