A Wine Lovers Book Blog / Books n Wine

***4 “We Fit” Stars*** I always make grabby hands when I see a new Sawyer Bennett book show up. It’s a bit crazy/obsessive, but hey, the woman’s got skills when it comes to sucking me into the story from the start and needing to see how things work out with the MC’s and Sex in the Sticks was no exception. It hooked me from the prologue, was a great balance of sweet, smexy and heart with a good dose of drama tossed into the mix and a slew of interesting characters that inhabited the small town in Alaska. Ahhh Valentine. I honestly liked Valentine. Despite her upbringing she is quite down to earth, in her own way and I liked how she adapted to being in small town USA with grace. She is sweet, sassy and is quite witty, but she also has tunnel vision when it comes to certain things and it made her appear almost bratty in a sense. I got where she was coming from and could give her credit for sticking to her guns, but...Thankfully she grows throughout the book and finds that h...

***5 ‘Completely Unexpected’ Stars*** This book was everything I knew it would be and completely unexpected in all the best ways possible. It was sweet, swoon worthy, smexy as hell, heart breaking and heartwarming, funny and just a tad bit crazy and filled with characters that I simply want more of in every way possible. I didn’t think it would be possible, but Brody has nudged AJ out of the top spot as the man I adore more of the Bad Habit boys. I’m as shocked as you are, but it happened. Brody was completely unexpected. This man is all kinds of smexy alpha male goodness with a huge heart, compassionate soul and sense of humor that turned me into a dopey smile fool throughout the entire book. Grace is all kinds of ‘I am woman, hear me roar’. She’s intelligent, comfortable in her own skin and not afraid to go after what she wants on her own terms. I liked her straightforward nature, but I loved seeing underneath the armour of self preservation she wraps herself i...

***4 ‘#TeamMEthan4Ever’ Stars*** As much as I hate to say goodbye to this series, I have to admit that I am happy that Merit and Ethan finally get some peace and true happiness after all the crazy they’ve been put through. I must admit that I wasn’t all that interested in the crazy that went on in this book. It, in fact, kind of bored me since it was all too similar to what has gone on in previous books, though I did like how it ended up being a catalyst for some interesting developments. What I did love, and what my rating is based on, is my love of the characters ~ at least the ones who are solidly on Team MEthan in one way or another. I’ve loved watching not only Merit and her relationships with the various characters evolve, but watching how all of them have grown into whomever they were meant to be. They are all imperfectly perfect, except for Chuck who was pretty much perfect from the beginning and is simply awesome, and have definitely kept things interesting as...

***4 ‘All In’ Stars*** I don’t know how Ms. Halle can give us a book (or duet in this case) that falls dark, gritty and smexy spectrum and then totally switch gears and give us a book that falls on the sweet and swoony spectrum, though still just as smexy (dear LORD is it smexy) but she does and does it well. This book is all kinds of sweet and swoon worthy with a good dose of drama/angst to keep things interesting and characters that you’ll fall in love with while praying that they get their shit together and see what’s right in front of their noses. I really liked Jackie even though she drove me a little batshit crazy. She’s an amazing mother and I loved how she wanted to show everyone that she had learned from the missteps of her past and is most definitely not the same person, and she accomplished that and more in my eyes and on top of that she is an amazing mother. But that same desire had her making choices out of fear that had me wanting to have a ‘come to Jesus...

***4 ‘Your Inner Masochist’ Stars*** The dysfunctional functionality of the Clarkson family is what makes these books difficult to put down and boy do Peggy and Elliott (who thought a non family member could rival the Clarkson siblings?) put me through the ringer. Talk about bringing out all the FEELS, the good, the bad and the ugly in this emotional rollercoaster, but it was all worth it as things get heated, both in the heart, head and bed, only to end in the way it was always meant to. Peggy and Elliott truly took me on a hell of a ride. Peggy is an enigma. She can be whomever someone needs her to be, as long as it isn’t herself because if she allowed that to happen all of her vulnerabilities would be exposed. But pieces of her trueself find their way out of the kevlar armour she’s constructed around herself and those pieces show a genuinely vibrant and compassionate soul. I had my ups and downs with Peggy. I loved her fearlessness, but the games she played had me ...