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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Prose before Bros was a story with great characters and the world building. Mandy Blount has drug her friend, Thuy, to Green Valley all the way from California after her father has passed. Talk about culture shock!!!!!
There are many challenges facing them, least of which is Maddy being pregnant. Life gets real interesting at the reading of the will. Drill, her brother, is not happy with the outcome. It is going to cause a lot of issues.
They do need more issues. A romance between Drill and Thuy has all the makings for a catastophe or ten. Have no fear good things come to those that read it all.
My only issue and the reason for only three stars was the confusion in reading. I abhor having to go back and reread sections because things aren't making sense. This problem happened a couple of times. Consistency is important. Mixing up characters is also irritating. I wouldn't say anything but this is a author that has written many books. She should have Betas and editors that catch this before I spend my money, before you spend your money.
There are many challenges facing them, least of which is Maddy being pregnant. Life gets real interesting at the reading of the will. Drill, her brother, is not happy with the outcome. It is going to cause a lot of issues.
They do need more issues. A romance between Drill and Thuy has all the makings for a catastophe or ten. Have no fear good things come to those that read it all.
My only issue and the reason for only three stars was the confusion in reading. I abhor having to go back and reread sections because things aren't making sense. This problem happened a couple of times. Consistency is important. Mixing up characters is also irritating. I wouldn't say anything but this is a author that has written many books. She should have Betas and editors that catch this before I spend my money, before you spend your money.
I’m going to be honest and admit that I struggled with this book. However, I will say that I want to applaud Cathy Yardley for bringing a new kind of lead woman to the forefront! Thuy is not your average main character; an Asian woman who has a darker past than most, Masters in Library Science, and isn’t afraid of helping her best friend raise her new baby and run a farm and not know how to do any of it. Other than the above, that is all that I could praise Thuy for. I found it hard to believe that she would be attracted to Maddy’s brother in any way, especially after finding out her background with her family. She seemed a little lost in most of the book except for when she was at the library.
All - Thuy, Maddy, and Maddy’s brother, Drill just fell short in all occasions. I struggled with how non-badass Drill truly was and how after meeting Thuy, he questioned everything about the gang that he was ‘loyal’ to. Drill went back and forth with his mindset of, “Should I do what is right or should I do what is wrong?” And, after making wrong choices, he was surprised that his gang turned on him. Why in the world would he tell the gang’s President that he inherited half of the farm land, knowing that the gang was in financial trouble, and be surprised that they scheme to take the money.
Maddy was such a small character in this book but her very last action made me sigh. I won’t go into it but I was hoping for something else, something better for her.
All - Thuy, Maddy, and Maddy’s brother, Drill just fell short in all occasions. I struggled with how non-badass Drill truly was and how after meeting Thuy, he questioned everything about the gang that he was ‘loyal’ to. Drill went back and forth with his mindset of, “Should I do what is right or should I do what is wrong?” And, after making wrong choices, he was surprised that his gang turned on him. Why in the world would he tell the gang’s President that he inherited half of the farm land, knowing that the gang was in financial trouble, and be surprised that they scheme to take the money.
Maddy was such a small character in this book but her very last action made me sigh. I won’t go into it but I was hoping for something else, something better for her.
Thuy loves her books, her job and most of all her friend Maddie. That is why she decides to move to her friends home town, work on her farm and help her raise her unborn child. No where in that descripton was there supposed to be a brother/biker deep in the very environment she has desperately been trying to escape from her entire life. But she can't help falling for him, anymore than she can help falling for the town and it's inhabitants.
Drill definitely did not want to be attracted to the cute little Thuy, his sisters best friend. The discontent he has felt with his club have been growing, especially after his sister decided to keep the farm and the club has been on him to force them to move. The club wants the money. But what does he want? I mean the woman even has him wanting to read a book! He is in an impossible position and he honestly has no idea how to keep the girls safe, and maybe leave the club?
All the feels, and even had me shedding a few tears, and some laughs! Lots of interaction with out beloved scary head librarian, as well as some other Green Valley residents. An outstanding addition to the Green Valley World that went above and beyond!
