Reviews - Shucked | The StoryGraph

378 reviews for:

Shucked

Kate Canterbary

3.81 AVERAGE

withadreamy_farofflook's review

4.25

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-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

elloyd's review

4.75

hopeful lighthearted medium-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: Complicated

klouisea's review

4.0

funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

maron123's review

2.0

adventurous funny hopeful slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

2 THE WAR IS FINALLY OVER BC I FINISHED THIS BOOK STARS. This book was entirely too long and I’ll be honest I didn’t care for any of the characters. I would definitely be willing to try another book by this author but this one was a miss for me. Maybe the sad ex baseball player with the mysterious should be ex wife will be more interesting than his cooperate brother.

sydneybouwman's review

3.5

funny lighthearted 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

smoothunicorn's review

4.5

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted tense slow-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

Listen, I don’t know how Ms. Canterbary manages to take the goofiest tropes, the most unlikely scenarios, the craziest cast of characters, and craft the most relatable, gorgeous, breathtaking love stories I’ve ever read in my life but she’s pretty much three for three now, at least in my experience, between In A Jam, Boss in the Bedsheets, and now Shucked.

I don’t even know what to say really. Sunny is one of those strong, free-spirited trope characters who manages to also be so grounded and smart - none of this “TSTL” stuff that so often happens with “strong independent women” in romance books. She makes careful decisions, thinks things through, but also manages to be fun and interesting to watch.

It’s easy to see why Beck, who initially pissed me off as the stoic, chilly, scary rich bossman, falls madly in love with Sunny from minute one. Something I love about Kate Canterbary is how HARD her male leads fall. And Beck falls so, so hard here. He also proves to have layers, deep ones that somehow feel more relatable than most of the male leads I’ve read in contemporary romance. He struggles and pushes and pulls and has a very narrow and frankly tragic view of himself that is just so painful to watch; and yet, Sunny never falls into an emotional caretaker role with him.

Despite Beck’s overprotective approach to Sunny, they both seem to have so much respect and trust in each other. They count on one another to be adults and make good choices. The banter is hilarious and dry and stunning, and it serves as such an incredible contrast to the grisly, deep, angsty, and overwhelming feelings of love that develop between them. There are moments in this book that literally took my breath away with their poignancy.

I loved this book, bizarre plot line and all. I loved the diversity in the cast of characters, too: we have racial diversity, sexual diversity, age diversity, backgrounds, education levels, life choices, neurodivergence…but none of it feels shoehorned in.

Just a delight. Can’t wait to read everything else she’s written now.