Jenna Gavin is searching for a fresh start, but more importantly, balance. Her heart, and perhaps the hands of fate, has led her and her young son to Trappers’ Cove, Minnesota. Settling in the small, quirky town, she’s not in the market for a casual relationship yet finds herself in one with the young widower next door.Former shortstop, Gabriel Foxx, is drawn to his difficult new neighbor. The … neighbor. The more the prickly divorcee attempts to keep him at arm’s length, the more determined he is to break down her walls. He can’t avoid the passion she inspires but he won’t allow himself to feel more.
When friendship grows complicated by stronger emotions and mutual desire, it just isn’t enough. Will love be worth the risk?
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Before I get to the meat of this review, let me say that this author is super talented. I want to make sure that’s clear up front because I struggled with this book. But it’s still very much worth the read (especially if you’ve read the previous books in the series).
I loved getting to see our previous couples and the rest of the small town of Trapper’s Cove, absolutely adored it! I’ve gotten pretty attached to them all, and it’s worth every moment reading this book just to revisit them. That said, I had some issues with our heroine, Jenna. I totally get she got a raw deal with her idiot ex-husband. I understand she’s not ready for a new relationship, especially with the younger, moderately famous, Gabe. But I did not like her shrewish temperament. She was horrible to him, and I really couldn’t understand why he was even at all interested in her. Had I been him, after the first time or two of being snapped at or yelled at, I’d have moved on.
I also had issues with Finn and his relationship with her. He’s a brat. And, yeah, I get his dad’s a creep and completely removed from his life. But I swear I wanted to put him into permanent time out. And his mom let him get away with stuff I don’t think she should have. That said, part of why I put up with her nasty attitude toward Gabe was her genuine, unconditional love for her son. When I’d read about that, I could see she actually did have a heart and I tried to be patient with her until she showed it to Gabe… but boy it took patience, because it takes nearly the entire book!
Gabe’s got his own set of issues, due to his late wife and that backstory. He has a lot of work to do to get past that trauma, but he’s not nearly as horrible to Jenna and he genuinely and completely fell for Finn. Honestly, if not for Finn, I don’t think Jenna and Gabe would have gotten past their first conversation.
The face I was so emotionally involved with these two is a testament to the author’s skill. Additionally, I absolutely love the author’s breezy tone and the ease with which she writes the secondary characters. I want to visit Trapper’s Cove. I want to meet the folks there, and become part of the community. They are the biggest reason I thoroughly enjoy these books. I recommend you grab a copy of any of the series for yourself–you can read them out of order, but I recommend you start at the start so you can fall in love with Trapper’s Cove like I have. I hope Ms. Flade never stops writing books set there.
This story kept me turning the pages. I loved the hot/cold relationship with Jenna and Gabe. They had such pain from their pasts and needed each other to heal those wounds. Jenna’s independence and determination to improve the life of her children made her a strong person for Gabe. Gabe needed to move on from his past, and I rooted for Jenna and his ghost to get his head out of the ground. I was almost funny to watch these two bounce from anger to passion to compassion with such regularity. I was glad that they were able to get beyond their pain and see that their hearts had moved on. It was great to spend more time with the characters from the previous books. I highly recommend this story.
I received a copy of this story through Goddess Fish Promotions, and this is my unsolicited review.
This book is interesting, intriguing, fun, exciting, creative, and entertaining!!!
This book was full of emotions that you could just feel dripping off the pages!!!
This book follows the story of Jenna Gavin, a recent divorcee who is trying to find herself and start over in the sweet, charming town of Trappers’ Cove. Jenna and her youngest son, Finn, are looking for a fresh start. Jenna immediately states that’s she’s not looking for a romantic relationship, but her new next door neighbor, a handsome, charismatic former baseball star, Gabriel “Gabe,” Foxx, is up for the challenge of convincing Jenna to change her mind and give him a shot. No spoilers here!! But you definitely will want to read this book and find out what happens!!
I really liked the main characters, Jenna, Gabe, Henley, Carter, Maggie, Aidan, Tala, and of course their adorable new dogs Dixon and Tyson! They were all likable, relatable, and genuine.
I think one of my favorite things in this book and this book series are the characters!! They are so real, raw, and realistic!! These characters have real problems, flaws, baggage, and come together to overcome these obstacles.
These characters were well-developed with strong arcs, positive transformations, and realistic personal achievements.
I really enjoyed that the author created flawed and damaged characters that really showcased her writing style and ability to push her characters to reach their full potential over their arc.
It was great catching back up with Maggie, Aidan, Henley, Carter, Tala, and the charming folks in Trappers’ Cove! I was so happy to see so many returning characters!! I tend to get invested in my characters – especially in a book series, so I was glad to see everyone come back and pick right up where we left off from the last book.
That’s another thing I have really enjoyed from this book series. The author has followed through on her story lines and character’s backgrounds. She remembers to address any unanswered questions that were left out of the previous book and neatly ties them up with a bow in the following book. For instance, the McAlister family has two new dogs featured in this book. However, in book two, they had the beautiful German Shepherd, Dublin. Thankfully, but sadly, this is addressed and explained early on. For me, it’s really the little things that I feel often get left out or forgotten to carry over in a book series. That is so not the case here.
