![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Grit-Release-Banner.jpg?resize=640%2C222&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been patient; she\u2019s been busy.
\nPatience is running out.<\/p>\n
Melissa Oxford is a widow with a ranch, an orange grove, a goat-obsessed ten-year-old, and not enough time. She doesn\u2019t have time to make friends. She doesn\u2019t have time to stop and chat, and she definitely does not have time for a boyfriend.
\nWhich is fine, because Cary Nakamura is far from being a boy. Cary\u2019s the man who helped Melissa plant her trees. The friend who keeps offering advice, even when she\u2019s is too stubborn to take it.
\nHe\u2019s also the man who kissed Melissa in broad daylight on a sidewalk in Metlin, California, smack in the face of God and everyone.
\nBut while Melissa may spend a little too long dreaming about Cary from a distance, she knows the kind of passion he promises is more than she can handle.
\nShe just doesn\u2019t have the time.
\nBut sometimes, no matter how busy you are, life makes you stop. It pulls you up short and makes you see things a little more clearly. Things like\u2026
\nThe people you can count on.
\nThe dreams you keep pushing away.
\nAnd the passion that can\u2019t be denied.
\nGRIT is a stand-alone, friends-to-lovers romance in the Love Stories on 7th and Main series by Elizabeth Hunter, author of INK.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Add to Goodreads<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Absolutely gorgeous! 5 stars!<\/b><\/p>\n Oh wow, I love this book! This is how a friends-to-lovers romance should be written! Sweet, swoony, sexy and emotional, super functional and beautifully romantic, I fell in mad love with these characters and their story, and I adored this book!<\/p>\n Cary and Melissa have appeared in earlier books in this series, with a bit of a flirtation hinted at, and I\u2019ve been so excited to get their story and find out exactly what\u2019s going on. Melissa is the older sister of Ox, from book #1, INK, and the character crossover is there, but it\u2019s minimal, so this book can also easily standalone.<\/p>\n Melissa is a 34 year old widow with an adorably precocious 10-year-old daughter, and a farm to run. Her life is insanely busy, and she has very little time for anything that isn\u2019t related to her daughter, Abby, or her farm, but she loves her life and is determined to go it alone and build a happy and successful life for her little family.<\/p>\n Cary is a 46 year old citrus grower who owns the farm next to Melissa. They\u2019ve known each other since Melissa was a child, and he watched her grow up, watched her get married, became friends with her husband, and then he was there when her husband was killed six years previous. He has offered her help and advice throughout the years \u2013 though she\u2019s usually been too stubborn to take it \u2013 and has been there for her whenever she\u2019s needed him, as a good friend to her and her daughter. Cary has also been nursing a growing attraction to his friend, patiently waiting for the right time to push things further, and he\u2019s getting tired of keeping it to himself.<\/p>\n His breath tickled the hair at her temple. \u201cTalk to me.\u201d It\u2019s an attraction that has had years to develop, and when Cary decides to make his move, he does it without holding back. He wants Melissa, he comes right out and tells her that, and then he balances the line of giving her time to come to terms with it, and gently pushing her forward. Melissa wants him too, but is not only too busy to even contemplate a relationship, but she\u2019s understandably worried about their friendship and the impact on her daughter. It\u2019s all very reasonable, and I could completely feel where she was coming from. But I also love the way Cary continued to push, and the slow burn as they go back and forth is absolutely delicious.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t do this.\u201d One way or another, their self-control wasn\u2019t going to hold out forever. Something was going to snap. He just hoped they were in a relatively secluded place when it happened.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s fun and exciting, and the anticipation builds beautifully! You can feel their want for each other, the teasing, the banter and the kisses had me reading with a massive grin on my face, and the flirting is just awesome!<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did you\u2026?\u201d She glanced at his chest. \u201cCan you put a shirt on please?\u201d Cary has this quiet confidence about him that is absolutely irresistible! He\u2019s the perfect mix of strong, protective alpha, sweet, patient and understanding friend, and hot, sexy lover. And as a sort-of-surrogate father to little Abby, he absolutely melted my heart! I love that he\u2019s a bit of an older man (46 to Melissa\u2019s 34), and that they have so much history between them. Their relationship is so well developed, and though they have their ups and downs as they figure everything out between them, it doesn\u2019t feel angsty or overly dramatic, it\u2019s realistic and real, and every moment between them is meaningful and sizzling with chemistry. I love the way everything changed for them, and the way Cary loves Melissa, had me a swooning madly!<\/p>\n She kissed him and threw her leg over his hips. \u201cThis is giving me all kinds of ideas.