Review: Blacklisted

Blacklisted by Jay Crownover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

“I'm the one who is going to purposely cross your path. I'm never going to walk the other way when I see you coming. I'm going to head right toward you.” 

The third and final installment in the Loveless, Texas series about the Lawton siblings focuses on Dr. Presley Baskins, the half-sibling new to the family. Blacklisted starts right where the second in the series, Unforgiven left off. Presley's half-sister Kody called her to come help a man who was shot. The man turns out to be Palmer “Shot” Caldwell, the president of the motorcycle club Sons of Sorrow. Presley saves his life and is told the club owes her a favor and she can collect anytime. Shot gets antsy after three months of Presley not calling in the favor and ends up staking out her apartment to try and get a read on who his club owes a favor. When Presley comes out to confront him about stalking her, they have an instant pull between them, they also get shot at and with both thinking they were the target, the story takes off from there. 

 I'd spent so long being calm and serene for the comfort of others, I'd forgotten how cathartic anger could be when it was called for. 

This would be technically possible to start without reading the first two (there's also a novella) but you'd miss out on family dynamics and the latter half of this was a lovely wrap-up and send-off of the series that newbies wouldn't get the full emotional impact as much as readers of the series would. I was kind of surprised at how calm and measured the characters, story, and pace was in this. While Shot is the president of Sons of Sorrow, we get almost zero of any motorcycle club story or atmosphere. There are a couple scenes with his vice president Top and their friendship, a mention of dealings out of the country, some prospects guarding Presley, and Presley dealing with not knowing where Shot is because of club business. Shot talks about how the club is a family for him but without scenes with and about, I got no emotional connection from that aspect. I did like how the story focused on Presley and Shot's emerging relationship. They're both closer to forty and I think that came through with how quiet and thoughtful their relationship was at times. The suspense and action lingered on the edges and came from Presley's issue with a former friend that was introduced in the second in the series. 

 “When I'm with her, things get quiet. I can hear myself think.” 

When Presley was brought into the series, the Lawton siblings had no idea about her and then circumstances lined up to make them think that Presley killed their dad to collect her inheritance. The circumstances turned out to be a friend of Presley's named Ashby who has now gone full single white female. Presley got a promotion that would make her Chief Medical Examiner and while Ashby had been content subtly undercutting Presley through their whole friendship, she freaks out and really starts ramping things up. Presley grew-up with just her mother who suffered from kidney disease and this, coupled with how intelligent she was, isolated her and made her a bit of a workaholic. It's only when she suspects that Ashby might have murdered her mother that Presley lets her anger free and decides to leave protective custody and become proactive in getting Ashby finally caught. There's some help from Shot, acting on a favor Presley asks of him, setting guards on her, and helping her be stronger. Presley's half-brother's, a sheriff and Texas Ranger, come up with an idea to have Shot act all lovey dovey with Presley to make Ashby jealous and try to flush her out that way. They want him to get Ashby alone and try to get her to admit on wire all the things she did but they also don't want him to tell Presley about it. As you can guess, this set-up makes for a sure late act disturbance full of danger, mistrust, and hurt. 

“I see all the things you don't see. I see how strong you are. I see how resilient you are. I see how brave you are. I see how sexy you are. All the things you've always overlooked. I see them clear as day.” 

While I missed more of Shot's background and interaction with his club brothers, I was pleasantly surprised at how sweet he was; he delivers some truly sigh worthy lines to Presley. The suspense lingering on the edges did its job to create some tension and get our leads together but the single white female aspect got a bit wild at times. The ending provided for a pleasantly gratifying close to the Lawton siblings' stories that will leave series readers satisfying and smiling.

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Reading Update: Page 1

 

I’ve been anticipating Shot’s book ever since he first popped up in the Loveless, Texas series.

                                                Dr. Presley Baskin, get your man!

 

I have so much fun making themed food and these Halloween brownie cupcakes are beyond delicious 😋

 

Do you theme read or theme bake?

Blacklisted by Jay Crownover preorder (Oct 27) link

Brownie Cupcakes recipe

 

Review: Unforgiven

Unforgiven by Jay Crownover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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3.5 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

Kody and Hill have history, the kind where Kody was engaged to Hill's brother and Hill harbored a secret love for her. Kody resented Hill for taking a step back from her and his brother and after his brother killed himself, Kody barely wanted to speak to Hill. Now that they're older and Hill is assisting in the investigation into Kody's father's murder, there is no escaping each other. They've had a painful past but maybe there's love in their future. 

“I never want to see you again, Hill Gamble. I hate you.” 

