Nothing about being a librarian prepared Thuy Nguyen for such a wide variety of casseroles. Or life in a small town. Or becoming a farmer.But what can she do when her catastrophe-prone best friend begs her for help? After all, Maddy has always been there for Thuy. It’s time to return the favor.It’s simple really, all she has to do is: learn everything about farming ASAP, save her BBF’s family … family business from disaster, and avoid being caught staring at Maddy’s biker brother, and his muscles, and his smile, and his soulful, sexy eyes.
Oh yeah, and she should definitely not fall in love with him.
Easy, right? . . . Right.
‘Prose Before Bros’ is a full-length contemporary romantic comedy, can be read as a standalone, and is book#3 in the Green Valley Library series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
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This is the story of Drill (Teddy) & Thuy, with a side character, Maddy. This is the third book in the Green Valley Romance Series. Drill is in a motorcycle gang. He left him home at the age of sixteen and joined due to his home life. Thuy is Maddy’s best friend. They and Maddy return to Green Valley when Maddy’s father dies. Maddy and Drill inherit the farm. For the most part, this is a nail-biting story, and I enjoyed every word of it. It does give insight and is very informative to the way MC gangs live. There is a happy ending for Drill and Thuy, but what they have to go to get there is to what this story is all about. I highly recommend this book. Looking forward to reading the last book.
I don’t like spoilers, so I don’t read blurbs. If there is an author that I love and trust (Lucy Score, Kristan Higgins, Sarina Bowen, Christina Lauren, Mae Wood, Daisy Prescott and Serena Bell, to name a few), I don’t need to know what a book is about before I start reading it. In fact, the less I know, the better. I’m the same way with movies. The only reason I can think of for this to be the case is that if I know that something is going to happen, I wait in expectation for that thing to happen and am not fully present in the telling of the tale. (For example, the first time I saw Endgame in the theater, I’d mistakenly thought that there would be an intermission, and spent the whole movie wondering when it would occur.)
When I found out about a collaborative writing universe, called Smartypants Romance, which would create a series of books that took place in the worlds created by the very talented Penny Reid, I was all in. I wanted to read every single book, and I didn’t care what they were about. I didn’t care who wrote them, or in which part of the “Pennyverse” they would take place, or who the main characters were. I. Was. In.
I’ve read three of these delightful books so far: “Baking Me Crazy” by Karla Sorensen, “Stud Muffin” by Jiffy Kate, and now “Prose Before Bros” by Cathy Yardley. The first two were very good 4-star reads, but my favorite so far is the third one, and I’ll tell you why.
All three of these books take place in the fictional town of Green Valley, Tennessee, (home of the Winston Brothers series) and the first two stories revolve around the Donner Bakery, known for Jennifer Winston and her famous banana cakes. Meanwhile, Thuy Nguyen, the main character of this third title, works at the Green Valley Public Library. Now, I enjoy baked goods, but there is very little that I love more than books. (I write a book blog, so you probably knew that coming in!)
Thuy and I have a very similar outlook on bookstores and libraries: “There was a smell to libraries and bookstores that Thuy always found comforting. She took a deep breath, soaking in the ambience. Cliche as it probably was, it felt like coming home.” I’ve lived a lot of places, as my dad was in the Army and I would always seek out the local public library and I can still remember so many of them. They felt like home to me, too.
I loved Thuy (and I’m really glad the author told us how to pronounce her name – Twee – because if she hadn’t, it would have been like Hermione all over again!) Thuy is loyal, and smart, and strong, and determined, and not afraid to try new things. She goes across the country because her best friend Maddy needs her. As it turns out, Maddy’s brother should be familiar to anyone who read the Winston Brothers series. As I started reading Chapter 2 of “Prose,” and I realized who Thuy’s love interest was going to be, I got so excited that we were going to find out more about him, because I love a good backstory!
I don’t seek out a lot of MCC books, but the Wraiths, the motorcycle club in Green Valley, plays a big part in the Winston Brothers series. Maddy’s brother Drill, or Teddy, as she knew him growing up, is high up in the Wraiths, but the club has gone through a lot of changes of late, and he’s not sure he likes the new direction it is taking. When his father dies, and the sister he hasn’t seen in over a decade comes back to town to take care of the arrangements as well the family farm, he starts to see that there’s more to life than the Wraiths, and maybe they aren’t the family he thought they were, or the family he needs.
