I know two things when I meet my new boss, Greyson Parker Montgomery III.One, he’s an egomaniac. And two, we’re going to get naked.Something I didn’t know? That I’d end up pregnant.No one is more surprised by our off-the-charts chemistry than me. I’m a free spirit with a passion for design and a taste for the bohemian. Greyson is a cocky venture capitalist who’s as pretentious as his sharply cut … pretentious as his sharply cut power suits.
He owns half of Charleston, and has the other half at his beck and call. But the only place he owns me is in bed…or in the backseat of his car, boneless and begging for mercy.
We argue over contracts and costs all day long. Behind closed doors, however, we engage in a different kind of business. The kind that has me surrendering to his unique brand of dominance.
Our no-strings attached arrangement suits me just fine. Until I wake up one morning with what I think is a wicked hangover.
Only it’s not a hangover.
I thought Greyson was a typical “greed is good” grump. But when he demands to be involved in the life we accidentally created, I start to see a different side of him. One that’s more gentleman than jerk.Am I crazy to think we could be a family together? Or is making me fall for him just another one of his power plays?
SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN is a STANDALONE, full length, accidental pregnancy/enemies-to-lovers romance.
more
Southern Gentleman by Jessica Peterson is a contemporary, enemies to friends to lovers, accidental pregnancy, workplace romance told in first person, dual POV. Although it’s the third book in the Charleston Heat series, it can be read as a complete standalone.
When free-spirited professor and designer, Julia Lassiter, and growly, regimented venture capitalist, Greyson Montgomery, meet while working on a project together, the results are explosive. On the job, they’re constantly at odds, bickering, and fighting about everything. Off the job, they redirect their energy by engaging in amazingly hot, no-strings-attached, hate sex. Even though they’re always safe, they beat the odds and Julia ends up pregnant which changes everything.
Will Julia keep the baby? Is she ready to become a mother? How will Greyson react when he finds out that she’s pregnant? Is there more to their relationship than a physical connection? Can they build something lasting together or will they end up parting as friends? Read and find out!
I loved Julia and Greyson’s story! I loved them both as characters, flaws and all. They were well-developed, likeable, and real. And the chemistry between these two was scorching hot! The story was fun, super-steamy, humorous, and heartwarmingly sweet. I highly recommend it.
This was much more than just a sweet, cute enemies-to-lovers story. This has some real meat on the bones with a touch of angst that will twist your heart.
When Julia and Greyson’s antagonism turns to desire, it opens up a series of quick hook-ups. For three months they remain adversaries in business but lovers at opportune moments. But an unexpected pregnancy changes everything and only time will tell if this working together to co-parent has a chance of success.
I loved the fiery meeting between Julia and Greyson. They were electric and fierce with a pulse of desire running through them. I actually wanted more of the back and forth they exhibited during that first meeting. But the story pretty much jumps forward after their hook-up and from that point on this couple is working on how to make everything work, part of which includes their relationship.
This book has a lot of detail regarding Julia’s emotions and thought process when she learns she’s pregnant, as well as her symptoms and how to deal with them during the first trimester. I have to admit, some of it was a bit too much simply because I didn’t need to know all of it and I found myself skimming in certain parts.
The relationship between Julia and Greyson felt organic as they moved from where they were prior to pregnancy, to where they were during pregnancy. The true angst of this story comes from Greyson and his own need to provide and care for those he loves. You’d never think that would be an issue, but with Greyson, it totally was. I loved how Julia communicated what she needed from him, even if he didn’t completely understand what she was saying.
This includes a lot of friends and family that help this couple along the way and ends with a sweet epilogue a few months later. Overall, it was a nice read but again, I just wanted more of the fiery banter and would have liked to have seen that they could still have that type of back and forth even in a loving relationship.
I just popped my Jessica Peterson cherry.
Whaaa?
We’ve all got to have a first time *snorts*.
They say to expect a little pain your first time *smirks*, but all I felt was pleasure *winks* How lucky was I?
Sorry if I’m TMI-ing again, but holy exploding ovaries (an oldie but a goodie), I felt as if Greyson was whispering, okay, talking directly in my ear. That accent – it’s the stuff dreams are made of.
Seriously, that first *whistles* scene? I think I forgot how to breathe, and hand on heart, I had a full body hot flash. I know, I know – TMI! Sheesh… *wafts hand*
Behind the growly facade that workaholic, Greyson Montgomery, dons beats a very complicated heart. It’s going to take a very special woman along with a surprising turn of events to crack that hardened outer shell. Grey is a man who internalises every single little thing and his soul is heavy from the weight. Can a certain woman ease his burden and help him see the light?
*sigh*
(Just talking about him makes me need chocolate!)
I felt an instant affinity with Julia. Not only is she a professor of twentieth century literature, but she’s a part-time interior designer. See? Total girl crush!
She’s feisty, independent and doesn’t suffer fools gladly. You know where I’m going with this, right? *snorts* Silly Greyson… *shakes head*
Fun times lead to important decisions, but sometimes the best things in life happen when you least expect them.
JP has a new fan girl and I can’t wait for Ford and Eva’s story. Me? Giddy? Never… *snorts*
At least I have Eli and Luke to keep me warm meantime.
*glazes over*
Now, there’s a thought…
*shakes head*
Sorry, I’ll behave.
One final thing – you’ll go to the top of the class if you work out the headline for my review. *shrugs* Nope, that’s all you’re getting for now.
Right, I’m signing off. Be good, and if you can’t be good be careful!
I really enjoyed this. It’s sweet, sexy, and well written. Greyson and Julia are complete opposites but they go together so perfectly. I did feel some parts dragged on longer than necessary but overall it was a good fun read.