Drill definitely did not want to be attracted to the cute little Thuy, his sisters best friend. The discontent he has felt with his club have been growing, especially after his sister decided to keep the farm and the club has been on him to force them to move. The club wants the money. But what does he want? I mean the woman even has him wanting to read a book! He is in an impossible position and he honestly has no idea how to keep the girls safe, and maybe leave the club?
All the feels, and even had me shedding a few tears, and some laughs! Lots of interaction with out beloved scary head librarian, as well as some other Green Valley residents. An outstanding addition to the Green Valley World that went above and beyond!
adventurous
hopeful
tense
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
Interesting and unexpected
I LOVED this story! I’ve really enjoyed all of the PennyVerse stories I’ve read so far, because I completely love the world she created and the characters in it, but I was really curious how the “bad guys” in the Iron Wraiths could be redeemed. This author did a fantastic job writing a really interesting story that kept me on my toes and made me love a very “unloveable” character. Though I did not care for the extremely selfish Maddy (I mean, who makes such huge life decisions that effect multiple people without caring what they wanted?!?), the characters in this story had a lot of depth and were very “real” feeling. Can’t wait to read another by her!
I LOVED this story! I’ve really enjoyed all of the PennyVerse stories I’ve read so far, because I completely love the world she created and the characters in it, but I was really curious how the “bad guys” in the Iron Wraiths could be redeemed. This author did a fantastic job writing a really interesting story that kept me on my toes and made me love a very “unloveable” character. Though I did not care for the extremely selfish Maddy (I mean, who makes such huge life decisions that effect multiple people without caring what they wanted?!?), the characters in this story had a lot of depth and were very “real” feeling. Can’t wait to read another by her!
I have a love hate relationship with this. I enjoyed the characters but this was significantly darker than other books in this universe. Bikers have always been a plot point but this had some violence that I just wasnt a fan of and didn't think was proportionate to the overall style of this series.
This is my favorite Green Valley Library book! I loved seeing the state of the Iron Wraith MC and how Catfish, Drill and Timothy King (Why doesn't he have a Wraith name) handle everything now that Razor, Darrell and Repo are gone. I surprisingly loved Drill and I thought Cathy Yardley did a great job at writing his internal struggles. Great Job!
Also,
Also,
Spoiler
at the end of the book when Thuy stands on top of the truck and tells all the Iron Wraiths WHAT IS UP, I kept picturing Alita: Battle Angel! GO THUY! You are my hero!
Overall Grade: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“What happened to us makes us who we are.”
Humanizing the bad guy, crafting him with heroic qualities, is like catnip to a romance reader’s appetite. It’s the ultimate in love redeeming what’s bad to good, and it’s always been one of my favorite heroic constructions. In its base form, it’s hot. At its most evolved form, it’s an encouragement. It helps us remember that there is oftentimes not one really bad person, but instead people with shades of bad and good in them. This is very true in Cathy Yardley’s SmartPants Romance offering, Prose Before Bros.
This book exists in Penny Reid’s Winston Brother’s universe, and it is the first SmartyPants Romance book that offers us the story of an Iron Wraith. Yes, we’ve read L.B. Dunbar’s SmartyPants book, Love in Due Time, about Nathan, a former prospect of the Iron Wraith’s, but this is the first fully-formed love story of a full-fledged Iron Wraith. In the Winston Brother’s universe, we get a sense that most of the Iron Wraiths are worthless, criminal individuals. However, in Cathy Yardley’s tale, we learn quickly that this isn’t the truth.
This is Drill’s story. Drill is the “heavy” for the Iron Wraiths. He’s the guy you send in to mess with people when they owe the MC group money, or they threaten it. He’s been with the Iron Wraiths since he was 16. He is now 32, and he’s at a crossroads of sorts. The Iron Wraiths are scrambled after their leadership has been undermined, and Drill’s “brother,” Catfish, is trying to bring its members to heal. He relies on Drill as his resource for doing this. Yet, Drill struggles with finding purpose in the group. He is numb to life.
