raft (noun): when two or more otters rest together, often holding hands, so they don’t drift apartAfter relocating to Ryan’s posh resort at Revelation Cove, Hollie Porter embarks on an all-new adventure as the Cove’s wildlife experience educator, teaching guests and their kids about otters and orca and cougars, oh my.When darling Ryan gets down on one hockey-damaged knee and pops the question of … hockey-damaged knee and pops the question of a lifetime, Hollie realizes this is where the real adventure begins. It’s all cake tasting, flower choosing, and dress fittings until a long-lost family member shows up at the Cove and threatens to hijack her shiny new life. The unexpected reunion forces Hollie to redefine what family means to her and question what she willing to sacrifice to have one of her very own.
As Ryan’s words echo in her head—“Our raft, our rules”—Hollie has to face facts: a raft isn’t always tied together with blood and genetics. Sometimes it’s secured by love and loyalty… and occasional help from the clever creatures that call Revelation Cove home.
HOLLIE PORTER BUILDS A RAFTER is the second book in the hilariously romantic Revelation Cove series, perfect for fans of laugh-out-loud romps, sweet and passionate romance that gives you butterflies, and feel-good stories with a happily ever after.
Get your copy today and discover the fabulous new rom-com series everyone is talking about.
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4.5*
Such a fun follow-up to Must Love Otters! I loved being back on the island with Hollie and Concierge Ryan, these 2 are just so cute. As they prepare for their wedding there are lots of obstacles to overcome, least of all Hollie’s mother, who she hasn’t seen in years. Add in an ex, a broken arm, a baby to be delivered, and a hungry goat, and Hollie and Ryan have their hands more than full as they try to pull off a wedding in 3 weeks. And that means we get all the laughs!
First, I want to state that Must Love Otters was one of my favorite reads of 2014 (Maybe even the favorite.) It, along with Eliza Gordon’s second novel Neurotica, prompted my renewed love for romantic comedies.
Hollie Porter Builds a Raft is a sequel to Must Love Otters. It takes place a year after Ryan and Hollie’s beginning romance, traumatic hiatus, and subsequent HEA (or so we think.) In this novel, we will see the engagement and wedding planning for Ryan and Hollie. Of course, we can’t have an Eliza Gordon and Hollie Porter book without chaos, humor, slapstick, and sweet love.
I loved this sequel. It was the perfect beginning of Holly and Ryan’s HEA. There were a couple of mildly dramatic moments which weren’t (thankfully) frustratingly drawn out. Sometimes I just want a story without the crazy angst that feeds it throughout. The few “what the heck” moments were resolved quickly and Ryan and Holly handled them with the maturity (and humor) of adults. Another big plus. I do recommend that Must Love Otters be read first. The author gives a good mention of their history together from MLO, but I believe the story is much more meaningful having read Ryan and Hollie’s previous book. Knowing the characters going into Hollie Porter Builds a Raft, I felt connected on an emotional level. The love between Ryan and Hollie was palpable while their humorous banter was comfortable and expected. My only issue with this book is that it ended and I don’t get to keep following their love story. 🙁
Favorite Quotes:
“Her eyes were hopeful, despite the smear of black and blue cosmetics that make her look like she’s been assaulted by Crayolas on a bender.”
“The harnessed power of this man’s smile could bring an end to our reliance on fossil fuels.”
“But… what if I don’t want to reproduce at all? Why is that everyone expects that as soon as you get married, you’ll start squeezing out mutant life forms?”
“I sneak into the lingerie section to find a little something for Ryan for the wedding night. No saggy, faded Hanes for Her with tired elastic under my dress. I’m a swanky bride, baby, all satin and lace for my undercarriage.”
“This disaster stuff – it’s a rare genetic anomaly. Some people have naturally straight teeth or curly hair or an affinity for math; my mother has the opposite of a Midas touch. It seems to have leaked into my DNA.”
“She’s adorned in so many animal prints – like she crashed into a safari or a blackjack table filled with Florida retirees escaped from their convalescent home.”
“You are a breath of the freshest air.”
My Review:
I adore Eliza Gordon, her books are just a delight to read and massively entertaining. I want to follow her around and sit at her feet while listening to her warble hilarious and pithy comments all day. I am sure she is constantly bubbling over with naughty fun. I do believe I am decidedly envious of those friends and family members who get to sit with her at the “big kid table” during holiday meals.
In reading her latest missive, I frequently smirked, chortled, and occasionally cackled. I was enchanted with Hollie Porter Builds a Raft, which is the sequel to her first, and one of my all-time favorite books, Must Love Otters. When reading series with a time lapse between books, I often struggle to remember the nuisances of the story as well as who the characters are, given my diminishing mental capacity, poor memory and massive reading list… but that did not prove to be a problem with this story, as Ms. Gordon’s quirky and amusing characters remained fresh in my mind, as if I had stored them in Tupperware and successfully burped their containers as directed. The writing was crisp, smart, and endlessly witty. I specifically enjoyed the amusing and clever banter between Hollie and Ryan, who are perfectly suited to humorous verbal sparring.
The story-line provides one hilarious, mortifying, and least expected adventure after another for the newly engaged couple. While Hollie is more than a bit of a Calamity Jane, once her long absent mother (Lucy) shows up out of the blue waving Hollie’s picture in the newspaper, we soon learn that Lucy bring a whole new level of disaster. Having grown up feeling as if she missed out by not having a mother around, Hollie soon learns that she appears to have been far better off not knowing her crass, loud, bling-loving, uncouth, fire-prone, hirsute, sticky-fingered, banshee shrieking, poker-playing, and somewhat obscene and felonious nuisance of a mother.
I was fearful that between Hollie’s accident prone tendencies and her troublesome mother’s shenanigans, my beloved BBF and the world’s most perfect man, also known as Concierge Ryan, would throw up his hands in surrender. I do just love that man! Thankfully he doesn’t, but Hollie almost does. I adored everything about this book, the colorful descriptions, the sparkling humor, the demon goat, the creative manner in which the chapters are titled, the cast of unique and interesting characters, and of course the otters. I was sad to conclude the book and am currently contemplating my plan of attack to campaign Ms. Gordon into continue their story with a series of adventures, as I don’t believe I could ever get enough of this charming pair.