Riveted by Jay Crownover Review
4.5 Smooches
Synopsis
Everyone else in Dixie Carmichael’s life has made falling in love look easy, and now she is ready for her own chance at some of that happily ever after. Which means she’s done pining for the moody, silent former soldier who works with her at the bar that’s become her home away from home. Nope. No more chasing the hot as heck thundercloud of a man and no more waiting for Mr. Right to find her; she’s going hunting for him…even if she knows her heart is stuck on its stupid infatuation with Dash Churchill.
Denver has always been just a pit stop for Church on his way back to rural Mississippi. It was supposed to be simple, uneventful, but nothing could have prepared him for the bubbly, bouncy redhead with doe eyes and endless curves. Now he knows it’s time to get out of Denver, fast. For a man used to living in the shadows, the idea of spending his days in the sun is nothing short of terrifying.
When Dixie and Church find themselves caught up in a homecoming overshadowed with lies and danger, Dixie realizes that while falling in love is easy, loving takes a whole lot more work…especially when Mr. Right thinks he’s all wrong for you.
Review
‘No one had ever given me any idea how to handle it when the right one came along, but you weren’t the right one for him.’
This might just be one of my favorite Jay Crownover books yet. Church and Dixie’s love was hard won but worth the pain and struggle. My heart clenched for the pain these two have been and are going through. Church’s life has never been easy and in order to keep the people he cares about happy and safe he separates himself from those he loves. Dixie falls clearly in that category and though she knows there will never be another for her like Church she also knows she can’t have him.
“Never claimed to be the kind of guy that plays fair, pretty girl.”
I devoured each page of this book, eager and desperate for the moments when they both let their guards down and gave in to their wants and desires. I knew that it would never be as simple as it seemed in the late of night in a dark shared room but for those moments I felt the lightness and ease that they felt when they would give in.
‘I rode him hard. I rode him fast. I rode him wild. I rode him rough.’
Dash was all brooding and alpha and while he tried to make it hard to love him it really wasn’t. And Dixie. Dixie was sweet, and happy and light and I just loved her. Her goodness shined through the page and I found myself thinking that she is the kind of friend I would want in my life. The one thing I would say would be that the first twenty percent I had wanted more dialogue but not to the point that it was detrimental to the story. The book was emotional and sexy and proves that Jay is still one of my favorite writers out there.
~miranda
