Today is the release date for this fun novel! I had the pleasure of reading it ahead of time which was great!
First, if you aren't familiar with this author, you should be. Her characters have a ton of personality. Her heroines are always strong and sassy and certainly not damsels in distress. Her heroes are struggling with their emotions for one reason or another.
In this novel, you really come to dislike the hero, Mason. I honestly wanted to reach through my kindle and shake him! But, I've met that type of man, one who has been through a very tragic loss, and I have to say Manning wrote him very well. Of course he was a total jerk, he was a man who had faced horrific sadness who was attempting to lock it up and simply move on as if nothing happened. Obviously it turned him robotic.
I read our heroine, Billie, through a completely different lens. She is a woman who had to grow up fast and be the adult as a child. Then she's attracted to a man who needs some serious emotional help. Therefore, she gets her heart absolutely trampled! Of course she does! She is a woman desperately seeking the stability she never had but she's looking for it from a man who uses keeping himself closed off as a way to not finally breakdown and deal with his loss.
This book is real, fresh, and simply delightful. It's filled with spunky back and forth banter and clever things that had me literally laughing out loud. The overall theme is healing, which is something we all need very now and then.
Pick it up today! It's a great late summer read.
