TITLE: Charlie
AUTHOR: Janice Whiteaker
SERIES: Big Northwest
SERIES ORDER: 3
AVAILABLE IN KU: Yes
PUBLISHED: 10/11/2022
GENRE: Romantic Suspense, Small Town Romance
BLURB:
Charlie is overwhelmed.
Shadow Pine is changing so fast it takes everything she has just to keep up.
Every minute of the day now goes to stocking shelves. Counting inventory.
Filling out freaking spreadsheets.
It’s miserable.
And it’s all because of one man.
Adam Bollingsworth.
If the newscaster hadn’t insisted on writing that story, then everything would still be like it was.
But he also wouldn’t be back in Shadow Pine. Reminding her how good he looked in a suit. Making her wonder what might be under it.
And that would be a shame.
But Adam isn’t back in Shadow Pine because of her. She’s not the kind of woman men seek out. Not like her sisters.
She’s the quiet one.
The inexperienced one.
The weird one.
But after months of thinking about the handsome man who turned her world upside down, there’s no way Charlie’s going to miss out on an opportunity to see if Adam’s all her mind made him out to be.
But she’s not the only one fascinated with Adam.
And she’s not the only one willing to do whatever it takes to get close to him.
“Were you?” He moved in a little more, voice deep and soft as he leaned into her ear, the warmth of his breath fanning over her skin. “Because I’ve had my measurements taken before, and not a single one of those people touched as much of me as you did.”
MY REVIEW:
I am really glad that Janice decided to go back to Shadow Pine and continue the story of the Karlson sisters. In addition to getting reacquainted with characters from the previous books, we got to familiarize ourselves a little more with Charlie Karlson and her love interest, Adam Bollingsworth.
Adam is a TV reporter that you may have met before, if you read the previous two books in the series (Danny, #1; Alex, #2). Charlie is a virgin who loves reading dirty romance novels and has a penchant for naming her cats after Jane Austen heroes.
I thought their story was really cute and I loved how Janice took her time with them and let the chemistry build. I’m all for the intense, in-your-face chemistry, but I also really love a good slow burn where the reader gets to witness the chemistry between the two main characters evolve over time (or pages).
As mentioned above, Charlie is a virgin (not by choice) and she has her eyes set on Adam as the one to deflower her. Adam finds Charlie intriguing and, over the course of the book/as he gets to know her, we see his curiosity turn into interest. When Adam finds out about Charlie’s “Wham Bam, Thank You Ma’am” scheme, he pumps the breaks and tells her that he’s looking for something more than a hookup. What follows next is a beautiful love story that will leave you swooning!
I can’t wait to see where Janice takes this series next!