Expected publication date: October 15, 2018
Cover blurb:
Marley Rallston would rather be anywhere other than too-small-for-a-map-dot Millhaven, Virginia. But thanks to a heap of debt, what was supposed to be a quick trip to fulfill her mother’s dying wish has turned into an extended stay with the family she never knew she had and the father who never wanted her. To top it off, now she’s being forced to do community service with the town’s biggest bad boy, when all she wants to do is make enough cash to get out of Dodge? Life can’t get much worse.
The only thing Greyson Whittaker cares about is his family’s farm. He’ll do anything to keep Whittaker Hollow in the black, including live up to his rough, tough reputation by running the place by himself, no matter the cost. Mandatory community service with the daughter of their biggest rival is the last thing he wants or needs. But the more time Greyson and Marley spend together, the hotter their attraction burns, and the more the unlikely pair begins to realize that forbidden fruit just might taste the sweetest…
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I know, I know-there isn’t a hot guy with a gun on the cover. I can hear you, is this really a book FF would have read?? Why yes, yes it is! I can branch out into other genres, and it just so happens that anything written by Kimberly falls into their own genre-I love her firefighters and now I love her farmers! This is the fourth book in the Cross Creek series and features Millhaven’s bad boy Greyson Whittaker and the somewhat estranged Cross daughter Mallory Rallston. I know that sounds a little odd, but if you’ve read the prior 3, you’d understand. If you haven’t then go read those first, please! This is definitely not a stand-alone as you need the full context of the story to really understand the complex relationships between ALL the characters. I’ll just say that the Crosses and Whittakers have a history as rivals, both families wanting their farms to be on top.
Mallory is in Millhaven trying to earn enough money to pay for her late mother’s medical bills and plans to take off just as soon as she can and tries to avoid her brothers and father as much as possible. Greyson is their largest rival, and does his best to live up to his bad reputation in town. When they are arrested at the same time (for different reasons) they finally meet in jail. (This is probably the funniest meet-cute ever!)  When they are taken for arraignment, the judge sentences them both to community service to be performed at the local animal shelter. (There is also a really sweet side story of them helping out a little girl and her mother that ties into part of the reason behind their initial meeting.) The forced proximity allows their attraction to grow into a relationship, which they try to keep secret from both of their families. Of course, it doesn’t last forever but I *loved* how they are found out. And just when it seems that they have earned their HEA, Mallory’s insecurity over her past threatens to ruin their future and her family and Greyson must show her how much she means to all of them.
As much as I loved the other books in the series, this one is definitely my favorite ! When we first met Greyson, he was a rival to the Cross boys and you just want to dislike him. But once you have a chance to learn about his past, you see how his background didn’t allow him to show it…until he met Mallory and was able to gradually let his walls down. I would highly recommend this series as a somewhat rare example of high quality storytelling that not only continues throughout each entry, but strengthens in the final book! (Psst-Kimberly, I would love it if you wrote a novella about Lane and Daisy, just saying!)
Thank you to Kimberly for the opportunity to read this early through a contest on her mailing list!