There are twists and turns in this story, and danger, and surprises. It kept me riveted, so much so that I rearranged my work schedule so I could finish it! This is my first book from Cathy Yardley, and peeking at the list of her other books, I found one that references The Doctor, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be checking those out, as well. I’m also very excited to read the other three books in the Smartypants Romance series that revolve around the Green Valley library (find them here!)
This book is exactly what I wanted from Smartypants Romance. I did enjoy the books about brand new characters, but I have a feeling that the ones about established Green Valley folk will be the ones I love the most.
Prose Before Bros is the perfect name for Thuy and Drill’s story. Not only because she’s a librarian and Drill is her best friend’s brother, but it’s also due to the fact that Drill’s a member of the Iron Wraiths and his fellow MC brothers need him to step up for his club, for the only family he’s allowed to have since he patched in. The problem is, Drill’s real family – his sister – is back in Green Valley and needs her big brother, more now than ever…the problem is, he’s now forced to choose where his true loyalties lie – with his club or with his sister and the amazing woman he wants to make his.
As much as Thuy is most definitely not a small town girl, she goes where her best friend needs her, even if it’s to Maddy’s family farm in Green Valley, Tennessee. Not only is Thuy an intelligent, protective, and stubborn woman, she’s not afraid to go toe-to-toe with anyone who threatens the people she loves. And while she may seem like Drill’s opposite in every way, as the story continues, it becomes quite clear just how alike they are in all ways that truly matter.
I have to say…I didn’t expect the Iron Wraiths MC to play such an integral role in the storyline, but the further I read, the clearer it became as to how they intertwined with Maddy and Thuy’s plan to stay and run the farm and just how caught in the middle Drill is because of his connection to both sides.
Side note: I have quite the girl crush on Thuy; she is a total bada** and a nerd girl bookworm as well, which is absolutely fantastic!
4 Poison Apples
I loved the romance between Thuy and Drill. I really liked the fact that she had quite a few things in common with him and could really understand where he was coming from. She wasn’t a damsel in distress. She took care of herself and those she cared about. There is a bit of suspense in here too, so that keeps you on your toes. I loved all of the library scenes too! This is one of my favorite books this year!
Prose Before Bros will hold you captive til the last page! This was a perfect mix of sweet librarian and the bad boy, leaving you breathless in anticipation, reading faster than you can turn the page. It’s been a while since a book had me nervous that I wouldn’t get a happy ending, so I was reading this every moment I could: at work, in the drive-thru, listening to the horrible Kindle voice while driving – I couldn’t put it down! I’m so incredibly blown away by all of the books in the Green Valley Library series. I love revisiting locations and characters previously created by Penny Reid, and this story blew me away. It was my first read by Cathy Yardley and I’m definitely adding her to my must-read list!
“An inappropriate attraction was the last thing she needed.”
Thuy Nguyen is out of her depth. She’s arrived in Green Valley, Tennessee, in support of her best friend, Maddy. She’s a city girl through and through and now she’s on a farm with no wifi and…cows. The last thing she expects is the inconvenient attraction to her best friend’s estranged biker brother. She wants nothing to do with bikers. Ever.
“Their gazes locked, and he felt a blast of heat that had nothing to do with the sharp November sunshine.”
Drill has been with the Iron Wraiths since he was sixteen. They’ve been the only family he’s known for 16 long years. However, he’s never forgotten his little sister and having her back in town makes his heart happier than it’s been in a while. He knows he should stay away from her little Asian friend, but there’s just something about Thuy that keeps him coming back to the farm. Unfortunately, his attraction to her and his softness towards his sister is threatened by his MC family.
“He wanted to protect her, defend her, and hold her. And do a hell of a lot more than that.”
