This was a quick and cute holiday read. I`ve only read one another Cane River book so I wasn`t familiar with anyone other than Alice and Paul before reading about Flannery and Rem. But I have another one that I got a bit ago on my Kindle, so once the holidays are over and I`ve quit all my holiday reads I will be sure to pick it up.

When I say this is quick, I really do mean it. The story itself takes place over a few days and Flannery and Rem quickly move from friendship to love. Don`t get me wrong; that is one of my favorite tropes in romance novels. Always has and always will be. However, here I felt it was a bit rushed and not fully developed. The story depended too much on their history, which we knew very little of, without any real insight or a clear path to how their feelings for each other changed.

There were also a lot of breakaways from them to focus and catch up on the other couples to see how they were doing and where they were. While you expect some kind of follow up from the other stories when that content becomes even with or more than the actual story, it grates. It is one of the reasons that I haven`t really enjoyed any of the recent BDB books by JR Ward. Here it seemed to want plant seeds for future books in the series (as I am unsure if this is the last one) but what it ultimately did was short change the main romance.

Another thing was that this is one of the few books I have read in awhile where the issues literally would have been solved in the first few chapters had the characters just communicated with each other. Yes that would have made for a very short story but after so many chapters of misinterpreatation and miscommunication I wanted to reach into the book and shake both of them. Some miscommunication in romance novels is understandable and serves to drive the plot. Here it served to make a longer story or at least try to. But, again we couldn`t really focus on their love since we were getting all updates on the ones from earlier in the series.

Still, I enjoyed the story and tore through it in two days. It has been awhile since I read a book that quickly so that speaks for itself. It was exactly what I needed as a break from the real world and to prepare for the holidays. My biggest complaint is that I wish we had more of Flannery and Rem`s story rather than the catch up for the other couples and that is what kept this from being a four star book.