Book safety, content warnings, and tropes down below.

The sight of her was like being sucker-punched in the stomach, slapped across the face, and receiving a sexy stroke in the groin simultaneously. Too much to sort through.

One of my favorite MF romances and one I’ve reread and listened to a handful of times. The audiobook is super good, and I just adore Beau’s accent. It’s got really well done mental illness rep. It’s not romanticized in any way, and the person struggling isn’t automatically excused and forgiven for doing bad things, but is given understanding. I really love that.

You don’t often see books with a character struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder, and even though I have exactly zero personal experience with it, the representation seems really good. You can definitely tell the author has taken care with the subject.

The romance is super sweet and fun, and even when there’s trouble, it’s not super angsty. These characters just work so well together, and I think that’s why I keep coming back to it.

Moments of quiet ordinary, made extraordinary by sharing them with the woman I love.

It’s also just a genuinely funny book. Highly recommend.

⬇️ Blanket spoiler warning ⬇️

⚠️ Tropes & content tags ⚠️
Coworkers
Mechanics
Slow burn
Mental illness rep
OCD rep
Age gap
Younger MMC
Small town
Big family
Tall FMC
Therapy rep
Touch aversion
Foul-mouthed rescue parrot
Rescue pets

⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Sexual harassment and misogyny
Death of parent (past, on-page grief)
Alcohol consumption (on-page intoxication)
Mention of death of sibling (past)
Severe touch aversion
Some details of past physical child abuse (MC’s parent)
Self harm (past and present, on page)
Explicit sexual content

⚠️Book safety ⚠️
Cheating: No
Other person drama: Beau is sort of seeing someone in the beginning of the book, but it doesn’t turn into anything, nothing happens between them on page, and he ends it with her before anything happens between the MCs.
Breakup: No
POV: 1st person, dual
Genre: Contemporary romance
Pairing: M/F
Strict roles or versatile: N/A
Main characters’ age: 24 and thirties
Series: Interconnected standalone
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Pages: 460
Happy ending: Yes


Cletus had instructed Duane to put his concerns in the suggestion box. Of note, Cletus had labeled the shredder in the upstairs office suggestion box a year ago when Duane had suggested half days on Fridays.

For a split second, and likely my imagination, I thought I saw the side of Shelly’s mouth tick up. But just as fast, all trace of amusement disappeared. Dear Lord. If she smiled . . . that could be catastrophic to anyone in its path.

I squinted at the old bird and was about to tease her when the real bird in the garage chose that moment to blurt out, “Darin! You asshole!” Glancing at the parrot where it still perched on the Pontiac, I grimaced. “What’s the bird’s name?” I heard Shelly clear her throat before saying, “It used to be Darin.” This revelation earned her a long, curious look, the moment stretching while Shelly met my stare silently, swallowing twice while I studied her. The bird was the first to speak. “Cocks are for closers.”



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