This was a really great story. Thuy is a strong, independent badass woman. She’s a tough little cookie and I adored her. She’s loyal, resilient and a little bit sassy. Drill has become disenchanted with the Iron Wraiths and, since his sister and her friend arrived in Green Valley, he’s rediscovering something that he’s really missed and making him question his life with his MC family. The chemistry between Drill and Thuy was sizzling – made more compelling by the fact that both knew it would be a mistake to get involved. A great, sexy read with a great ending because I honestly had no idea how they were going to come to a satisfactory and credible resolution!
I’m totally loving all of these books set not only in the fictional world of Green Valley that I love, but also with some awesome librarians! This book had some amazingly true parts about how it is to be a librarian, as well as so many real things that go on in the book world. Like authors banding together to donate and help out libraries in need, or anyone in need. And the fight between the last generation of librarians to save everything and keep it traditional compared to the newer generation of librarians who want to get the library to meet the needs of all of its patrons. I am not normally a fan or a reader of actual motorcycle club romances, so that is probably what kept this from being a full 5 stars here on my blog, even though I will give it the full 5 stars on every other site instead of rounding down to 4. It was my love of the perfect picture of librarians of all ages, along with the whole Green Valley scene and some of the characters we already know and love that keeps me rounding it up. The story was good, and in the end, I loved the way that Thuy saved the day. I mean all that pain and suffering in her early life definitely deserved to pay off in some way, and it did in the perfect way to save Drill.
I’ll once again reiterate how much I’m loving this series and all the ways we get to go back into the Green Valley world and be a part of it. To meet all these new characters and see them interacting with the main characters from other books in the series is fun as well. As much as I say I don’t like MC romances, I did actually enjoy a bit of seeing Drill try to find his way out of the Wraiths and getting a little bit of a peek into that organization now that all the big names we know from the Winston Brothers series have made their exits. Now, hand over the next book in the series please, I’m ready for it!
I really enjoyed this book. It was sweet and inspiring. I definitely recommend this book, this series, and this author.
***5 ‘TeamThuy’ Stars***
And we have another great addition to the Green Valley World/Pennyverse!
I was hooked from the very first page and didn’t want to say good-bye to the characters (well, most…some I wanted to gut with a spoon..but *shrugs*) because I had such a great time hanging out with them and really want to see where the future takes them all.
Ok. So I adored Thuy. This woman is sweet, compassionate, loyal and strong. Dear lord is she strong. I could never have imagined the life she’d led up until now and all she did to be able to live the life she wanted. Drill. This man. He is all kinds of biker badass and lived the life full throttle, but he also has a compassionate and good heart that is causing him to look at what he wants his future to be in a brighter light.
Thuy and Drill’s journey to their HEA was a lot of fun. I loved the way they first collided ~ the zing was definitely there between them from the start. Their bantering was a lot fun and I loved watching as they grew closer and found that they had a lot more in common than either knew. Their road is bumpy, but I loved how it all turned out for them in the end.
This was a fun read. It had a little bit of everything in it and pushed all the right buttons. The writing was engaging, the pacing good and I enjoyed the dual first person POV’s. As for the secondary characters, I loved Maddy and it was awesome to see some of the Green Valley residents I’ve come to love…though there were quite a few I wanted to harm, but such is life.
As I said at the start. This book is a great addition to the Pennyverse and can definitely be read as a stand-alone, though I think you’ll want to read them all once you get started.
~ Copy provided by Social Butterfly PR & voluntarily reviewed ~
This is my first Cathy Yardley book, and it won’t be my last. I love that SmartyPants Romance is introducing me to so many new authors all in one of my favorite settings – the Pennyverse! Penny Reid created such great worlds with Knitting In the City and The Winston Brothers series, and I love that I get to revisit them and meet new authors at the same time.
Our female lead, Thuy, is a city girl that comes to Green Valley to help out her pregnant friend. She is certainly not familiar with farms or biker bars! But she sure does get familiar with both fast, especially has she spends time with her best friend’s brother, Drill, a member of the Iron Wraiths.
As Drill spends time with Thuy, he begins to question his Iron Wraith “brothers” and the lifestyle, and his attraction to Thuy and their developing relationship make him re-evaluate where his is and who he wants to be.
Definitely a great read.