Enter Drill’s sister, Maddy. Maddy hasn’t seen or heard from her brother, formerly Teddy, in sixteen years. She has returned to town on the death of their father. Her best friend, Thuy, accompanies her to help her resolve her father’s estate. On Maddy’s return, it’s revealed that she is pregnant. This information gets to Drill, and he’s curious and worried for her even though he formerly disavowed his family. In his curiosity, he seeks out Maddy who informs him that she’d like him to come to their father’s will reading. He complies, and they determine through the reading of the will that their family farm is equal parts his and hers if they both decide to work it. Catfish, Drill’s MC President, wants them to sell the farm and give his proceeds to the club to keep it afloat, but this doesn’t sit well with Drill. However, this is complicated with Maddy’s revelation that she wants the farm for her future. This problematizes Drill’s life as the Iron Wraiths want the money and Drill’s sister is stubborn and won’t sell the farm. In the midst of all of this drama sits Thuy, Maddy’s best friend. On meeting Drill, they are instantly attracted to each other, even though his life is incredibly complicated. Even more, Thuy’s past, her family, makes her question any kind of relationship with Drill. She knows the life he lives, and she is not interested. Thuy decides to stay in Green Valley with Maddy to help her work the farm while helping care for the baby. Even more, she finds a position with the library, as she’s a librarian. As their attraction grows, Thuy’s life becomes more fraught with issues. Will she stay in Green Valley, or will her relationship with Drill fall apart sending her back to where she came from?
There is so much loveliness in this book. These are the reasons WHY you should read this newest offering from the SmartyPants Romance universe:
*Four letters: Thuy. For one, while it isn’t heavily crafted on the page, she brings an ethnic voice to the world of romance. Yardley does a great job of providing cultural cues from Thuy’s life, and it breaks some of the typical heroine characteristics. Thuy IS the strongest person in this book, bar none. Yes, Maddy is resilient, but she’s not layered. Drill is also a complicated type (and the second-best part of the book). But Thuy has a resiliency and tenacity that endears her to you as a reader. She’s the solution to just about every problem in this book. She finds a way for Drill, she provides a much-needed income to help Maddy, she brings fresh ideas to Green Valley’s storied library, and she overcomes a complicated and terrifying past. She’s impressive, and Yardley’s crafting of her makes this book special.
*Drill. As I stated at the beginning of this review, I love a complicated hero. Yes, it’s easy to fall in love with a traditional romantic hero. A sweet hero is lovely, but it won’t make your heart pound as an anti-hero will. There is something interesting about a hero who hasn’t lived a heroic life. When you ascribe heroic qualities to him and complicate his sense of morality, you make him romance gold. And that is the case with Drill. He really is any of us who have grown weary of our current state. It is possible that the person we are at 16 or twenty won’t be the person we are at 30 or 40, and Yardley challenges us with that idea through the character of Drill. How do you then escape the decisions you make when you are younger? Should you even try? That is the overarching theme/message of this book: we should not feel ashamed for our pasts; instead, we should recognize that they helped us grow into the people we are today. Drill is the epitome of this realization in the book, and it’s why he is my second favorite part of this story. His truth resonated with me personally.
*The various love relationships. Yes, Prose Before Bros is a romance between Drill and Thuy, and their chemistry is amazing. It’s clear from the start that their souls yearn for each other, and Yardley makes their relationship probable even with the specter of Drill’s association with the Iron Wraith’s complicating it. Yet, this book is also about love relationships between friends, namely Maddy and Thuy. Through the construction of this relationship, Yardley shows us the power of friendships to save us and to create new families for us when our families of origin don’t meet our needs. Maddy and Thuy are special together. In the book, the town believes they might be in a relationship. However, it’s their friendship that saves them both, and it’s as special as Drill and Thuy’s relationship. Love can be found in any type of relationship, and it saves us from ourselves.
*Yardley clearly has this great love for libraries. Honestly, as a professor of writing, I ate up her depiction of the trials of modern-day libraries. I know this little piece seems silly in the scope of a review of this romance, but it acts as a bit of a warning over the idea of tradition vs. innovation. Green Valley’s library is one of the quintessential places in any Reid Winston Brother’s romance. It’s like a town square much like Daisy’s Nut House or the Donner Bakery. If you’ve read Reid’s books, you know how important these three places are to the ethos of Green Valley, and I love that Yardley questions the current state of the library. Through Thuy, she reminds us that we have to innovate to truly reach all people, not just some. This is a passionate secondary message in this book, and it’s important for us to remember that change and moving forward is necessary or we stagnate.