I loved the adorable Minnesota setting. My mom’s family is from there and I grew up with all those silly small-town stories about walking to school in the snow five miles, etc. lol!!! So, I loved all the author bringing in the sweet hometown vibes with all the neighborly fixin’s. It definitely brought an enjoyable element to the story line.
I also loved the author’s writing style as she was superior on detail and the way she immerses you into her storytelling. Her writing draws you in and keeps you fully engaged as the story unfolds!!
This book has an intriguing story line that evenly flows, terrific writing style with well-described scenes, strongly-developed characters, is steady paced, and completely keeps you fully engaged and entertained from page one!!
There are some predictable scenes. However, there are still a few very unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!
This book is Book Three of The Fated Series. This book can be read as a standalone, however, there are significant character and story line overlap from the previous book. Even with the overlaps, this book wouldn’t be confusing to new series readers, but I personally would think it would make more sense and have a stronger impact on the understanding of this book series, if you started with book one first.
All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely recommend it! I think all romantic, suspense readers will like this book too – and this book series! So, add it to your TBR List and get to reading – you won’t be disappointed!
**Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**
This is a lovely story! I really liked it! It is a sweet, emotional story with touch of magic and personality..
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a great well-written emotional story of a divorcee with kids and a retired ball-player. This had realistic real life problems with great emotional qualities that make a great story. The characters are believable and are well-crafted. A must read story with miscommunication, mistrust, chemistry and love
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Book three in The Fated Series a well written story with a very good storyline the story flowed smoothly across the pages. Jenna Gavin and her young son Finn and her older son Sawyer come to Trappers’ Cove, Minnesota where she meets widower former shortstop, Gabriel Foxx. This is an older woman/younger man story. They will have so much to overcome so they can be together. I hope there is more to come in this series. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This book. I read it a couple of weeks ago and I’m still thinking about it. First, let me tell the tropes that are going on: older woman/younger man, enemies to lovers, widower, athlete, Tortured Hero and that’s just to name a few. And boy did these tropes match to Gabe and Jenna. Lord, Jenna was a very hard character to like in the book. Seriously, it wasn’t until the last few pages that I finally warmed up to her. I would call her a shrew throughout when it came to Gabe. She never gave an inch in the relationship until feelings started to surface. However, she was given a very raw deal with her ex-husband. What a douche canoe. Even when she sorta kinda stood up to him, I didn’t think it was enough. He deserved so much more. She is a great mother to her kids, though. We never got to meet her daughter but teenage Sawyer and adorable Finn were great. Finn plays a huge part in the romance between Gabe and Jenna. Ms. Flade does an excellent job with this throughout the book. Finn is a handful and Jenna stands her ground but with Gabe, it is instant love for the boy. And it is genuine.
The other thing that I have really enjoyed with all three books in the series so far is that Ms. Flade spaces out her books. With Maggie and Aiden, they are the old married couple with a teenage daughter, Tala that is best friends/maybe lovers with Sawyer. Henley and Carter have settled into a routine and her bookstore is booming. We get caught up with them and get the interaction that Carter has with his sister Jenna and how all of them are friends with Gabe way before Jenna is introduced. And that makes for a somewhat awkward situation with Jenna when she moves to town. And let me tell you, Maggie and Jenna, despite being friends since childhood, their relationship is real. They fight, hold a grudge, and don’t speak for a while in the book. In fact, Jenna has a better relationship with Aiden, the Grump. And yes, I still love Aiden, the Grump. He makes me happy. I know, I’m weird. And at times, I really wanted to slap Jenna with her treatment of her sister in law, Henley. Trust me, Maggie had every right to berate Jenna for her behavior. Ms. Flade has these relationships down pat with their realism and emotions.
Gabe and Jenna take a long time to get to the end. When they finally decide to bit the bullet and have a relationship, its rocky from the start. Emotions are NOT supposed to surface but unfortunately, they do. I learned from another author when my heart was ripped apart from a book she wrote, she told me personally that love is messy, sex is even messier and falling in love is the best mess that you can be in. It takes work and when they finally decide to work at it, I felt relief. I was emotionally exhausted by the time I finished reading the book and parts still haunt me today. That’s what makes this book so special to me. Ms. Flade pulled me in, twisted me with all the emotions and I’m still thinking about it. That’s a great writer in my opinion. She’s nervous about this review and she shouldn’t be. I loved the book. Everything about it. Jenna isn’t supposed to be liked. We have to get through all of her disappointments, the betrayal from the ex-husband, and dealing with Finn and his shenanigans. Gabe isn’t much better. He never dealt with the death of his wife and it haunts him to this day. I won’t go into Gabe’s hurt except that I understood why he dealt with it the way he did. It made sense to me. Nothing like the wake-up calls he got and then to learn that Jenna…oops. Almost gave away a HUGE plot point. My bad.
All I can say that I didn’t want this book to end. Like, seriously. I could read more books about Gabe, Jenna, and the gang for years to come. I do know that Tala’s book is coming up and I can’t wait. Maybe Maggie will calm down (doubt it), Aiden will still be a grump (Please, please) and we will finally get to understand the fairy that is Tala. This series needs to be read. Don’t be afraid of the paranormal elements in the book. You will stay for the characters and Ms. Flade’s writing.