Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South.OliviaWhen you find out that your fiancé is arrested for swindling over ten million dollars from his clients, you do what any sane woman would do. You escape reality and go undercover, trading in your city-girl Louboutins for country-pumpkin cowboy boots. It wasn’t a forever change—it was temporary. I only had to stay here until things back home got … things back home got straightened out, or so I thought.
Casey
I was riding horses before I was walking, or at least that was what they told me. I always knew I would take over the family farm. It’s in my blood.
Country boy at heart, the minute I saw her dragging her luggage up the gravel driveway I knew she was out of my league.
I shouldn’t have started anything with her, because I knew she was just passing through.
I couldn’t stop it, I fell in love with her. Even though I knew, in the end, she would leave me.
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REVIEW: 2.5 STARS
“You look perfect,” I say, and when she looks over at me her whole face lights up. “You know, in all this time, no one has ever said that to me,” she says, looking back in the mirror. “I was told I’m beautiful, and outstanding, exquisite, but I was never perfect.”
I am going to make this short and sweet – get to the point and walk away. I was hoping that Southern Chance was a one off problem, so I jumped into Southern Comfort hoping that the issues I had with the first book would not carry over to the second book. It soon became very apparent that this wasn’t a one off issue I was having. She was still repeating things that had no need to be repeated from one chapter to the next. She still had shallow characters more concerned about fashion than circumstance. And I honestly couldn’t handle Olivia in the way she treated Casey, in the first book so I unfortunately went in with a chip on my shoulder from the first book…..and yes, it carried over. Sadly.
I have enjoyed a few books by Madison to the point that she keeps me coming back for more. Her synopses always capture me and the covers are always beautiful. This one, I was hoping for the same pull that I have experienced before. The one that kept me coming back and sharing this with excitement. To be fair, I did DNF a book of hers right before starting this series, and the first one in this series was almost a DNF as well – so unfortunately, I don’t think I went in with a clear conscience. I think the magic has worn off for me. I’m not saying she’s not a good writer – because she clearly works for so many others and I’m not denying that. I’m merely saying she doesn’t work for me anymore. Her brand of cheesy actions and responses, coupled with word repetition solely for word count, I need to call it quits. I’m sad because the next story was set up wonderfully throughout these last two books, but I don’t think I can honestly read that book and not get frustrated.
Every once in a while, every few pages or so, she had these little gems sprinkled in some scenes between the chaos and the ridiculousness that filled the pages. I sought those gems out each and every time because I was hoping it was a passing phase and she was going to break out in her easy flow prose and allow me to fall into the story. There was more eye rolling adventures of the idiot kind than anything else, and it was getting more frustrating by the page.
I will say this much. She created a great confident character in Casey. He was protective and caring, but he didn’t want to give in to this feeling he was feeling. What I didn’t understand was the very thing that made him SO RICH was the ONE THING he couldn’t stop. It seriously made no sense to me. At every corner. Olivia, however, was annoying. Elvis-lip annoying. No one ever loved her. No one ever did something so nice for her. No one ever made her feel so special. Everything is a new experience for her, but it came across as overplayed and overwritten, but most definitely underwhelming. She was portrayed as vapid and flat, not endearing and sweet. I’m still shaking my head at her (re)actions and personality. I get it, we get it, you had a terrible childhood and a horrible mother. I had zero sympathy for her – maybe it was the way it was written, or maybe it was her and how she conducted herself. I’m not sure, but it didn’t read well.
So yes, as you can see, I didn’t handle these last two books well. I’m so disheartened at how ridiculous this was. I generally like her flow, I like her word usage, even though sometimes the cheesy comes through extra hard. This one was ludicrous the amount of times I asked myself “what?” while reading, or rolled my eyes, or wanted to quit the book entirely. It was angering because I was promised angst – and all I got was cheesy unnecessary drama. There was exactly ZERO amounts of angst in this series. I honestly believe that added to my frustration because being promised that and it not being delivered really bothered me. I wasn’t signing up for a cheesy, drama-laden sweet read. There is a HUGE difference between angst and stupid drama. This didn’t have any angst.
Unfortunately, I now realize I am done with this series. Between this second book and the first one I read (one after the other), I knew I just needed to walk away and just count my losses as one massive thumbs down. I am tired of looking forward to a promised angst and honest storytelling only to be confronted with unnecessary drama and eye-roll worthy moments. This was just the icing on the cake – ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Better than the first, but not anything I can continue on with, unfortunately.
But don’t let my opinion stop you….
“You’re beautiful.” His voice goes even lower, and I look down. I’ve been told I’m beautiful my whole life from as far back as I can remember, but the way he said it – the softness to his words and the way he looked straight into my eyes – is something I’ve never had.
~BEE
This continuation of this series gets better and better and honestly, I didn’t know how much more intense this story would be after Jacob and Kallie’s story, but Olivia and Casey are also amazing. I felt so bad for all the things that Olivia must deal with and her guilt for putting Kallie and Casey’s family in her drama was heartbreaking. Casey is perfection of a man, he is a protector, sweetheart, and loyal guy who is falling for Olivia, but he has his own reservations about not going there. I loved how we got more of this dynamic group and family and I am still unsure of Savannah, but I am intrigued by what happened at the end of this book and how it will effect everyone and I just know this author is going to blow us away with that story too.