Second in the Loveless, Texas series, Unforgiven gives us Kody Lawton and Hill Gamble's story. A novella and first in the series starred Kody's brothers, Case and Crew, while giving reader's glimpses at the pain and unresolved feelings between Kody and Hill. The author does a great job of recapping anything you might need to know from the series and I would say you could comfortably pick this up without reading the rest in the series. 

Half the time I don't know if I'm helping or hurting things where you're concerned. I'm always trying my best to do right by you, Kody, trying to be all the different things you need me to be. I failed at that task once before. I don't want to let you down again.” 

Hill is back in town to help assist in the murder investigation for Kody's father. He was an abusive alcoholic who made Kody and her brother's childhood miserable and while he was sheriff, he committed many corrupt acts; due to this, the murder suspects could be endless. While the murder investigation is the reason to keep Hill in town, the majority of the story is focused on the relationship between Kody and Hill. 

I thought the author did a good job showing the emotional struggle of Hill feeling guilty for having feelings for Kody and distancing himself from her and his brother because of it and how Kody not realizing his feelings, being angry with how she felt he abandoned them. I thought there was some repetitiveness with Kody going over and over how Hill wasn't there for her and how she had always saw him as her protector only to have him cut her off, in the first half. However, I did think it gave some emotional heft to the story and Kody's character when Kody works through why she pushed away her feelings for Hill in the beginning and accepted, transferred them to Hill's brother. 

He kissed me back in a way that made me wonder if he'd been secretly fantasizing about this moment for as long as I had. 

Kody had her frustrating immature moments at times, due to age and/or simply impulsive personality type but our Texas Ranger Hill was the perfect calm, cool, and collected hero who burned hot for her. I thought the war he battled with himself in wanting to help his brother with his issues of bipolar and depression but not being able to be around Kody when he felt so deeply for her were expressed emotionally through the writing. 

Could a guy like him, controlled, concise...and, more importantly, honest and law-abiding, even have feelings for someone as messy and reckless as I was? 

The murder mystery involving Kody's father is only half-way solved, in that it is revealed who was most likely responsible but that the person isn't caught. The whole murder mystery comes off as its sole purpose was to bring in the character Presley, who turns out to be a secret half-sister to Kody and her brothers. She looks to be the heroine in the next book along with Kody's friend Shot, the President of a motorcycle club called the Son's of Sorrow. If you're looking for more of focus on a friends-enemies-lovers with second chance-ish romance, this would be it. Internal character dialogue with emotional searching and growth that slowly changes into external between Kody and Hill is most of this book rather than outside plot threads driving the show. 

I enjoyed the return to Loveless and liked how the author has interwoven the characters, loved how Kody and the two past heroines have invited Presley to their girl's night. I'm definitely looking forward to reading how Presley and Shot get together. 

“You. My entire world looks like you.” It was about time, because mine had always looked like her.

Reading Update: Page 1

Friday goodies!

Unforgiven by Jay Crownover (Feb. 25th) pre-order link

Homemade Ding Dongs recipe

Take work but delicious

Hope everyone gets to spend the night with some goodies, too :)

Review: Justified / It's All About That Cowboy

Justified / It's All About That Cowboy by Jay Crownover
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

If there was anyone I didn't expect to lean on when my own house of cards went up in flames a few years later, it was the newly appointed sheriff of Loveless, Texas, Case Lawton.

When Aspen moved to the small town of Loveless, Texas, her pale skin and black clothes had kids calling her “weirdo girl”. The one bright spot was Case Lawton, a popular jock who Aspen had a big crush on and treated her with kindness.
Nine years later, Aspen is back in Loveless, married to the town rich boy and a lawyer trying to fight for women and children usually ignored by the system. She gets pressured by her father-in-law to represent Case's ex-wife in their divorce, any sweet high school memories are in danger of getting wiped away.
Case was the town golden boy who had circumstances work against him to finally be able to leave Loveless for good. His corrupt sheriff father was a nightmare to live with and as his boss, Case does all he can to limit any damage his father can do now. Even though its been nine years later, he still blames Aspen Barlow for helping to take away his son. When it looks like her life is in danger, as the new sheriff, he won't act like his father and let personal grudges dictate how he does his job, so he puts himself in charge of her safety.
From high school friends, to enemies, to forced proximity, Aspen and Case might finally end up where they belonged all along.

There were worse things in the world than being the focus of Case Lawton's concern. I just had to remind myself not to get used to it.
After all, he was only doing his job.

The first full length novel in the Loveless, Texas series, we are introduced and reacquainted with some characters from Crownover's other books. I wish I had read the starter novella to this series, as I felt like I was missing out on some introduction to this town and to the Lawton family. Case's sister Kody was a developed secondary character and we got some scenes that provided insight into their sibling relationship but I felt that lacking with Case's younger brother Crew, who was the star of the novella. The Lawton siblings seem to have a tight knit relationship but Crew remained in the shadows too much for me to fully feel this, helping to fill out insights to Case's character and personality. The trauma filled childhood these three seemed to have had, felt emotionally removed here; this could have been more addressed in the novella.

