Cover blurb:
Sexy, smart, and exciting, the Garner brothers have made Glory Junction, California, the country’s top extreme sports town—but there’s no shortage of thrills wherever they go . . .
Darcy Wallace may be an employee at Garner Adventure, but the kind of excitement she’s looking for is more of the indoor variety. After a sexless marriage and a painful divorce, who better to help her get her groove back than the hottest player in town—Win Garner himself. There’s just one flaw in her seduction plan: he won’t cooperate.
Win is used to being the pursuer, so when Darcy turns the tables it throws him off his game—at first. Not that he isn’t tempted, he’s just trying to change his ways. Yet when he and Darcy are paired up for a work project there’s no avoiding the tension between them—or the fact that they make an indomitable team. Soon, Win begins to feel their connection is no game. This could be the real thing. And one no-strings-attached night together just might seal the deal . . .
**
I know I’ve said it before, but I just adore Stacy’s small-town romances set in the Sierra Nevada mountains; she reminds me SO much of Jill Shalvis in her writing. (And that is a good thing as we all know!) I’ve been looking forward to Win’s HEA after his brothers got theirs, and this one did not disappoint! Win has quite the reputation as Glory Junction’s playboy until his last girlfriend tried to trick him into marriage by claiming he was the father of her baby. He decides to go cold turkey when it comes to sex, until Darcy appears in his bed one night trying to seduce him into sleeping with her. He refuses nicely but she is humiliated nonetheless, though he promises never to speak of it to anyone. What a beginning to a relationship, right? Toss in her ex-husband Lewis and Win’s brilliant idea of a fake engagement to throw him off hounding Darcy, plus the requisite Garner humor and you are left with a hilariously rocky road to romance.
But it’s not all sweetness and light, and I do have a HUGE bone to pick with Stacy. I was reading the story while waiting in a car dealership for my car to be looked over when I reached a certain point in the narrative where I had stop before I started crying in front of a bunch of people I didn’t know. Not cool! Except, that’s the #1 sign that I’m sucked into the story and characters…she’s just lucky it didn’t go where I thought it was going. I might have had to boycott her future books if she had! (I’m setting myself up here for the future, aren’t I?)
My other unhappiness is due solely to the fact that Win is the last of the Garner brothers, so what happens now? I’m a huge fan of the Nugget series as well, so I’m hoping she spins this off into a general Glory Junction series. I’m not the only reviewer who thinks Boden needs his HEA with oh, I don’t know, maybe Rachel?? A pub owner and a bakery owner sounds like it could be a sweet combination! (Sorry not sorry!) Whatever comes next, I know that us readers will be in for a fantastic story from a gifted author!
Thank you to Kensington Zebra Shout and Netgalley for the chance to read this early! (Though I have also preordered a hard copy which is winging it’s way to me right now to complete my collection!)