Kylie Scott
Release date April 17, 2018
Given his well-earned bad boy reputation, Eric is having a tough time scoring.. When single Jean moves to town, she seems heaven sent by the sex gods. Only problem is, she not only wants nothing to do with him, but it turns out that she’s pregnant.
Starting over in a small town, Jean is determined to turn her wild lifestyle around and be the kind of mother she always wished she’d had. Since local bar owner and all round hottie, Eric Collins, is now determined to steer clear of her pregnant self, it should be easy. When she goes into labour during a snow storm and her car slides on some ice, it’s Eric who comes to the rescue.
There seems to be a bond between them now, but is it enough? And can Eric give up his manwhore ways to be the man Jean needs?
Eric's reputation is an unreliable, manwhore, bad boy, and his friends don't let him forget it. He is broody, lost, and has not been serious about any women. But he has seen his brother and friends start to settle down so he is at least contemplating the idea.
Jean is new to town and will be his new neighbor. He is attracted immediately, but then sees the baby bump and goes into avoidance mode. She is smart, kind, and sweet, but pregnancy freaks Eric out...and so does his fascination with this one woman.
But when he ends up being at the right place to help her during the birth, the connection blossoms. I loved seeing Eric start to grow as a person and try to be there for Jean and the baby. He's not perfect, but he is trying hard to make changes and be more responsible.
And Jean is a struggling, tired single mom who is glad to have Eric's support. They can be themselves together. Their friendship is important to them, and is a slow burn of attraction. And when Jean wants to move into a more of a friends-with-benefits arrangement, Eric is willing and able. But with their fears, insecurities, and other issues are they just asking for trouble?
This brings back all of the characters from this series Joe, Alex, Vaughan, Lydia, Nell and Pat, and also has some other fun cameos. This group can be supportive and tight-knit, but at other times they could really be hard on Eric. I especially wanted to shake Nell for how she treated him. I liked that he set out to prove them wrong. I enjoyed getting his point of view throughout the story, but sometimes it made me wonder exactly where Jean's head was at. But I loved seeing Eric start to finally figure out what he wanted and needed out of life and trying to be a better man. He was sweet, protective, loving, and so freaking adorable with the baby. He really won me over.
I was gifted a copy.
Jean is looking to start over and put her mistakes behind her. She may be starting from scratch, but her friendship with Nell was enough to make her move cross country to build a new life.
Eric is notorious as a womanizing, commitment phobe. He goes from one woman to another without looking back or considering the consequences.
I loved watching the friendship between Jean and Eric build. When Eric decided he couldn’t go after Jean, he recognized there was still something between them, even if he thought it couldn’t be something physical. As the friendship built, Eric did the growing up and changing that his friends had already gone through in order to redeem himself (in my eyes) from some of the events he precipitated in previous Dive Bar books.
Along the same vein, I loved watching the changes to Eric’s outlook. He had a lot of making up for his mistakes to do. He had hurt friends with his actions, and while he may have seen the things he didn’t necessarily like about himself in Twist and Dive, he finally had the chance to act on that knowledge in Chaser.
Eric and Jean build a friendship that both come to rely on for so many things. Though they know the value of their friendship, some of their friends have a hard time seeing the benefit of Eric and Jean relying on each other and malign the budding relationship. There were times I just wished Eric’s friends could see the changes that readers could, or would accept that changes as truth rather than an act.
This was a slow build up, in that Jean and Eric build a strong friendship before they muddle with anything physical. I actually really liked that it was a slow burn in this case, because Eric had a lot to atone for. I enjoyed the story arch and it kept me reading to watch how Jean would adjust to life in Idaho and how Eric would adjust to life near an infant.
I was gifted a copy.
I’d been tricked. Betrayed.
After Andre and Jean ate their lunch, we headed outside to deal with her stuff. The cold wind suited my mood to perfection.
Talk about disappointed.
“Don’t lift that, it looks heavy,” I snapped.
Jean blinked. “It’s a pillow.”
“The world’s largest pillow ever. You can’t be too careful.” My gaze roamed over her swollen middle. “You’re . . .”
“Pregnant?” she asked with a voice dripping poison and sugar.
“Are you having trouble with the concept?”
“Absolutely not. I was just going to say huge, that’s all.”
She blew out an exasperated breath. “Thanks, Eric. That makes me feel so much better.”
“I just . . .”
“Don’t bother.” The woman turned back to her sensible, medium-sized SUV and got busy riffling through the contents. I was surprised she’d been able to squeeze into the driver’s seat.
Boxes and stuff took up almost every inch inside the vehicle. Each and every box seemed to have been neatly labeled with the contents.
The woman took her organization seriously. She looked over her shoulder. “You know, I can’t help noticing that Eric-the-smooth-moving-flirt has been suddenly replaced by Eric-the-awkward-jerk.”