Honestly, if you haven’t read any of these SmartyPants Romance books, you need to now. Cathy Yardley’s Prose Before Bros is one of those books that will crawl under skin, flow through your veins, and hit your heart with an impact. Drill and Thuy’s story helps us see that our pasts can shadow our today, but they need not take over our tomorrows.
“What happened to us makes us who we are.”
Humanizing the bad guy, crafting him with heroic qualities, is like catnip to a romance reader’s appetite. It’s the ultimate in love redeeming what’s bad to good, and it’s always been one of my favorite heroic constructions. In its base form, it’s hot. At its most evolved form, it’s an encouragement. It helps us remember that there is oftentimes not one really bad person, but instead people with shades of bad and good in them. This is very true in Cathy Yardley’s SmartPants Romance offering, Prose Before Bros.
This book exists in Penny Reid’s Winston Brother’s universe, and it is the first SmartyPants Romance book that offers us the story of an Iron Wraith. Yes, we’ve read L.B. Dunbar’s SmartyPants book, Love in Due Time, about Nathan, a former prospect of the Iron Wraith’s, but this is the first fully-formed love story of a full-fledged Iron Wraith. In the Winston Brother’s universe, we get a sense that most of the Iron Wraiths are worthless, criminal individuals. However, in Cathy Yardley’s tale, we learn quickly that this isn’t the truth.
This is Drill’s story. Drill is the “heavy” for the Iron Wraiths. He’s the guy you send in to mess with people when they owe the MC group money, or they threaten it. He’s been with the Iron Wraiths since he was 16. He is now 32, and he’s at a crossroads of sorts. The Iron Wraiths are scrambled after their leadership has been undermined, and Drill’s “brother,” Catfish, is trying to bring its members to heal. He relies on Drill as his resource for doing this. Yet, Drill struggles with finding purpose in the group. He is numb to life.
Enter Drill’s sister, Maddy. Maddy hasn’t seen or heard from her brother, formerly Teddy, in sixteen years. She has returned to town on the death of their father. Her best friend, Thuy, accompanies her to help her resolve her father’s estate. On Maddy’s return, it’s revealed that she is pregnant. This information gets to Drill, and he’s curious and worried for her even though he formerly disavowed his family. In his curiosity, he seeks out Maddy who informs him that she’d like him to come to their father’s will reading. He complies, and they determine through the reading of the will that their family farm is equal parts his and hers if they both decide to work it. Catfish, Drill’s MC President, wants them to sell the farm and give his proceeds to the club to keep it afloat, but this doesn’t sit well with Drill. However, this is complicated with Maddy’s revelation that she wants the farm for her future. This problematizes Drill’s life as the Iron Wraiths want the money and Drill’s sister is stubborn and won’t sell the farm. In the midst of all of this drama sits Thuy, Maddy’s best friend. On meeting Drill, they are instantly attracted to each other, even though his life is incredibly complicated. Even more, Thuy’s past, her family, makes her question any kind of relationship with Drill. She knows the life he lives, and she is not interested. Thuy decides to stay in Green Valley with Maddy to help her work the farm while helping care for the baby. Even more, she finds a position with the library, as she’s a librarian. As their attraction grows, Thuy’s life becomes more fraught with issues. Will she stay in Green Valley, or will her relationship with Drill fall apart sending her back to where she came from?
There is so much loveliness in this book. These are the reasons WHY you should read this newest offering from the SmartyPants Romance universe:
*Four letters: Thuy. For one, while it isn’t heavily crafted on the page, she brings an ethnic voice to the world of romance. Yardley does a great job of providing cultural cues from Thuy’s life, and it breaks some of the typical heroine characteristics. Thuy IS the strongest person in this book, bar none. Yes, Maddy is resilient, but she’s not layered. Drill is also a complicated type (and the second-best part of the book). But Thuy has a resiliency and tenacity that endears her to you as a reader. She’s the solution to just about every problem in this book. She finds a way for Drill, she provides a much-needed income to help Maddy, she brings fresh ideas to Green Valley’s storied library, and she overcomes a complicated and terrifying past. She’s impressive, and Yardley’s crafting of her makes this book special.
