jaime_fiction_fangirl's review
5.0
Thank you Caitlin Crews for breaking my book slump!! This was a fantastic opposites attract romance and a great addition to the Kittredge Ranch series!!
I'm a big fan of the awkward, quirky heroines so, naturally, I adored Harriet! I really appreciated how strong (see stubborn) and confident she was about herself. She didn't just submit to the idea that she didn't "fit in" with people, she completely embraced it! The way she dealt with Aiden, the local troubled teen, with brutal honesty and care really scored points with me. I like how she stood up to Jensen and anyone else in town without a second thought. Quirky and quiet don't have to equal timid and reserved.
Jensen was her perfect match. He helped loosen her up a little while also making sure that she was true to herself. She helped him to see that he didn't have to live up to a particular role and showed him, by way of having him work with Aiden, that mistakes made as teenagers don't have to define the rest of your life.
* I received an early copy for voluntary review
I'm a big fan of the awkward, quirky heroines so, naturally, I adored Harriet! I really appreciated how strong (see stubborn) and confident she was about herself. She didn't just submit to the idea that she didn't "fit in" with people, she completely embraced it! The way she dealt with Aiden, the local troubled teen, with brutal honesty and care really scored points with me. I like how she stood up to Jensen and anyone else in town without a second thought. Quirky and quiet don't have to equal timid and reserved.
Jensen was her perfect match. He helped loosen her up a little while also making sure that she was true to herself. She helped him to see that he didn't have to live up to a particular role and showed him, by way of having him work with Aiden, that mistakes made as teenagers don't have to define the rest of your life.
* I received an early copy for voluntary review
hammock_and_read's review
5.0
Harriett Barnett- what can I say I knew I would like her when she walked into the bar in a cardigan and held her own. Jensen Kittredge well he is the wild sexy local cowboy plus wildlife firefighter and add in some smoke jumping and yeah... opposites attract hard core.
But we learn Jensen is not so wild as he helps one of Harriett's students with a talk to her class and then time with his horses. Harriett learns to get a bit out of her shell in someways but I just lover her so much with her knitting, reading, and cats. She loves skirts with pockets so she is a lady after my own heart! I enjoyed this slow burn that then turned into flames.
I'm so excited to see the rest of this series in Cold River, CO! So many people I want that HEA!
4.5 stars
3.5 steam
Thanks St. Martins for a copy of this book.
But we learn Jensen is not so wild as he helps one of Harriett's students with a talk to her class and then time with his horses. Harriett learns to get a bit out of her shell in someways but I just lover her so much with her knitting, reading, and cats. She loves skirts with pockets so she is a lady after my own heart! I enjoyed this slow burn that then turned into flames.
I'm so excited to see the rest of this series in Cold River, CO! So many people I want that HEA!
4.5 stars
3.5 steam
Thanks St. Martins for a copy of this book.
anabelsbrother's review
4.0
I knew I could count on Caitlin Crews to deliver me a sexy and emotionally satisfying story.
I love the opposites-attract trope: Jensen, the town flirt and resident carefree, love-em-and-leave-em guy, with Harriett the school librarian and paragon of virtue. I love their banter (it's pretty impressive how Harriett didn't strangle Jensen most of the time because the dude could be ANNOYING with his devil may care attitude), and the sexy is *chef's kiss*.
Zach's story next! Wow what a wait that would be.
E-ARC is received thanks to the publisher via Netgalley.
I love the opposites-attract trope: Jensen, the town flirt and resident carefree, love-em-and-leave-em guy, with Harriett the school librarian and paragon of virtue. I love their banter (it's pretty impressive how Harriett didn't strangle Jensen most of the time because the dude could be ANNOYING with his devil may care attitude), and the sexy is *chef's kiss*.
Zach's story next! Wow what a wait that would be.
E-ARC is received thanks to the publisher via Netgalley.
bookanonjeff's review
5.0
Cowboy Bodice Ripper. This is one of those slow burn (ish) cowboy romances where you've got the busty-and-beautiful-but-no-one-knows-it-because-she-hides-it-all-the-time librarian meeting up with the playboy-that-can't-escape-his-dark-past cowboy. The slow burn and banter through the front half of the book is great, helped along via a subplot involving a troubled teenager. And then you get to the (nearly requisite in the genre) sex around the 2/3 mark where suddenly both of our leads are very well endowed for their genders. Sure, why not. A bit typical, and a bit of a letdown because of it, but eh, when being typical in one particular area is the worst you can say of a book... it really isn't a bad book. Fans of the genre will like it, those that aren't fans of the genre won't have any real reason to come to the genre via this particular book. For the clean/ sweet crowd, well, I already told you it has a sex scene, and there's references to several others, both "onscreen" and off. Solid tale mostly solidly told, and it does in fact work as an entry point into the series despite being Book 2. Very much recommended.
bookedinsideout's review against another edition
1.0
1. It’s unlikely I would have picked this book up based on the plot and cover and title (not sure where that came from even after reading the book), but it was recommended in a request for books about introverts who don’t change who they are after falling in love. I’m not sure that’s quite so true here. For example, Harriet says multiple times she dresses for herself and what makes her feel comfortable, but then she starts wearing more revealing clothing because the guy likes her body.