4 “Cowboy & Darling” Stars
It took me a little while to dive back into the Southern Series. After Southern Chance being a little disapointing to me, Southern Comfort had me really excited but also hesitant. I was really intrigued about Olivia and Casey’s story. In my opinion, they stole the show in the previous book and their flirty sparing had me so giddy. This novel had a great intrigue with all the suspense and threats planning over Olivia related to her past relationship. I loved seeing Casey so fiercely protective of her. He’s the man of the situation to help her be safe with his security firm. Their relationship was full of teasing, but also sweet and touching. Olivia is afraid to open her heart again, but the cowboy with a possessive and cocky attitude at times is just so irresistible! Southern Comfort was definitely a captivating read!
Compelling characters and intense premise. A bit of a rocky start for me, but then quite engaging.
Love the twist and turns
A little bit too steamy for my tastes but otherwise a good read. Didn’t put it down until I finished
Great read. I loved the twists and turns. Kept me interested the whole time.
not what I expected, but I liked it a lot!
Great story.
The story line is really good. The un- necessary use of profanity detracted from the enjoyment of reading. Next time try to express yourself from the thousands of descriptive words in the English language. It’s demeaning to the characters to resort to smut talk.
Good read.
Kept me on the edge of my seat.
Olivia and Casey are thrown together, but they can’t escape their connection. Looking forward to reading the series.
Entertaining but not really realistic. Good nighttime read.
Can’t wait to read the next one.
Darlin and Cowboy are smoking hot. Olivia is his sisters best friend and Casey decides he is going to protect her at all cost. Casey swore off ever getting married but Olivia sure has him changing his mind. Another great book in this series.
3
Spanish & English Opinion
ESP ::
Me encantan Casey y Olivia. La pareja es divina, ellos son perfectos pero el libro fue muy largo y lleno de páginas extra.
Tantos casi besos interrumpidos y obviedad en cómo se sentían el uno con el otro, pero seguían preguntándose lo obvio… sentí que fue forzada la extensión de sus convivencias y la tensión.
También siento un poquito forzado el crush de Beau y Savannah… pero me encantan los personajes, el pueblo y todo.
ENG ::
Olivia and Casey are great, and their relationship is the sweetest, but I felt it was very forced the tension and the anticipation for their kisses.
There were lots of almost kisses (even though they previously kissed) and lots of build up tension and still they were insecure about how the other one felt? I just feel there was extra drama and lots of redundant things that could have been kept shorter.
I also feel Savannah and Beau are forced. But let’s see the next book. Still, I love the characters, the town and the stories. This would have been amazing for me if not for what I felt was wasted pages.
Olivia and Casey’s story.
I fell hard for both Casey and Olivia in the first novel of this amazing brand new series. Casey who oozed all the deliciousness that a girl could ask for and Olivia because I could totally be best friends with her. So when Southern Comfort landed in my kindle the world failed to exist, everything was just background noise because man I wasn’t going to let this chance slip away. Waiting for their story was agonizing to say the least, so it was an absolute no brainer. In I went with not a care in the world.
And what I’m now left with is a heart that is completely full.
But believe me it didn’t start that way.
Guys this story was nothing short of spectacular. I never expected Casey and Olivia’s story to develop the way it did. The angst, pain, torment, nightmares and sheer anguish bought me to my knees. I literally cried for these guys and what they had to endure. So many scenes where I literally held my breath and hurt for them both, especially Olivia. My heart was torn out of my chest leaving that dull ache behind. It was traumatic.
But with the trauma came the beauty. The sheer will to live, the hope that all will eventually be right in the world. The faith that Casey had, the strength that Olivia dug deep into her soul to find bled through the pages and made the hurt so worthwhile. The love that you could feel was breathtaking and I loved EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE of it.
Casey and Olivia’s story is breathtakingly beautiful. A read like no other, and I can say with certainty that anyone who picks it up will fall head over heels in love with it. And how do I know that? Well lets just say……Who can resist a ‘cowboy’!
5 perfect stars.
4.5 stars!
Southern Comfort is everything I love about Natasha Madison’s writing. Sweet, suspenseful, wonderful characters with angst and a beautiful emotional connection. Olivia is running away from her previous life. She has come to town to escape the trouble her ex husband has gotten her into but unfortunately for her it follows her to her new life. Casey is the epitome of a southern charmer. He is fiercely protective over Olivia and will do anything to keep her from harms way. He is hiding some of his own secrets and there is so much to uncover between the two them. I devoured this story in one sitting. I was so invested in these characters from beginning to end. At some points I felt the story focused more on the drama in their lives than the romance itself but overall I loved it and am dying to read Beau and Savannah’s story next in Southern Storm. Natasha Madison has written an incredible series and each book gets better and better.
Loved Olivia’s sass when we met her in Kallie’s story…now it’s time to find out why she had to run from L.A.! Bad guys, missing money and a cowboy with his own secrets. Lots of action. You won’t be sorry that you spent the time on this story!