Nothing could have prepared Thuy for the bustle of small time life that she encountered when heading to Green Valley. As Maddy’s best friend, Thuy did not hesitate to head to Tennessee to offer her best friend the shoulder she needed when Maddy’s father passed away. A lack of cell service, no steady internet, and a string of casseroles was not what Thuy expected when traveling to this rural town. Pair these oddities with Maddy’s pregnancy, and Thuy realizes she cannot wait to see California again.
Determined to help Maddy procure through the weight of taking over her father’s farm, Thuy finds that life in a small town can also come with a bit of danger. The Iron Wraiths are determined to keep Drill in their fold. As Drill begins to spend time with his sister, a hidden agenda comes to light. As Thuy makes the decision to put down roots alongside Maddy, she crosses paths with the scorned biker. With the Iron Wraiths scrambling to keep their club in check, Thuy and Maddy find themselves caught in the crossfire of a power struggle. Where will the disaster lead?
Prose Before Bros is the latest installment in the Green Valley Library series. Cathy Yardley has added her creativity to the Pennyverse with the addition of Drill’s story, the Iron Wraith that we all want to learn more about!! I will admit – I didn’t know if this story was going to one that captured my attention, but Thuy and Drill definitely held my attention.
One of the things I loved was the way Thuy’s lifestyle was captured in a way that was interwoven with Green Valley. As a librarian in California, Thuy’s interests and specialties were quite different than the style that Green Valley residents were accustom to. The fresh look on modernizing the library was woven into the story in a seamless and interesting way. Adding the culture differences that Thuy possesses proved to be just the right touch to compliment the diversity that Reid has been known for throughout her various writing ventures. Yardley definitely captured that style in a relatable and realistic manor.
Let’s talk about Drill……who knew that he would prove to be so interesting? I enjoyed finding out more about the man that chose the Iron Wraiths as his family and all that the decision entailed. Thuy’s past definitely blew me away when it came to light in an intriguing way!! Hopefully – that could spin off into another amazing book??!! While I enjoyed Prose Before Bros – I did find the ending cut a bit short. The nuances of life at the farm and where our characters lives were headed, was barely touched on for my tastes. All in all – I enjoyed the look at Green Valley through Thuy’s viewpoint!!
Great characters plus suspense, humor, heat, and all the feels; masterfully crafted
Book 3 in the Green Valley Library series, part of the Penny Reid book universe, Green Valley world, this is another new to me author, and the story picks shortly after the main events of the first two books in the series (Love in Due Time, and Crime and Periodicals), so about six months after the end of Dr Strange Beard. While I feel this holds up well as a standalone, various members of the Iron Wraiths beside Drill have roles here. We first meet Drill in Truth or Beard, and he and the rest of the Wraiths have reoccurring appearances throughout the Winston Brothers books, so having previously read the series would help provide background and context for this book. I’d particularly recommend Dr Strange Beard, which sets up the current state of the Iron Wraiths.
The author made it easy to empathize with these characters with writing that makes you feel right along with them. For Thuy (and for me, at least) that includes how she feels about the library, and books:
“From the time I learned to read, the library was the place I could escape. I felt Sarah Crewe’s nobility in The Little Princess…I rode dragons in Anne McCaffrey’s books. I went to the restaurant at the end of the universe with Douglas Adams.”
Smart and tough, we slowly get hints on Thuy’s background, but it’s clear pretty quickly that she’s got some familiarity with criminal elements, so Drill’s background doesn’t faze her other than in a “getting involved with him would be really stupid“ kind of way, but she finds herself attracted in spite of her best intentions. I loved her loyalty to Maddy even as she struggles to find a place for herself in this foreign, small town, farm country world. Even the library is a struggle as her attempts to help are met with suspicion and sometimes outright hostility from the traditionalist, head librarian.
As for Drill, my impression of him from Winston Brothers books was of a guy who was probably decent enough one on one (he fished regularly with Hank Weller and Beau Winston), but was involved in some shady stuff through the Iron Wraiths. And that’s pretty much the Drill we see here, a man who is struggling with disillusionment as the club that has been his family for the past sixteen years is at risk of falling apart completely, and the man he thought was his brother and friend, Catfish, shows he’s willing to do just about anything to prevent that from happening. Drill’s torn loyalties are a large part of what drives the story, as he (and we), try to figure out a way to keep his sister, and the woman he’d very much like to have a relationship with, safe from his club brothers while still meeting his obligations to that club.