\u201d There\u2019s a side storyline featuring the small town where Cary and Melissa live, and a bit of family drama, but it all ties in beautifully to the love story. And the addition of Abby to the story is just gold! That little girl is absolutely adorable \u2013 funny, smart, and an absolutely scene stealer, and I love that she was such a huge part of Melissa and Cary\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n This is such a great read! It\u2019s all the reasons why I love Elizabeth Hunter\u2019s writing, and her smart, fun, realistic, passionate and emotional romance. I loved every moment and finished this book hugging my kindle to my chest in a blissed-out romance high.<\/p>\n 5 stars!<\/p>\n An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.<\/i><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ink (#1)<\/strong> Hooked (#2)<\/strong> Grit (#3)<\/strong> Sweet (#4)<\/strong> – Prequel novella published as book #4 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Escapist Book Blog is not responsible for this giveaway<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n She\u2019s the author of the\u00a0Elemental Mysteries<\/a>, the Irin Chronicles, and the Cambio Springs Mysteries.<\/p>\n Sign up for Elizabeth Hunter\u2019s newsletter<\/a> today and receive a free short story, \u201cToo Many Cooks,\u201d in your inbox. Newsletter subscribers receive monthly updates with exclusive short stories, bonus scenes, and contests. Subscribers also receive an alert when new books are released.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Website\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0\u00a0Facebook\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0\u00a0Twitter\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Goodreads<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" GRIT, an all-new standalone, friends-to-lovers romance in the 7th and Main\u00a0series by\u00a0Elizabeth Hunter\u00a0is NOW LIVE! Amazon\u00a0 |\u00a0 Apple Books\u00a0 |\u00a0 Nook\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo Blurb He\u2019s been patient; she\u2019s been busy. Patience is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","yasr_overall_rating":5,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,9,1036,29],"tags":[1014,59,459,48],"class_list":["post-45687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-friends-to-lovers","category-romance","category-single-parent","category-steamy","tag-7th-main","tag-arc","tag-elizabeth-hunter","tag-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Grit.jpg?fit=200%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gaNL-bST","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nReview<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nShe shook her head.
\n\u201cThen tell me to leave you alone.\u201d<\/i>
\nI can\u2019t.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cFuck that,\u201d he growled. \u201cWe already are.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n
\nThe night was warm and he was wearing a pair of basketball shorts and nothing else. Cary glanced down at his bare chest. \u201cNo.\u201d
\n\u201cYou\u2019re not going to put on a shirt?\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s hot. Is my chest offending you?\u201d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s\u2026distracting.\u201d
\n\u201cThen I\u2019m definitely not going to put on a shirt.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n\u201cKeep your ideas to yourself tonight,\u201d he muttered. \u201cI\u2019m being good, but I\u2019m not that good.\u201d
\n\u201cNo.\u201d She pulled back and looked into his eyes. \u201cYou\u2019re not good. You\u2019re great. I\u2019m sorry it took me so long to see that.\u201d
\n<\/i>I am yours.
\nI am yours.
\nI am so yours.
\nCary cupped her cheek in his hand and stared at her. He rubbed his thumb over her lips. <\/i>I love you like crazy, Melissa Rhodes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nLove Stories<\/strong> on 7th and Main<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Ink.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Hooked.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Grit.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
\u00a0![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Sweet.jpg?resize=80%2C122&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0\u00a0Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 iTunes\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Nook\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Smashwords<\/a><\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 iTunes\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Nook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 Kobo\u00a0<\/a> |\u00a0 Smashwords<\/a><\/p>\n
\nReview<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0 iTunes<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Nook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Kobo<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>Review<\/a>
\nBuy:\u00a0 Amazon<\/a> \u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Apple\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Kobo\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0B&N<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Smashwords<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/Grit-Giveaway.png?resize=236%2C236&ssl=1\")
Giveaway<\/strong><\/h4>\nIn celebration of the release of HOOKED Elizabeth is giving away signed paperback copies of GRIT, HOOKED and INK and a $25 Amazon gift card!<\/strong><\/h4>\n
ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n
\nAbout Elizabeth Hunter<\/strong><\/h4>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Elizabeth-Hunter-Author-Photo.jpg?resize=229%2C229\")
ELIZABETH HUNTER is a USA Today bestselling contemporary fantasy, romance, and paranormal mystery author. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Honors College and a former English teacher. She once substitute taught a kindergarten class, but decided that middle school was far less frightening.<\/p>\n