2. Speaking of her body, the continual references to her small, thin frame; how she didn’t seem to be hiding a larger body under her frumpy clothes; how she was round “in all the right places” grew tiresome at the very least. I highlighted this passage because I don’t love reading about someone being sexualized before they’re in a romantic or sexual relationship (they were just working together at the time), but it’s just one of the many examples of descriptions of her body in terms of how it relates to him: “He saw the hint of an indented waist as she moved. The suggestion of nicely flared hips, wide enough to take a man’s hands comfortably as he drove inside her.”
3. There was a little too much internalizing for me… lots of descriptions and thoughts when that time could have been spent growing their relationship or talking to her new friends about something other than men. Reading someone’s internal thoughts is one of the great things about books, but here they just got really repetitive.
4. “My stated position was that you could just as easily have a crush on me,” she said, her municipal, bureaucratic chin rising into the fray. “Why is it always women mooning around, fighting for the attentions of men?”“Because when men do it, we think they’re scary, call them stalkers, and throw them in jail.”
I thought the point was that the town thought he could be interested in a sexual relationship with her, but that her feelings would be more romantic in nature (a crush), but then the suggestion here seems to be downplaying sexual harassment or assault, i.e., that aggressive men who stalk women are actually just lovesick men with crushes?
5. Just an observation, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a man’s genitals referred to as “his sex” before… usually the vague term is only used to describe women, but here it did — from both his and her POV. “She was tart and sweet, with a hint of whiskey, and he felt as if she were running her hands all over his sex.”
6. When they have sex for the first time it’s also Harriet’s first time having penetrative sex… she’s made it clear that the construct of virginity is not a big deal to her and just that she wants to have sex with him, and mostly up until this point I’ve been pretty warm on Jensen, but then she does a countdown and he just slams into her?!
7. Harriet was very forward, no-nonsense, and confident… sometimes I felt like this gave Jensen a pass for some hurtful, patronizing comments. Or she tells him she loves him (shockingly early, I’ll admit) and his response is all about him. When she tells him what’s what (she’s allowed to share her feelings and she’s not asking anything from him) without the “usual responses” (“tears, begging, whining… wild accusations and insults…none of which were on display today”), he gives her an ultimatum that she can’t say it again or they’re over and then they have sex again a few more times?!
8. There’s some guilt attached to grief, but usually it’s not so cut and dry laid out… “Daniel didn’t get to settle down with Carly and make himself some pretty little babies in a happy house somewhere. So neither do I.”
9. Even without some of those things that bothered me, the story itself wasn’t quite what I wanted. The beginning was fairly slow (a lot of thinking about the other when they could have been getting to know each other) and then everything happened really fast for me. Probably not the author for me.
2. Speaking of her body, the continual references to her small, thin frame; how she didn’t seem to be hiding a larger body under her frumpy clothes; how she was round “in all the right places” grew tiresome at the very least. I highlighted this passage because I don’t love reading about someone being sexualized before they’re in a romantic or sexual relationship (they were just working together at the time), but it’s just one of the many examples of descriptions of her body in terms of how it relates to him: “He saw the hint of an indented waist as she moved. The suggestion of nicely flared hips, wide enough to take a man’s hands comfortably as he drove inside her.”
3. There was a little too much internalizing for me… lots of descriptions and thoughts when that time could have been spent growing their relationship or talking to her new friends about something other than men. Reading someone’s internal thoughts is one of the great things about books, but here they just got really repetitive.
4. “My stated position was that you could just as easily have a crush on me,” she said, her municipal, bureaucratic chin rising into the fray. “Why is it always women mooning around, fighting for the attentions of men?”“Because when men do it, we think they’re scary, call them stalkers, and throw them in jail.”
I thought the point was that the town thought he could be interested in a sexual relationship with her, but that her feelings would be more romantic in nature (a crush), but then the suggestion here seems to be downplaying sexual harassment or assault, i.e., that aggressive men who stalk women are actually just lovesick men with crushes?
5. Just an observation, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a man’s genitals referred to as “his sex” before… usually the vague term is only used to describe women, but here it did — from both his and her POV. “She was tart and sweet, with a hint of whiskey, and he felt as if she were running her hands all over his sex.”
