Title: Nuts
Author: Alice Clayton
Series: Hudson Valley #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Published: October 20th, 2015
Source: Digital audiobook download from public library
The main character in the story is Roxie. When we first meet Roxie, she is a personal chef to many rich people out in California, including a famous Hollywood married couple, that I believe are the characters in the author's Redhead series. When she has a mishap with one of her snotty clients, and then said client puts in a bad word with all her other clients, except for the Hollywood couple, Roxie's whole personal chef business seems to be over. Roxie's mother has asked her to come back home to a small town in upstate New York and run the family diner while her mother gets to go be a contestant on The Amazing Race. Roxie does not want to do it, she is tired of bailing out her irresponsible hippie mother, but doesn't seem to have anything else she can do at this point. So, she does go home to help her mother out. Once in town she meets the new guy who runs a local farm, Leo Maxwell. And from the first moment she meets him, her clumsiness causes the two to end up in very embarrassing positions as she knocks the two of them over. But the sexual attraction is there, and while Roxie knows she doesn't want anything more than sex, as that is all she really wants since growing up dealing with her mother's many heartbreaks. Plus, Roxie fully intends to go back to California when her time taking care of the diner for her mother is over. Leo seems to agree, and be on board with it. And let me tell you, once they get together, the sex is hot!
Things I loved: the author mentioning that Kansas City has the best BBQ, the innuendos, Roxie's fear of bees - bees are assholes, and that Roxie was in love with Almanzo from Little House on the Prairie (me too). The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the narrator occasionally read in a way that seemed very slow, in parts that I was eager to move along through to get to more exciting parts.
Title: Cream of the Crop
Series: Hudson Valley #2
Published: July 12th, 2016
Source: Digital audiobook download from public library
This book has the main character Natalie, who is one of Roxie's best friends from book one. Natalie's love interest is the dairy farmer from Roxie's hometown, Oscar. She sees him every Saturday at the Farmer's Market in Union Square in NYC where she lives. Now, Natalie is pretty confident in herself, and definitely can get a date whenever she wants. But for some reason, whenever she gets around Oscar, she gets all tongue-tied and blushing. What I love about Natalie is that she is a big girl, but owns it. And actually that is part of what makes Oscar attracted to her as well. In fact, the first time she is really able to talk to him, he tells her what he loved most about seeing her at the Farmer's Market every Saturday, was watching her "great, big ass" as she walked away. When he first says this to her, you can imagine how it sounds, and how pissed she gets. Natalie makes sure that she gets Roxie's hometown as an advertising client when it comes up, partly to be with her friend, and partly because of her attraction to Oscar, who is described in the first book as reminding Roxie of a Dothraki like in Game of Thrones. Since I had just started watching GOT at the same time I was listening to these books, I pictured him like the main Dothraki guy. While Natalie is a very independent city girl, Oscar is very much a quiet, small town guy. He not only runs the Dairy Farm that Leo in Nuts is right next door to, he also coaches Little League football in town.
Of course there will be problems. While Natalie figures it will just be a "fun" relationship, as she's always been like Roxie in the anti-relationship group, feelings start to get involved. And when Oscar wants her to move to his small town, and leave her life in NYC behind, or so it seems, Natalie's past rears its head and comes between them. It's not just Natalie's past, but also Oscar's ex-wife. And how he deals with her is really irritating in some parts. But in others totally understandable.
Things I loved: Natalie loves cheese just like me, the fact that Oscar calls her "Pin-up", hot sex scenes, and more hilarious scenes and lines. The part where she gets out of the car when she first runs into Oscar on his farm, and she just runs away. OMG, I was dying laughing. Her line about the first time she saw him: "From the first moment I laid eyes on him, I was dying to lay thighs on him." This author knows how to write funny dialogue, storylines, and the innuendos are hilarious as well. However, the one thing I didn't like was some of the way Oscar dealt with things. Honestly in book 1, I feel like Leo handled everything perfectly, even when the big conflict/surprise came up, the way he was with Roxie was perfect. But the way that Oscar dealt with Natalie's issues in this one, well, it pissed me off. And made him not as perfect for me as Leo had been. But I still loved the story, and loved the two of them together.
As I mentioned before, I NEED to know when the third book is coming out. And I can't wait to hear what innuendo the title of it will be, something to do with hotels? Not to mention I can't wait to see what they come up with for the cover of it.
If you haven't tried Alice Clayton yet, I'd totally recommend these hilarious, sexy, fun books!
