Hard Wood by Lauren Blakely Review

5 SMOOCHES!

   

SYNOPSIS:

Women often say a good man is hard to find. And a hard man is even better.

That’s why I’m quite a catch— good, hard, loaded, and wait for it…I’m ready to settle down too. But the woman I want to pitch my tent with lives clear across the country. Neither of us wants to get lost in those woods. All I have to do is resist her for the week she’s in town.

I try. I swear I try. But yeah, that doesn’t work out.

And after one fantastic night with my good friend Mia, I’m ready to give her years of nights under the stars. What’s a few thousand miles when love’s involved? But there’s a hitch in my plans — she just hired my adventure tour company. If there’s one thing I’m committed to, it’s running a squeaky clean business. Number one on my list of iron-clad rules?

Don’t screw your customers.

But what’s a guy to do when she’s so hard to resist? How hard can it be to keep our hands off each other for a quick group tour down the hills and over the trails? I’m about to find out, and I have a feeling I’m going to need a new badge of honor because things are about to get very hard in the woods.

REVIEW:

I’m a huge Lauren Blakely fan. A new book from her is an event for me, especially when it’s one of her brilliant male point-of-view romantic comedies. Hard Wood is the latest addition to her loosely connected series of standalones, all told from the male hero’s view point, are, quite simply, romcom magic. Blakely has delivered a peek into the male perspective through these sexy, sweet stories that has been consistently entertaining, completely unputdownable and wholly addictive.

Readers of this series have been teased with a Patrick Milligan and Mia Summers pairing for a few books now. This couple held so much promise, and I have been looking forward to their book since I got my first glimpse of them in Joy Ride. In Hard Wood, Ms. Blakely created a couple with tremendous chemistry and the kind of quick-witted, back-and-forth banter that kept me furiously tapping my Kindle screen to devour the words. A solid foundation of friendship may have been the basis of this relationship, but the combustible attraction pulsing between Patrick and Mia proved impossible to resist. They just fit so well together, but with an entire continent between them, proximity seemed to be an insurmountable an issue for Patrick, who was ready to go all in.

One of the things I love most about Lauren Blakely’s writing is the exceptional attention to detail she layers into her stories. It’s everywhere in her books, and these elements and facts add interest and individuality to her books and help to create these richly developed stories. Like the little things in to every couple’s relationship that makes them a unique and fun pairing. Liberal appearances from some of the other couples in this series rounded this story out from one that was great into something truly special. But it was the quietly observant, secret-keeping cat that loved hiking who totally stole the show.

Hard Wood is the kind of heart-racing, hope soaring, face-flushing love story that I love to read! It was sexy, romantic, funny and an absolute pleasure to read. Blakely has penned another winner in a series full of them. Five smooches from me!

 ~ Danielle Palumbo

 

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