Mad About Ewe, an all-new heartwarming second-chance romance from Susannah Nix, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!
REVIEW: Thanks to the author and Smartypants Romance for the opportunity to read and review this book.
This book had great potential. I donât read blurbs and I have never read this author. But I love SPR, so I was all in! Unfortunately this book seemed like a YA romance to me.
The good:
The couple was in their late 40s/early 50s. MY AGE! Itâs so rare to find that. There are only a couple authors I know that write this age well.
Second chance romance. Itâs one of my very favorite tropes, especially if the couple has a complicated history! These two knew each other in high school. She had a crush on him, he hardly knew she existed. Weâve all been there, right?
The connection to the Knitting in the City world. I am such a big fan of Penny Reid, and Iâve read most of the SPR books. Some do a better job with connecting to the world theyâre written in than others. For some, a mere mention of a beloved character seems to be all they think is needed. Others are COMPLETELY entrenched in that world. (Guess which one I prefer?!?)
Post-divorce, grown kids, figuring out life on your own, yes. Iâm here for it.
The bad:
I hate being negative in my words and in my reviews. I hate being negative in my life! I am like Dawn in this way. I donât want to step on anyoneâs toes or hurt anyoneâs feelings. Iâd rather not say anything at all. This is not a good way to be, and Iâm working on it.
Dawn and Mike both have this issue! So much of their inner monologue was them not wanting to use their words because they were projecting their own feelings on the other. I found this annoying while at the same time completely empathizing with it. I feel this way in life, I donât want my characters to feel that way! Just a personal preference.
There was the old standby âI found this out by accidentâ scenario. I hate this in books. However, I will say that they didnât just sweep it under the rug, they did deal with it. But I prefer more depth in my Big Conflict.
The sexy times were not sexy to me. âI wanted him to plow me like an open field.â No.
It read like YA fiction. It was a good story, but Iâd hoped for more. Also the promo materials pictured a couple that was so obviously not in the proper age group. Itâs a small thing, but important to me. If the book is about a 51 year old woman, please donât have the one pictured not even be 30.
I was super happy it didnât end with an engagement, though. Iâm so tired of that in romance books.
This will not stop me from reading this authorâs work. I was just disappointed in what could have really been an excellent story for those of us more âseasonedâ readers.
Dawn Botstein is doing just fine after her divorce, thank you very much.
Sheâs got her yarn store to run, her house to herself for the first time in her life, and no use for men anymore. That is until the hottie silver fox who walks into her store turns out to be her old high school crushâthe guy who rejected her 30 years ago.
No way is she going to lose her head over him this time, no matter how well he wears that salt-and-pepper lumberjack beard. Okay, so heâs the opposite of her ex in every way, and his attention gives her a thrill she thought sheâd never feel again. Sheâs not risking her heart again.
Mike Pilota is having a mid-life crisis.
Only instead of buying a red sports car he canât afford and dressing like a 25-year-old whoâs time-traveled from the 1990s, he quit his job after his second divorce to move closer to his recently widowed mother.
He didnât expect to run into Dawn again, but as soon as he lays eyes on her heâs utterly smitten. So he sets out to make up for past mistakes and prove he can be the kind of man she deserves.
But is it too late for second chances? Or will these two lonely hearts find a way back to each other?
‘Mad About Ewe’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #1 in the Common Threads series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
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Audiobook: Coming later this year!
Excerpt
Mike Pilota sent you a friend request.
Iâd received the notification a week ago but still hadnât responded. Iâd just left it hanging there, unanswered. Ignored.
Out of spite? Perhaps a little. After heâd rejected me yet again, I had to admit I enjoyed the thought of Mike getting a taste of that same rejection for once. I liked to picture him sitting at home, futilely checking his notifications day after day, waiting for a reply that would never come.
I wanted him to know that I wasnât desperate for his attention and would not be begging for treats like a pet Labrador. I couldnât care less whether I ever spoke to Mike again.
Of course, it was just as likely heâd forgotten he even sent the request by now. There was no reason to assume he was in any way invested in my response.
I couldnât imagine why heâd sent it in the first place. Why now? Why would you send a friend request to someone youâd brushed off?
I hadnât even realized Mike was active on Facebook, which was probably just as well. It had saved me from years of pathetic cyberstalking. And it would be pathetic to be hung up on a man youâd had a childish crush on thirty years ago.
Good thing I wasnât.
Iâd meant what Iâd said about being done with Mike Pilota. Finito. Over and out. So long, and thanks for all the fish.
So it was annoying in the extreme when I walked into The Old House Pub and saw him sitting next to Angie. My steps, which had been confident and quick as I entered the bar, faltered as I recognized him.
How? Why? What the blazing hell was Mike doing here?
My eyes narrowed as they homed in on my best friend, the obvious answer to all my questions. She must have recruited Mike for her reunion committee. And I could guess why.
It was clearly some misguided attempt to force another reunion between me and Mike in the hopes that, against all odds, this time sparks would finally fly, and heâd realize his secret attraction to me which heâd been repressing all these years.
Did I mention Angie was a bit of a fantasist?
Obviously, there was no way any of that would happen. The far more likely scenario was that Mike and I would try our level best to ignore each otherâs existence while pretending there was no lingering awkwardness between us.
That was my game plan anyway. Mike could do what he liked.
Gathering a deep breath, I forced my feet to carry me to the table where Mike and Angie were seated. There were six chairs, and I set my sights on the one farthest from Mike.
Angie spotted my approach immediately and called out a greeting. Mike looked up, and our eyes caught and held for a charged second before I forcibly tore my gaze away to pin my best friend with an accusatory glare. Angie grinned back at me and shrugged, as if she knew exactly what sheâd done wrong and didnât care one bit.
Before I could claim the chair diagonally across from Mike, he leapt to his feet. âHere, you probably want to sit next to Angie,â he said, and held his own chair out for me.
I had no choice but to accept his offer at that point without looking like an ill-mannered ingrate. Mumbling my thanks, I draped my purse over the back of the chair and sat down.
To my consternation, Mike took the seat right next to me at the head of the table. He was so close our knees brushed as he scooted his chair forward, and I jerked my legs away from him as if Iâd been zapped with electricity.
âItâs good to see you again,â he said in that warm, gravelly voice that used to make my limbs quiver like a gelatin mold on a mechanical bull. Fortunately, I was completely over my childish infatuation with him, and therefore impervious to his sexy man voice.
I looked up to find him smiling at me, his lips curved invitingly and framed by his neatly trimmed beard, and my heart gave a little involuntary jump in my chest.
Well, crud.
Perhaps I wasnât quite as over Mike as Iâd hoped.
About Susannah Nix
Susannah Nix is an award-winning author of contemporary romances featuring smart women and swoony men, including the Chemistry Lessons series of romcoms about women who work in STEM fields and the Starstruck series of movie star romances.
Susannah resides in Texas with her husband, two ornery cats, and a flatulent pit bull. When sheâs not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, knitting, watching stupid amounts of television, and getting distracted by Tumblr. She is also a powerlifter who can deadlift as much as Captain America weighs.
Find Susannah Nix online
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