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Review

A very broken-hearted 2.5 stars

It pains me to write this review, because Natasha Madison is one of my favourite authors, and I wanted to love this book so badly! But sadly this one just didn’t work for me. I have so many thoughts and feelings, so please bear with me as I purge.

This is the third book in the Southern series. I would definitely recommend reading at least the first book in the series (Southern Chance) as it gives you a good introduction to the characters, and to the situation that changed all of their lives.

Here’s the details…

Being completely upfront, this book was always going to be a challenge for me. The events that went down in the first book of this series sparked massive and stupid drama that could have been so easily avoided. I thought Savannah’s actions were selfish and stupid, and to be honest, I hated her from the prologue of book #1. And now, we have her book. It’s hard going into a book when you already hate the heroine, but I love Natasha’s stories, and I was curious to see if Savannah could redeem herself. Plus, Beau seemed like a total sweetheart and the romance is a childhood friends-to-lovers, so I dove in.

Savannah has come a long way from her difficult childhood. She is still looked down upon by a lot of people in town – because of the behaviour of her mother, and the rumours that still persist about Savannah herself (even if they aren’t true). But she has worked hard to create a good life for her and her son, running the town’s successful bar, and she has good friends around her, including her two childhood best friends, Jacob and Beau, who are both big parts of her life.

This book begins where the last book left off, in the gutwrenching moment where Beau finds out Savannah’s big secret. Warning, rant ahead…

But anyway, all is out in the open, and our trio of best friends are doing their best to move on (whether I was ready for them to or not). But we are thrown into new drama as Savannah is being targeted by an unknown danger, and with very real threats against her home, her business, and her pesonally, her best friend, and the man who has loved her since they were teenagers, Beau, steps in to protect her.

Beau has just been appointed Mayor, and is finding his feet in his new role, picking up the reigns from his corrupt father, determined to clean up the office and do the best he can for his town. But his heart is with Savannah, and with the attacks increasing in severity, he feels that the best thing he can do to protect her, is marry her, feeling that his name will offer her some security.

And so, two best friends who are secretly in love with each other, marry, in a practical, but still very emotional arrangement, providing them with the perfect opportunity to act on all of that pent-up lust and love that has been building for so many years.

“Kiss me,” she says, and here in the dark, I kiss her. My heart speeds up, and my palms get clammy, but my lips touch hers, and it’s all over.

Things develop pretty quickly between them from this point, and it’s emotional, sexy, and all kinds of swoony, and I loved seeing them openly and whole-heartedly embrace all of those feelings.

But for some reason, I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe I was still feeling unresolved anger over the past? Or perhaps because it had taken them so long to get to that point? They’ve been in love with each other since they were teenagers, it’s been at least eight years, all of their friends know they love each other, Beau spends most nights of the week hanging out at Savannah’s house, but neither of them have made a move or even hinted that there are strong feelings between them. I would have preferred at least one of them to make a move by then, to be brave enough to fight for what they want rather than just have bizarre circumstances act as a trigger to force it all out. We even see them get hot and heavy with each other in this book – before they have sex and before feelings are declared, there is lots of making out and passionate moments, but they still don’t believe the other has feelings for them? *another sigh*

The other disconnect for me came from the fact that there’s a lot going on in this book and it felt a bit rushed. Not the pacing of the romance, but the events of the book. There is SO much happening, and it happens in a short amount of time. I felt a bit overwhelmed by it all. It’s like every other chapter ends in a drama and we’re bouncing from one big event to the next

As for Savannah… I don’t hate her as much as I once did. I still completely disagree with how she handled things, but I didn’t dwell on it. She and Beau moved on, so did I. But I still had trouble connecting to them as a couple. Beau says and does all the right things, their passion for each other is sizzling, and there is definitely a strong connection between them – I could see they were in love, their romance was swoony and sexy, and all-consuming for them both, but it didn’t hit me in the feels the way I was hoping (and the way that the other two books in this series have). And it bothers me that I can’t articulate why that is.

Ugh, this review is a hot mess. But I guess it’s a reflection of my still-conflicted feelings for this book, even weeks after reading it.

Natasha has written some of my favourite books and I’m usually completely sucked in and madly in love with her characters and their stories. It hurts to say, but with this one, I just wasn’t feeling it. Maybe it was because I was annoyed at Savannah, maybe it was the amount of time it took for her and Beau to finally admit their feelings, or maybe it was just everything that was happening. But I’m gutted.

But the book ends well, with an epilogue which leads us right into Ethan’s book up next. It sounds like it’s going to be another angsty one, and I’m definitely nervous, but I’ll give it a try.

Really sad I didn’t love this one – 2.5 stars. It was ok.

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Southern Series

About the Author

When her nose isn’t buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she’s in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips. It’s a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn’t listen to her…

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