*Drill. As I stated at the beginning of this review, I love a complicated hero. Yes, it’s easy to fall in love with a traditional romantic hero. A sweet hero is lovely, but it won’t make your heart pound as an anti-hero will. There is something interesting about a hero who hasn’t lived a heroic life. When you ascribe heroic qualities to him and complicate his sense of morality, you make him romance gold. And that is the case with Drill. He really is any of us who have grown weary of our current state. It is possible that the person we are at 16 or twenty won’t be the person we are at 30 or 40, and Yardley challenges us with that idea through the character of Drill. How do you then escape the decisions you make when you are younger? Should you even try? That is the overarching theme/message of this book: we should not feel ashamed for our pasts; instead, we should recognize that they helped us grow into the people we are today. Drill is the epitome of this realization in the book, and it’s why he is my second favorite part of this story. His truth resonated with me personally.
*The various love relationships. Yes, Prose Before Bros is a romance between Drill and Thuy, and their chemistry is amazing. It’s clear from the start that their souls yearn for each other, and Yardley makes their relationship probable even with the specter of Drill’s association with the Iron Wraith’s complicating it. Yet, this book is also about love relationships between friends, namely Maddy and Thuy. Through the construction of this relationship, Yardley shows us the power of friendships to save us and to create new families for us when our families of origin don’t meet our needs. Maddy and Thuy are special together. In the book, the town believes they might be in a relationship. However, it’s their friendship that saves them both, and it’s as special as Drill and Thuy’s relationship. Love can be found in any type of relationship, and it saves us from ourselves.
*Yardley clearly has this great love for libraries. Honestly, as a professor of writing, I ate up her depiction of the trials of modern-day libraries. I know this little piece seems silly in the scope of a review of this romance, but it acts as a bit of a warning over the idea of tradition vs. innovation. Green Valley’s library is one of the quintessential places in any Reid Winston Brother’s romance. It’s like a town square much like Daisy’s Nut House or the Donner Bakery. If you’ve read Reid’s books, you know how important these three places are to the ethos of Green Valley, and I love that Yardley questions the current state of the library. Through Thuy, she reminds us that we have to innovate to truly reach all people, not just some. This is a passionate secondary message in this book, and it’s important for us to remember that change and moving forward is necessary or we stagnate.
Honestly, if you haven’t read any of these SmartyPants Romance books, you need to now. Cathy Yardley’s Prose Before Bros is one of those books that will crawl under skin, flow through your veins, and hit your heart with an impact. Drill and Thuy’s story helps us see that our pasts can shadow our today, but they need not take over our tomorrows.
This book is different than other Green Valley books because it was in third person, which was jarring for a bit since I was used to reading the first person POV.
The main characters are Thuy, a Chinese-American woman who’s in Green Valley with her friend Maddie after the death of Maddie’s father; and Drill/Teddy, Maddie’s brother who’s in the Iron Wraiths MC. The main conflict in the book is that the Wraiths want Drill to sell his father’s farm and give them the profits. But he’s starting to realize the “no contact, no family outside the Wraiths” policy is hurting him and he no longer believes in the Wraiths brotherhood.
This was a complicated story. It deals with the violence and brotherhood of an MC, and Thuy being a progressive librarian in a small, old school town. Ultimately I didn’t buy into the relationship between Thuy/Drill… I just didn’t understand their chemistry or how they fell in love.
The main characters are Thuy, a Chinese-American woman who’s in Green Valley with her friend Maddie after the death of Maddie’s father; and Drill/Teddy, Maddie’s brother who’s in the Iron Wraiths MC. The main conflict in the book is that the Wraiths want Drill to sell his father’s farm and give them the profits. But he’s starting to realize the “no contact, no family outside the Wraiths” policy is hurting him and he no longer believes in the Wraiths brotherhood.
This was a complicated story. It deals with the violence and brotherhood of an MC, and Thuy being a progressive librarian in a small, old school town. Ultimately I didn’t buy into the relationship between Thuy/Drill… I just didn’t understand their chemistry or how they fell in love.
I did not enjoy this book. It felt very short and there wasn’t much of a relationship between the main characters before they were in love. Since they’re complete strangers and there’s not even any history to give the relationship some base I just didn’t get it and didn’t feel it. I also just wasn’t feeling the intimate moments when she’s yelling out “Drill”. This one wasn’t for me.