There are some moments of humor; for example, Thuy finding out the guy she’s holding a shotgun on is actually Maddy’s brother (“Well. This promised to be awkward.”) or how Scotia Simmons (yes, THAT Scotia Simmons from the Winston Brothers) comes to believe that Thuy and Maddy are a lesbian couple and soon the rest of the town believes it as well. It’s really the suspense and mystery that struck me, though, as I had all these questions throughout the book that kept me turning the pages (What exactly is Thuy’s background? Is Drill going to choose Thuy and Maddy over the Wraiths? If he does, what will the club do to punish him?), most of which were answered, but not all (who DID Catfish have in his bedroom? Anyone who has read Dr. Strange Beard will have their suspicions).
I loved how well Thuy and Drill understood each other, and how protective they each were in their own way, even as my heart was breaking for them as I couldn’t see a way out for Drill. By the end, I literally had tears in my eyes as I was cheering for them both, but for Thuy in particular as she made her stand.
Great characters plus suspense, humor, heat, and all the feels, I loved how all the elements came together for a masterfully crafted conclusion. This author has a new fan, and I have a new entry for my “best of 2019” list. 5+ stars
B2B Kelly
Thuy loves her books, her job and most of all her friend Maddie. That is why she decides to move to her friends home town, work on her farm and help her raise her unborn child. No where in that descripton was there supposed to be a brother/biker deep in the very environment she has desperately been trying to escape from her entire life. But she can’t help falling for him, anymore than she can help falling for the town and it’s inhabitants.
Drill definitely did not want to be attracted to the cute little Thuy, his sisters best friend. The discontent he has felt with his club have been growing, especially after his sister decided to keep the farm and the club has been on him to force them to move. The club wants the money. But what does he want? I mean the woman even has him wanting to read a book! He is in an impossible position and he honestly has no idea how to keep the girls safe, and maybe leave the club?
All the feels, and even had me shedding a few tears, and some laughs! Lots of interaction with out beloved scary head librarian, as well as some other Green Valley residents. An outstanding addition to the Green Valley World that went above and beyond!
Thuy is a freaking rockstar!! I just absolutely loved her loyalty to Maddy. And her love of books….it just spoke to my soul! She had this quiet strength and when you learn where it comes from it just made me admire her even more.
Drill….I wasn’t sure I was going to be a fan of him from past Green Valley reads, but I loved him! Watching his thought process play out and seeing the change was maybe my favorite part of the book.
The two of them together were oddly sweet. I enjoyed seeing them figure out their attraction and feelings for each other. The whole book was amazing. Definitely worth the sleep deprivation that occurred from staying up late to read it!!
Action suspense romance isn’t my usual read but I’m here to tell you Cathy Yardley is a fantastic writer. There is soooo much to unpack with this book. I normally avoid MC books because I don’t appreciate the lawless and often brutal alpha mentality, however the Iron Wraiths are a pervasive fact of Green Valley life and there is no way to steering clear of them. Drill has been an enforcer for sixteen years, manhandling people in a few of the Winston Brothers books. I’ve haven’t thought much about him, but what I did know I didn’t like. Yardley gave such an interesting history to Drill. I never thought about what would cause someone to join an MC, in sixteen year old Teddy/Drill’s case it was his abusive perfectionist father. “An Old Testament man with little patience for idiots…disowned…kicked out.” All these years later the Wraiths are coming apart at the seams and at thirty-two Drill is tired and lonely because his chosen family isn’t acting like family at all. His oldest buddy Catfish is the new MC Prez and he’s asking the impossible of Drill while making other desperate and despicable decisions to keep the club afloat.
His father died, the miserable man had the gift of a green thumb and left a profitable farm to be split between his children. His sister, Maddy was coming home after escaping to Berkeley ten years ago, seven months pregnant and accompanied by a woman but no husband. Tongues get to wagging real quick all over Green Valley thanks to Scotia Simmons. Wow! That’s some start to a romance and I was hooked. No sleep for me until I read every word.