The same could be said about Aspen's relationship with her parents, I had troubles fully grasping her background. I was missing some emotions from her childhood and relationship with her parents (this becomes even more important as it plays a big role in the ending) and an understanding and feel for her relationship with her ex-husband. They're not the core of the story but they are a foundation for Aspen's character that I felt was missing and caused me to not fully grasp her.

My hands tightened into fists in front of me, and I lifted my head so I could look at her in the mirror. Her dark eyes met mine with a mischievous gleam.
“What exactly are you doing, Counselor?”
She laughed, and the puff of air was warm against my shoulder. “I honestly have no idea, but it's the only thing that's felt right in a very long time. You said no kissing. This isn't kissing.” Her thumb traced the delineated lines on my lower abdomen, and her fingernails dragged through the thin trail of dark hair that arrowed below my belly button.

For the most part, I believed in the journey Aspen and Case went on from friends, to enemies, to hot and heavy for each other. I thought there was enough relayed to see why Aspen liked Case growing up, how Case placed blame on Aspen (I thought there were too many scenes of Aspen mentally playing martyr over being the ex-wife's lawyer), and these two had sexual chemistry. I can't say I totally bought into their “I love yous”, though. Whether it was missing some background foundation to their characters, not enough scenes hashing out, growing together, or depth, I thought they both got to love too quickly. Some of the sexual situations felt awkward, as they were immediate fade to black, leaving a feeling of “what happened now” and others were deliciously drawn out, bathroom scene, anyone?

As I mentioned, Crownover brings over some previous characters seen in her other series, Sons of Sorrow with Marine Shot and even Case is a character featured before. I enjoyed how she utilized these secondary characters, creating an “oooh I know him!” and helping out to fill and broaden this story. I do wish some were filled out more, the villain of this will make you gasp, but while there is shock, there wasn't as much weightiness to the reveal as there could have been. The villainy plot gets a bit convoluted in the whos and whys.

Overall, the story wasn't completely rounded out or had depth in some areas to my satisfaction but there's charisma to Crownover's writing and magnetism to Loveless and the residents she has created. I'm completely locked into wanting to see Case's younger sister Kody and her deceased fiance's brother, Texas Ranger Hill Gamble, fight to deny their chemistry in the next book.

One second, we were staring at each other as I held her like she was the most precious thing on the planet, the next my mouth was all over hers, and I was kissing her the way you kissed someone you loved and hated at the same time. A little sweet, a little mean, and with enough passion to make us both forget we had a long, twisted road paved with mistakes and memories running between us.

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40%

I didn’t feel like I was being placated or patronized. I felt like I was being heard and sympathized with. I never would have guessed a big, tough, hyper masculine man like Case was so full of empathy and compassion. I was starting to see him in an entirely new light, and I liked what I was seeing.

Reading Update: Page 1

Such an inspiring cover ;)

Nothing but rich decadent brownies would do for this reading experience.
And the hero is a sheriff with a grudge against the heroine he now has to protect.
Deliciousness all around!

Justified by Jay Crownover (comes out tomorrow Jun 25!) purchase link 

Snickers Brownies recipe

Not going to lie, these are a commitment to make, have at least three hours available.
I flipped them on their sides so you could see all those yummy layers. So rich and so yummy

Review: Retreat

Retreat by Jay Crownover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

His look, the way his entire face tightened in hungry, appreciative lines made me feel like something more, made me feel like I deserved to be worshiped and maybe even loved. If that was how he looked at his girl, then I never wanted to be anything else.


Cyrus Warner had just as many control issues as I did, which was why we both liked to test the other’s limits and neither one of us liked to fail.


This was pretty different from the usual Crownover stories I have read and I not only applaud the author for trying something new but I really enjoyed it.

Mostly first person from heroine's pov, she's a bit cranky, has some trust issues, and been burned but I liked her tough cookie act up against our hero. Hero's a cool, straight-shooter, sexily self-assured, and wary of love cowboy who wears motorcycle boots. They played off each other well and had some hot scenes (who knew campground showers could be such a scorching sex setting).

Hero's brothers with heroine's bestfriend feature heavily, they're stars of the next books in the series and worked great to add and round out the story. There's some mystery/action/suspense that will keep the pages turning. I thought the last 1/3 or so of the ending was slowed things way down and there were even some sex scenes I started to skim, I felt like the story dragged on a bit too much and the action and danger our characters found themselves in got fantastical and instead of feeling sad/worried, it lost me.

Otherwise, this was a great something different and I'm definitely going to continue reading in the series.

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