Can't-Wait Wednesday #6: Buns (Hudson Valley #3) by Alice Clayton

Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they're books that have yet to be released. It's based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine.   My pick this week is one that I have been anxiously awaiting a cover for so that I could finally share it as my Wednesday pick!  It won't come out until a couple months after I get to meet the author at Apollycon, but that's okay.  I'll be able to gush to her about how excited I am for it!  I first discovered this author with her book Nuts, and I picked it up because I loved the cover.  It's so funny.  And when I listened to it, I loved it.  And then the book after it, Cream of the Crop, and from there on, I was hooked on her books.  Anyway, here is the blurb from Goodreads:

 Clara Morgan is living the dream, if you can call rebranding hotels that are desperate for a new life and running any kind of marathon a dream. Which she does. But the career she loves and the endurance races that keep her adrenaline pumping have kept her too busy to put down any roots. Growing up in foster care, she’s never been able to establish traditions of her own, which may be why she’s fascinated by the rituals that generations-old family resorts are known for. She’s especially interested in the Bryant Mountain House, and not just for their secret recipe for the yummy, gooey, can’t-get-enough-of Hot Cross Buns….

Archie Bryant, the man with the Buns, is fifth generation and one-day-owner of the charming yet run-down Bryant Mountain House in Bailey Falls, New York. He’s determined to save his family’s legacy from the wrecking ball the old-fashioned way—by gritting his teeth and doing what needs to be done. There’s no way Archie will be influenced by the new hotel branding expert his father brought in to turn one hundred and fifty years of tradition on its head just to attract a faster, younger, slicker crowd. But when some of Clara’s ideas start bringing in new, paying customers, Archie can’t deny that she may have just given him a shot at keeping his resort open.

It’s sticky, it’s messy, it’s sweet, it’s Buns.  

I love this town, these characters so much.  I can't wait to get back into this story.  Although, I think it will be the last one in the series, and I'm going to miss them all so much!  

What book are you eagerly awaiting this week?

Review: Road-Tripped (Ad Agency #1) by Nicole Archer

Book info:
Title:  Road-Tripped
Author:  Nicole Archer
Series:  Ad Agency #1
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Published:  August 1st, 2016
Source:  E-book gifted from author for fair review
My rating:  5 stars

I am so grateful to this author for sending me a copy of her book to read.  When I picked this one to start reading I had no idea just how funny it was going to be.  The humor in it reminds me a lot of the books in the Hudson Valley series by Alice Clayton.  Both books have things that happen that are just so realistic!  Things that are real and very embarrassing.  However, Road-Tripped takes the embarrassing moments and pushes them one step further, not in an unrealistic way, but in a way that you know someone out there has had a similar experience, and it is almost so horrible that it is unbelievable.  And while I have never had these specific mortifying experiences, I have had some that have been pretty comparable when I think about the empathy created for the characters as I read about what was happening to them.  

The characters themselves were also very believable.  And the misunderstandings and preconceptions each of them had about each other that led to many of the humorous moments I hinted at above were again very realistic. They're the kinds of things I know that I have probably thought about people from what I've heard or seen of them before I ever get a chance to meet them and get to know them.  Okay, let me give you a little run-down of the story itself, then I'll gush over it a little more.

There are two main characters and we get the story from both of their viewpoints.  Callie is working a new job for a friend, who helped her out when her life kind of went down the toilet.  Only she isn't really as grateful for it as you'd think.  She can't stand most of the people she works with, especially given the way the office is run.  And from people like my sister who actually work in a place where they do things like game tables and parties, I know that the environment is realistic.  Callie is grumpy, likes to swear, and cannot stand the guy that she thinks is nothing but the office manwhore, the guy that all the women want so sleep with, including the woman who is kind of her worst enemy in the office.

The other main character is Walker, said "manwhore" according to Callie.  Sure, he's friendly, and very attractive, and all that, but he's also very unhappy in his job as art director.  He loves photography, and really wants to do something more like that.  He has been assigned to drive across country in an RV that is one of their current client's product.  At first he is going to get to go with a friend of his in the office. But she drops out at the last minute, and their boss chooses Callie, the one woman who seems to be completely immune to his charms, as well as seems to hate him, to be the replacement.

As you can guess, the road trip is full of many fun experiences. They stop at a lot of famous landmarks, as well as dropping in on family and friends along the way.  The end up camping at a nudist colony by accident.  They get caught in a hurricane.  And Callie might get a little high with Walker's grandmother, when they stop by for a visit.  Both of them will learn that the other is not quite who they think they are from their first impressions.  Both of them will have to work on the attraction between them, they may even give into it, and of course that will create its own issues for the trip.  As well as many, many hilarious moments and some very sexy ones as well!

This was one of those books that I had to be careful about reading in public, because it literally made me laugh out loud.  Not just a quiet chuckle, or a giggle, but gut-busting, can't hold it in guffaws at times!  And you know what was bad?  I was reading it on my laptop, at work sometimes, and oh my gosh was it so hard to hold that in!  So hard that I couldn't.  I got some strange looks the days I read it at work, I work in a high school library, so yeah.  

The cussing, while quite prevalent throughout the whole book, was also part of the hilariousness of the book.  It was so over the top at times, but that just made it all the more hilarious.  Have I used the word hilarious enough in this review?  Walker wasn't much of a cusser, and so several times he would almost say shit, but he'd stop himself, and change it to poo, so it was like he said sh..poo.  And Callie called him on it every time, asking him if he said shampoo.  She got a kick out of it, and so did I as I read it.  

And I have to pull out the one thing that was so funny, although I'm sure is probably considered kind of offensive, but it is funny because it's true, because I've actually seen something exactly like it at a Chinese restaurant.  On the menu, for drinks, it said:   "Classic Cock, Cock Zero, Diet Cock, Cherry Cock."  I've seen that before.  And it makes me laugh like a middle schooler every single time!

If you aren't offended by a lot of swear words, or sexy scenes, or hilarious naked embarrassing scenes, then this is the next book you need to read.  You can get the e-book on Amazon for only $2.99 HERE.  If I could order the paperback through the Barnes and Noble store where I work, I would own a physical copy of the book.  Instead I will just stick with my Kindle copy, which as I went back to try to find some of the exact things I wanted to talk about, I found myself re-reading so many parts that I loved. 

 

Two Audiobook Reviews - The Hudson Valley Series: Nuts (#1) and Cream of the Crop (#2) by Alice Clayton

So, because I am falling behind on reviews, I thought I would combine my reviews of these two books in this same series into one post.  Let me just say that I have a new author I'm a huge fan of.  Another reason I'm very excited to go to Apollycon 2017 in March!  Of course what first drew me to these books was the total suggestiveness of the covers, but in such a funny way, even if it was pretty much in your face.  Not to mention the titles, they totally crack me up.  I listened to the audiobooks of these, and now I just can't wait to hear what the third book will be, and I know there has to be a 3rd book, because there is one more friend! 

Book 1 Info:
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.  

Book 2 info (only differences from above):
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!