Day: April 3, 2019

4.5 out of 5 stars

Ebook. Kindle Unlimited. 332 pages. Published April 3, 2018

Blurb:

Home is where you make it.
Beau Hopper is good at goodbyes. A minor-league hockey player, he goes where the league tells him. Single and estranged from his family, Beau drifts without connections or commitments. He makes a living, not a life.

Former Marine Connor Casey’s life revolves around his siblings. After Hurricane Harvey took their home and a car-crash claimed their parents, Connor is determined to rebuild their house and their lives.

When Beau learns Connor might lose custody of his siblings if he can’t finish the rebuild in time, he volunteers to help in exchange for a place to stay, and it isn’t long before he finds himself in Connor’s bed. It takes more than passion and plywood to build a home, so when the league comes calling after Beau, Connor can’t ask him to stay… but how can he ever let him go?

Welcome to Hidden Creek, Texas, where the heart knows what it wants, and where true love lives happily ever after. Every Men of Hidden Creek novel can be read on its own, but keep an eye out for familiar faces around town! This book contains eye-rolling teenagers, stolen kisses, and fewer noogies than you’d expect.

Likes:

• All the characters, even the kids.
• The plot.
• The romantic tension.
• The backstory for both Beau and Connor.
• Mention of hurricane Harvey and the damage it caused.
• Connor’s relationship with his siblings and how it evolved.

Dislikes:

• The same bad guy social worker as in Storm.
• The kids got in the way of the romance a lot.
• Felt like so much was going on that some things got glossed over.
• It took me a while to get Beau’s image straight in my mind.

---

This was exactly the kind of down home story I expected from this series. Two guys who meet by chance and have an instant connection, but neither expects it to turn serious. Add in lots of colorful side characters, hockey, and four kids, and you have a book with a lot going on.

I really sympathized with Connor. His life changed drastically when he became responsible for his four siblings and their damaged house. It would be a lot for anyone, and while Connor was constantly struggling, I think he did an excellent job handling everything. Watching him learn what it meant to be a parent and grow his relationship with his siblings was heartwarming.

When Beau was first mentioned in Storm, it was the blue hair and his van named Lady Gaga that stuck in my memory. And for some reason, I thought of him as being slim and a bit campy. Neither of which was true, the former because he’s a pro hockey player and very muscular. That was just my little hiccup to get over, and in the end I liked how muscular yet sweet he was.

I liked Beau right from the start. He was fun and flirty. When his background was revealed, my opinion of him did go down a bit. He had so many opportunities and he squandered them. But he redeemed himself. It was great seeing how seamlessly he fit himself into the family.

I don’t mind kids in my romance novels, if they’re written well. I thought Benji, Micah, Fiona, and Sean were great characters, each unique and true to their age. Though their constant presence at the house did make physical romance a hard thing to come by.

There was a lot going on in this book, and some of it did get less page time than I would have expected. The work on the house was almost completely glossed over, and the social services worker, who I think was the same one from Storm, was more of a threat hanging over their heads than an actual presence. But of all the random little things thrown into the story, I have to admit I liked seeing not one but two lesbian couples. Gay romance books don’t usually show any of the other LBGTQ+ groups, so it was a nice touch.

This was my first time reading A.E. Wasp and I will definitely read more from her later on. Because yes, I cried, both sad tears and happy ones. I’m a little disappointed to see that she didn’t write anything else for the Hidden Creek series.