The sisterhood between Maddy and Thuy (pronounced Twee) is enviable. These woman have been each others family for ten years. Thuy is having culture shock being in the Smokies and staying on the farm with cows! No wifi is beyond her comprehension. Maddy wants to stay on the farm to raise her baby and Thuy is going to stand by her and be the best Auntie ever but they’re going to need some income until they get things up and running. Being a super qualified librarian she lands a probationary position at the Green Valley Library. Reid fans have a soft and warm spot in their hearts for this library. I found it remarkable that the character of Julianne MacIntyre, contemporary of Bethany Winston is so ridged in her way of running the library. It’s clear she feels threatened by a young motivated fresh set of eyes and warns her off any change before she’s ever hired. Perception is everything with this same character, who is warm, motherly and benevolent in a different book within this series. I think that says a lot about the writing, every character interacts with others differently depending on their comfort level and whatever might be going on their lives at the time. This is why I love books and authors!
Thuy is the best thing in this entire book. She’s a badass with so many layers she could be baklava. She and Drill have an instant attraction but she’s not into it because of who he is, Maddy’s brother and an MC member. His hot bod and his persistence coupled with a devilish smile weaken her resolve. It’s clear she’s got a shady past but we don’t know what happened to her until much later. I loved her and related to her soul deep love of books and libraries as a safe space for teens. She’s so completely clued in to their needs and wants because she listens to them. She’s got a quick wit and a smart mouth which produces some funny moments throughout.
I think the overall arc of the story is there are lots of kinds of love, friend love, romantic love, choosing our family and love of books. The other being people change and evolve over time. I don’t like the same things I did in my teens or twenties I can’t imagine being trapped doing the same thing forever. Drill makes some thoughtful observations about his chosen family and decides they aren’t who they started out. Did he redeem himself? I don’t think so, sixteen years is a long time to beat on people and be absolved, but he’s a better more aware man and that’s a very good start.
Cathy Yardley is a new author to me and I’m most definitely a new fan. I’m looking forward to other books from her.
Prose Before Bros (Green Valley Library #3) by Cathy Yardley is a slow burn, contemporary romantic comedy told in third person, dual POV. Although it’s book three in Smartypants Romance’s Green Valley Library series, it can be read as a complete standalone.
Librarian Thuy Nguyen is a city girl from California. She doesn’t know anything about farming or small-town life. But when her single, pregnant, best friend, Maddy, inherits her father’s forty-acre homestead, Thuy’s determined to help her out. She’s surprised by the attraction when she meets Maddy’s brother but has no intention of getting involved with someone in the criminal, motorcycle club lifestyle.
A lieutenant in the Iron Wraiths MC, Drill is the club’s enforcer, the muscle. He hasn’t spoken to his family in the 16 years since he joined. It’s not allowed – the Wraiths are his family now. But when Drill’s sister comes to town – pregnant, single, and planning to work the family homestead – with her sexy best friend, Thuy, he can’t stay away any longer. The Iron Wraiths want the property, and if Drill can’t convince the women to leave, they’ll be in serious danger.
Will Drill’s love for Maddy and Thuy override his loyalty to the MC? Or will they give in to the threats and be forced to move? Can Drill protect them? What will the Iron Wraiths do if he tries? Read and find out!
I loved Thuy and Drill’s story! As characters, they were likeable, well-crafted, and complex. Seemingly opposites, Thuy and Drill discover they have more in common than they realized. The story explores themes of loyalty, friendship, family, and starting over. Full of suspense, humor, and romance. I highly recommend it!
*** I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC. ***
Prose Before Bros is a standalone but part of the Green Valley Library Series. There are crossover characters but not in a spoiler kind of way. I’m loving everything about this series and this story is no exception.
“You’re a damned good woman, Thuy,” he said, his voice rough.
He sensed rather than saw her smile. “And you,” she said softly, “are a better man than you give yourself credit for.”
This story is a little angstier, darker and grittier than the others in the GVL series so far, but it still had plenty of humor and banter. It definitely delivered with all the feels. I felt my heart break and swoon in turns and I think I gnawed off all my fingernails reading this one!
