AUTHOR: Shirley Penick GENRE: Romance PAGES: 232 RELEASED: 6 September 2018 SERIES: Burlap & Barbed Wire #4 SYNOPSIS: A fake relationship is the plan. Summer Attwood has been hiding in baggy clothes and ugly glasses for nearly ten years. When the town hottie asks her to be his faux girl-friend for a couple of weeks she decides it’s time to put away the disguise and shine. Cade Kipling can’t believe the beautiful woman that emerges from the cocoon of overalls and over sized glasses. If he wasn’t dead set on taking a few months to get his head on straight, after his long time abusive girl-friend dumped him, he’d be after Summer in a heartbeat. Two weeks of dating will either kill them or change their lives forever. This book was kindly sent to me by Give Me Books PR in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Saddle up and grab your rope for a round of swoony cowboy fake dating in small-town Colorado.
After a decade-long one-again-off-again relationship filled with manipulation, Cade Kipling is finally ready to be rid of his ex Tanya. But Tanya isn’t about to let Cade out of her grip, even though she broke up with him for a new guy a few towns over. So when Tanya waltzes back into town wanting Cade to take her to the town’s upcoming rodeo and dance, Cade asks Summer Attwood to pose as his girlfriend for a few weeks to show Tanya he’s finally moving on from toxicity. Summer has had a crush on Cade since the moment her family moved to town ten years ago. Since arriving in town, Summer has hidden herself behind baggy clothes and glasses, not wanting to receive any attention after and incident from her past in LA. But now with a chance to spend time with her crush, she pushes herself to step out from behind the disguise that everyone has known, and it’s nice to finally be back to the person she once was. With Cade wanting to take a break from relationships to figure himself out and his growing attraction to Summer, he’s not sure whether he wants to just walk away from their fake relationship one their agreed time is up. Especially when their fake relationship is everything he’s ever wanted when it comes to romance. I’ve been hanging out for Cade to get a happily ever after from the moment we learned that he was in a pretty terrible relationship, and especially since seeing in the previous book just how manipulated he was by Tanya. Tackling emotional abuse and manipulation in relationships can be a tricky subject, and I loved seeing Shirley put a guy in that position as many often forget that men can also be the victim in abusive relationships, and not just women. Throughout the book, Cade reflected a lot on his relationship with Tanya and how it compared to his relationship with Tanya, and just how much he didn’t realise the toll Tanya was taking on him. And if manipulative relationships weren’t heavy enough, Shirley also includes former sexual harassment with Summer’s story. Another tricky subject to handle, Shirley focused most of Summer’s story on how the positive relationships around her - her friendship with Katie and her budding romance with Cade - had enabled her finally step out of her shell and out of hiding after being made to want to hide away from any sort of attention. I do wish however, that the ending for this part of the story didn’t feel so rushed in the final few chapters of the book. Shirley spent the whole book slowly teasing out Summer’s full story, and it didn’t feel like she spent long enough on Summer taking the steps she did to speak out and finally jump back into her old life in the last few chapters of the book. Fake dating is always a favourite of mine, and I really loved Cade and Summer’s relationship. They had so much chemistry, filled with lots of sweet and swoony moments and so much fun banter. Plus their was a nice sprinkling of spice and such a positive view on female sexuality and confidence. Shirley continued to build on the world she has created as she fleshed out the town, and even a little bit more of Rockin’ K Ranch. Not only is her writing able to suck you into the lives of these characters, but she truly does pull you into their world - I’m about ready to jump on plane to Colorado and track down this town, which I think is based on the town of Grand Lake in Colorado, and find my own ranch of cowboys (I’ve never spent so much time on Google Maps while ready a book trying to get a feel of the location). With two books to go, I’m not sure I ready to say goodbye to all these characters that have definitely become some of my favourite romance characters, but I can’t wait to see Drew and Emma get their own HEA while also getting to see how all the previous Kipling siblings have progressed in each of their relationships. Are you ready to enter your yeehaw era, because this is a cowboy romance that needs to be on your TBR! |
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