“Well, you said you were single.” I folded my arms defensively across my chest.
“I am.”
And then there was an awkward silence.
“Yeah, but . . . I mean, in your condition . . .” I fumbled to a halt.
She turned, face all scrunched up. Like I was the one with the problem.
“Just hop out of the way so I can grab some boxes,” I said, voice gruff.
Still nothing from her. “It’s a second-story walk-up and you have a lot of stuff to get up there. You should be taking it easy.” Hands on hips, I tapped my black leather boot against the sidewalk, waiting her out. “Jean, I’m not trying to insult you. It’s the truth.”
She swore quietly, going back to fussing with the contents in the vehicle. I don’t think any woman has ever given me the silent treatment quite this quickly. Usually I’m good for at least a couple of hours after seeing them naked.
Man, I still couldn’t believe this was happening. God hated me or something. Pregnant women and me were enema. Anathema. Whatever. Now that I’d seen her out in the autumn light, however, she looked younger than I’d first guessed. Despite her tired eyes, her skin was smooth, soft looking. She was likely closer to her early twenties than mid.
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Why do you care?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “Just curious.”
“How old are you?”
“Nearly thirty.”
She sniffed. “I’m twenty-two.”
Young, like I’d thought. She was probably too immature for me, anyway.
“Come on, Jean. Let me get some of the boxes.”
Boyd ambled out of the Dive Bar, turning his head this way and that, looking up and down the street. I raised my hand and he started over in our direction. The big cook would make short work out of moving all this stuff. Behind us, Andre and Nell came out of the tenants’ entrance to the Bird Building. The place was a big brick building about a hundred years old. Just past the door was an entryway with stairs leading up to the second floor, followed by two empty shops, their windows covered in flyers about local events. Concerts and parades and shit. They’d been vacant for a while, unfortunately. Andre’s Guitar Den came next, then Pat’s tattoo parlor Inkaho, and the Dive Bar on the corner.
“Everything’s good to go. Alex and I gave it a cleaning last week just to be sure,” said Nell, smacking a kiss on Jean’s cheek.
“You’ll meet Alex later. She’s probably busy working or something now. She’s sort of a shut-in.”
“You two didn’t have to do that,” said Jean. “Thank you.”
“Anytime.”
Andre leaned against the SUV. “Your furniture got delivered yesterday too, so it’s all good to go.”
“Excellent,” said Jean. “I can’t wait to sleep in a decent bed again. Road trips when you’re seven months’ pregnant kind of suck.”
“I bet.”
“Who’s minding the kitchen?” I asked.
“Lydia will text Boyd if they need something,” said Nell.
“We’re only going to be a few feet away from the place.”
I frowned.
“I own the kitchen, Eric. Not you,” she said. “You’re in charge of the bar, that’s all.”
One of Jean’s eyebrows inched up slightly. So I might have implied that I was the sole owner. Shit happened.
I crossed my arms. “Fine. No need to bite my head off.”
“My best online friend just moved to town. We’ve been texting and skyping for months. She’s been an absolute rock for me through all the nerves of being pregnant again,” said Nell. “Stop messing with my happy.”
And then there was an awkward silence. Great. If only there was some way to get out of helping without looking like a raging asshole. The possibility of anything happening between me and Jean had been buried six feet deep, never to be spoken of again.
Add to Goodreads
Buy Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Our 4 star reviews
The last thing Vaughan Hewson expects to find when he returns to his childhood home is a broken hearted bride in his shower, let alone the drama and chaos that comes with her.
Lydia Green doesn't know whether to burn down the church or sit and cry in a corner. Discovering the love of your life is having an affair on your wedding day is bad enough. Finding out it's with his best man is another thing all together. She narrowly escapes tying the knot and meets Vaughan only hours later.
Vaughan is the exact opposite of the picture perfect, respected businessman she thought she'd marry. This former musician-turned-bartender is rough around the edges and unsettled. But she already tried Mr. Right and discovered he's all wrong-maybe it's time to give Mr. Right Now a chance.
After all, what's wrong with getting dirty?
Twist (Dive Bar #2)
Add to Goodreads
Buy Amazon US | B&N | iBooks | Kobo
Our 4-4.5 star reviews
When his younger brother loses interest in online dating, hot, bearded, bartender extraordinaire, Joe Collins, only intends to log into his account and shut it down. Until he reads about her.
Alex Parks is funny, friendly, and pretty much everything he's been looking for in a woman. And in no time at all they're emailing up a storm, telling each other their deepest darkest secrets... apart from the one that really matters.
And when it comes to love, serving it straight up works better than with a twist.
Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013 & 2014, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet. You can learn more about Kylie from http://www.kylie-scott.com/