“Don’t fall for troublemakers. They’ll break your heart every time.
Thuy sighed. But what did you do if it was too late?”
Prose Before Bros was my first book by this author but won’t be my last. I completely enjoyed everything about this story.
-5 Stars!-
This book was amazingly good and so not what I was expecting. I’m talking romance, suspense, drama and a little action all in one story. Every page had me hooked to the point that I had to talk myself into turning off my tablet just so I could get a little sleep (no joke). The h Thuy. LOVED her. I want to be her. She’s fierce and doesn’t take anyone’s crap. She is the definition of a bada$$ heroine. And Teddy (aka Drill)…Bad Boy, Alpha, Biker……whats not to love. Total Book Boyfriend worthy. He’s truly a stand up guy who knows what needs to be done and does it So with all that said, if you haven’t guessed already, I totally recommend. And I’m not just saying that cause I got an ARC. This bad boy is going on my re-read shelf and I even plan on buying the paperback if they have one. Now I’m off to wait patiently for the other books in this series and hope *crossing fingers* they’ll be just as good as this one.
Happy Reading
Overall Grade:
“What happened to us makes us who we are.”
Humanizing the bad guy, crafting him with heroic qualities, is like catnip to a romance reader’s appetite. It’s the ultimate in love redeeming what’s bad to good, and it’s always been one of my favorite heroic constructions. In its base form, it’s hot. At its most evolved form, it’s an encouragement. It helps us remember that there is oftentimes not one really bad person, but instead people with shades of bad and good in them. This is very true in Cathy Yardley’s SmartPants Romance offering, Prose Before Bros.
This book exists in Penny Reid’s Winston Brother’s universe, and it is the first SmartyPants Romance book that offers us the story of an Iron Wraith. Yes, we’ve read L.B. Dunbar’s SmartyPants book, Love in Due Time, about Nathan, a former prospect of the Iron Wraith’s, but this is the first fully-formed love story of a full-fledged Iron Wraith. In the Winston Brother’s universe, we get a sense that most of the Iron Wraiths are worthless, criminal individuals. However, in Cathy Yardley’s tale, we learn quickly that this isn’t the truth.
This is Drill’s story. Drill is the “heavy” for the Iron Wraiths. He’s the guy you send in to mess with people when they owe the MC group money, or they threaten it. He’s been with the Iron Wraiths since he was 16. He is now 32, and he’s at a crossroads of sorts. The Iron Wraiths are scrambled after their leadership has been undermined, and Drill’s “brother,” Catfish, is trying to bring its members to heal. He relies on Drill as his resource for doing this. Yet, Drill struggles with finding purpose in the group. He is numb to life.
Enter Drill’s sister, Maddy. Maddy hasn’t seen or heard from her brother, formerly Teddy, in sixteen years. She has returned to town on the death of their father. Her best friend, Thuy, accompanies her to help her resolve her father’s estate. On Maddy’s return, it’s revealed that she is pregnant. This information gets to Drill, and he’s curious and worried for her even though he formerly disavowed his family. In his curiosity, he seeks out Maddy who informs him that she’d like him to come to their father’s will reading. He complies, and they determine through the reading of the will that their family farm is equal parts his and hers if they both decide to work it. Catfish, Drill’s MC President, wants them to sell the farm and give his proceeds to the club to keep it afloat, but this doesn’t sit well with Drill. However, this is complicated with Maddy’s revelation that she wants the farm for her future. This problematizes Drill’s life as the Iron Wraiths want the money and Drill’s sister is stubborn and won’t sell the farm. In the midst of all of this drama sits Thuy, Maddy’s best friend. On meeting Drill, they are instantly attracted to each other, even though his life is incredibly complicated. Even more, Thuy’s past, her family, makes her question any kind of relationship with Drill. She knows the life he lives, and she is not interested. Thuy decides to stay in Green Valley with Maddy to help her work the farm while helping care for the baby. Even more, she finds a position with the library, as she’s a librarian. As their attraction grows, Thuy’s life becomes more fraught with issues. Will she stay in Green Valley, or will her relationship with Drill fall apart sending her back to where she came from?