6. When they have sex for the first time it’s also Harriet’s first time having penetrative sex… she’s made it clear that the construct of virginity is not a big deal to her and just that she wants to have sex with him, and mostly up until this point I’ve been pretty warm on Jensen, but then she does a countdown and he just slams into her?!
7. Harriet was very forward, no-nonsense, and confident… sometimes I felt like this gave Jensen a pass for some hurtful, patronizing comments. Or she tells him she loves him (shockingly early, I’ll admit) and his response is all about him. When she tells him what’s what (she’s allowed to share her feelings and she’s not asking anything from him) without the “usual responses” (“tears, begging, whining… wild accusations and insults…none of which were on display today”), he gives her an ultimatum that she can’t say it again or they’re over and then they have sex again a few more times?!
8. There’s some guilt attached to grief, but usually it’s not so cut and dry laid out… “Daniel didn’t get to settle down with Carly and make himself some pretty little babies in a happy house somewhere. So neither do I.”
9. Even without some of those things that bothered me, the story itself wasn’t quite what I wanted. The beginning was fairly slow (a lot of thinking about the other when they could have been getting to know each other) and then everything happened really fast for me. Probably not the author for me.
anovelreader's review
3.0
This one surprised me -- in a good way. Based on the ridiculous title, I definitely thought I was getting into some quasi cowboy p*rn, but it ended up being relatively relationship-focused with only some steam. It was also a bit subversive -- perhaps a response to Linda Howard's [b:Open Season|420734|Open Season|Linda Howard|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1324869940l/420734._SY75_.jpg|1784677], in which a small-town librarian undergoes a makeover and finds love? In this book, our librarian whole-heartedly embraces her quirks, lack of makeup, and hand-knitted cardigans and still manages to snag her man. She does end up dressing a bit less conservative, but only because she notices and appreciates her partner's enjoyment. I really enjoyed how the author approached all this. Otherwise, this is a relatively low angst, funny romance. 3.5 stars.
paddlefoot55's review
4.0
ARC received via Netgalley for an honest review
What happens when the quirky librarian knocks the town playboy on his ar$3?
That's what we get when Harriet meets Jensen.
I like Harriet. I like that she walks to the beat of her own drummer. I like that she doesn't give a crap what anyone thinks of her, and adore that she sticks up for those who have no one to stick up for them.
From the beginning I knew that there was more than the player persona to Jensen, but boy did it take some work to drag it all out of him.
And I freaking LOVE that they drag each other out of their self imposed ... pigeon hole I guess you would call it.
And when they take on all the small town gossip as a team.
I enjoyed this story, and look forward to more of the Kittredge Ranch series in the future.
a>
What happens when the quirky librarian knocks the town playboy on his ar$3?
That's what we get when Harriet meets Jensen.
I like Harriet. I like that she walks to the beat of her own drummer. I like that she doesn't give a crap what anyone thinks of her, and adore that she sticks up for those who have no one to stick up for them.
From the beginning I knew that there was more than the player persona to Jensen, but boy did it take some work to drag it all out of him.
And I freaking LOVE that they drag each other out of their self imposed ... pigeon hole I guess you would call it.
And when they take on all the small town gossip as a team.
I enjoyed this story, and look forward to more of the Kittredge Ranch series in the future.
a>
dana_h's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
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? It's complicated
5.0
verityw's review
2.0
******Copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review*****
So I do like a bad boy and a good girl when it comes to romance as well as a meddling small town, but the heroine of this is just written so weirdly that it drove me mad. I was wondering for a while if it was an attempt at a neurodiverse heroine, but as it went on without it being mentioned I gave up on that idea. It’s just so stilted and unbelievable. Hey ho, never mind - at least it ticked a state off my 50 states challenge.
So I do like a bad boy and a good girl when it comes to romance as well as a meddling small town, but the heroine of this is just written so weirdly that it drove me mad. I was wondering for a while if it was an attempt at a neurodiverse heroine, but as it went on without it being mentioned I gave up on that idea. It’s just so stilted and unbelievable. Hey ho, never mind - at least it ticked a state off my 50 states challenge.
mel2's review
3.5
cute!
i liked harriet getting to meet new versions of herself, and jensen facing his inner struggles of shame/guilt. The romance was so adorable, a cozy read. I did want more scenes with them before she left for missouri/ before the conflict resolution. i kinda why the title's the title but also why?
i liked harriet getting to meet new versions of herself, and jensen facing his inner struggles of shame/guilt. The romance was so adorable, a cozy read. I did want more scenes with them before she left for missouri/ before the conflict resolution. i kinda why the title's the title but also why?