There is so much loveliness in this book. These are the reasons WHY you should read this newest offering from the SmartyPants Romance universe:
*Four letters: Thuy. For one, while it isn’t heavily crafted on the page, she brings an ethnic voice to the world of romance. Yardley does a great job of providing cultural cues from Thuy’s life, and it breaks some of the typical heroine characteristics. Thuy IS the strongest person in this book, bar none. Yes, Maddy is resilient, but she’s not layered. Drill is also a complicated type (and the second-best part of the book). But Thuy has a resiliency and tenacity that endears her to you as a reader. She’s the solution to just about every problem in this book. She finds a way for Drill, she provides a much-needed income to help Maddy, she brings fresh ideas to Green Valley’s storied library, and she overcomes a complicated and terrifying past. She’s impressive, and Yardley’s crafting of her makes this book special.
*Drill. As I stated at the beginning of this review, I love a complicated hero. Yes, it’s easy to fall in love with a traditional romantic hero. A sweet hero is lovely, but it won’t make your heart pound as an anti-hero will. There is something interesting about a hero who hasn’t lived a heroic life. When you ascribe heroic qualities to him and complicate his sense of morality, you make him romance gold. And that is the case with Drill. He really is any of us who have grown weary of our current state. It is possible that the person we are at 16 or twenty won’t be the person we are at 30 or 40, and Yardley challenges us with that idea through the character of Drill. How do you then escape the decisions you make when you are younger? Should you even try? That is the overarching theme/message of this book: we should not feel ashamed for our pasts; instead, we should recognize that they helped us grow into the people we are today. Drill is the epitome of this realization in the book, and it’s why he is my second favorite part of this story. His truth resonated with me personally.
*The various love relationships. Yes, Prose Before Bros is a romance between Drill and Thuy, and their chemistry is amazing. It’s clear from the start that their souls yearn for each other, and Yardley makes their relationship probable even with the specter of Drill’s association with the Iron Wraith’s complicating it. Yet, this book is also about love relationships between friends, namely Maddy and Thuy. Through the construction of this relationship, Yardley shows us the power of friendships to save us and to create new families for us when our families of origin don’t meet our needs. Maddy and Thuy are special together. In the book, the town believes they might be in a relationship. However, it’s their friendship that saves them both, and it’s as special as Drill and Thuy’s relationship. Love can be found in any type of relationship, and it saves us from ourselves.
*Yardley clearly has this great love for libraries. Honestly, as a professor of writing, I ate up her depiction of the trials of modern-day libraries. I know this little piece seems silly in the scope of a review of this romance, but it acts as a bit of a warning over the idea of tradition vs. innovation. Green Valley’s library is one of the quintessential places in any Reid Winston Brother’s romance. It’s like a town square much like Daisy’s Nut House or the Donner Bakery. If you’ve read Reid’s books, you know how important these three places are to the ethos of Green Valley, and I love that Yardley questions the current state of the library. Through Thuy, she reminds us that we have to innovate to truly reach all people, not just some. This is a passionate secondary message in this book, and it’s important for us to remember that change and moving forward is necessary or we stagnate.
Honestly, if you haven’t read any of these SmartyPants Romance books, you need to now. Cathy Yardley’s Prose Before Bros is one of those books that will crawl under skin, flow through your veins, and hit your heart with an impact. Drill and Thuy’s story helps us see that our pasts can shadow our today, but they need not take over our tomorrows.
“You know,” he said, his voice tinged with amused surprise, “I don’t think I’m as passionate about anything as you are about books.”
Prose Before Bros was a great addition to the SmartyPants Romance world and the Green Valley Library Series. I loved the characters Cathy Yardly imagined. Thuy is strong and fierce. I want to be her friend. I love her devotion to her friendship with Maddy and the way she advocates for Green Valley’s youth. I was amazed by how much I grew to like Drill as well. I was pleasantly surprised that an author could redeem Drill, or any Iron Wraith for that matter.
Prose Before Bros felt more story-driven than relationship-driven. That seemed to slow my reading down just a bit, but it’s an excellent story. There’s history, love, action, suspense, turmoil in our least-favorite motorcycle club, and a surprising resolution to the story’s main conflict.