Greyson and Julia are like night and day. Yet, when work together restoring a barn. The two can’t deny the attraction. One thing leads to another and Julia discovers she’s pregnant. This was seriously such a sweet and sexy story. I really enjoyed all the characters.
I’ve enjoyed each book in this series, but so far this one is my favorite! Ms. Peterson certainly knows her craft when it comes to storytelling: I was pulled into the book right from the start and experienced quite a few emotions along the way. There were several times where I found my not only giggling, but laughing out loud (which startled my co-workers a couple of times), some swoon-worthy moments and there may have been a time or three where I got a bit emotional. There’s a certain level of realism to this book because the characters are dealing with issues that could (or maybe even has) affected someone in real-life, and I liked how it was handled in this story.
There’s amazing, then there’s mind blowing amazing and Southern Gentleman by Jessica Peterson definitely blew my mind and expectations.
Greyson Montgomery is a broody, grumpy, all business kind of man whereas Julia is a upfront, no bull, free-loving spirit.
Together (at first) they make sparks fly; not of the fun loving, but of the hot and heavy kind.
With an unexpected announcement and life changing event, can the two grow to like or even love each other or will they be forever destined as enemies?
I couldn’t help but love the perfectly imperfect Julia and the growly yet loveable Greyson.
With many laughs and aww-ahh moments, it had my feels on overdrive.
Their entire story had me hooked and I’m extremely excited I got to add the bonus epilogue to the mix.
This is 5 Star worthy and some.
I highly recommend this book.
I love me the boys of Charleston Heat, and this book is no exception. I especially appreciated the depth of the characters and the events that shaped their relationship. While the unexpected pregnancy trope is popular (no spoilers, it’s right there in the title info), the author cuts right to the point. The “Oh no, what should I do” doesn’t take up half the book, which I appreciated. We got to jump right into how Julia and Grey were going to deal with the pregnancy and beyond. I also appreciated that the expected sexy times were as hot as always. Another winner from Jessica Peterson! For more thoughts on this 5-star read, visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. This review was written based on a complimentary, pre-release digital ARC of the book.
Simply Amazing, right down to the very end.
I was given the opportunity to read the Advanced copy to give my honest review. I honestly love Greyson and Julia’s chemistry right off the bat. Jessica Peterson writes wonderful, sexy, flawed characters, just like I like them. I found myself laughing out loud and reading parts of the book to my husband. I loved every minute of this book to all things David Bowie, Peanuts to TDP.
Jessica gives you the sense of being in Charleston, South Carolina, and she makes you want to travel and experience the beautiful city. She made me feel this way with her other books in the Charleston Heat Series. Even though this book is part of a series in can be read as a stand-alone, but if you read this first you may want to go back to the beginning to enjoy the other characters.
You know every time I write a review I find it so difficult to not give out any spoilers, but I must say this is one hot read!! If you love great banter, sexy characters, Enemies to Lovers, then this book is for you.
Another amazing love story by Jessica Peterson! I love the Charleston Heat series! While this is book #3 in the series it can absolutely be read as a standalone. In Southern Gentleman we meet Greyson, a venture capitalist and Julia, an English lit professor and architectural designer in her spare time. This book has a captivating story line, interesting and well developed characters as well as enough swoon and steam to melt your Kindle. When Greyson and Julia meet at a job site he’s financing and she’s decorating, they fight like cats and dogs over every design detail and every penny in the budget. Their love/hate relationship quickly turns into passionate affair that surprises both of them and their fling quickly develops into so much more…
“My heart rises. Through my chest, throat. Mouth. It’s outside my body. It doesn’t belong to me anymore.”
The question now – is Grey going to be able to let go off his past to be Julia’s future?
Magical!
This magical book by Jessica Peterson reminds of a somnolent summer full of fireflies. Sweet, bright and hopeful. This romance has all the things I love about the south: family, food, friends, and sexy sweaty nights. Greyson and Julia are amazing characters that I fell in love with immediately! Their circle of friends and family, their tribe, are just as much a part of this story as Grey and Jules are, and Grey and Jules are pretty darn great. I love the way they deal with being unexpectedly thrust into parenthood. The trust that’s forced upon them, the fumbling communication they stumble over is real life. Watching Julia and Greyson forge a partnership was so satisfying and heart-stoppingly beautiful!
Enemies so hot for each other, they can’t resist. She winds up pregnant and they both have to meet in the middle. Great writing…This series is amazing. I’ve been to Charleston and can picture some of the scenery.
Southern Gentleman
(Charleston Heat #3)
Written by: Jessica Peterson
Southern Gentleman, was recommended by an author that I read, she’s never lead me wrong in recommendations so off I went and downloaded this book.
First, Jessica Peterson had me at Charleston! I love that city, I love the food in that city, I love the sights in that city, and so to have the opportunity to feel like I was there in Charleston while this story took place was what I needed on a cold day.
Julia meets Greyson on the first day of one of her side gig, a design and restoration job for a friend. Greyson is the moneyman on this project and has heard about Julia before meeting her. What is even better though, Julia is a Professor of Literature and hold on she teaches Romance Literature! Can this get any better!
It’s obvious from moment one these two probably aren’t going to see eye to eye and there are little fire crackers going off between these two. Those little firecrackers turn into huge fireworks when they get together. The only thing they can agree on in the beginning is they have the best hot hate sex ever! It turns out that hot hate sex can sometimes turn into something you never thought it would and because of that, we go from not sure that they really like one another to, we are going to be spending a lot of time together because there is going to be a baby!
To watch this couple wind their way first through deciding how they are going to handle this surprise, to spending time with each other and realizing their first impressions were wrong is a journey through a multitude of feelings and some real growth in both characters. There is an obvious attraction so when the hate turns into understanding from where each character comes from their attraction just gets stronger. However, where Julia is open about her feelings, Greyson has a deep seeded issue he needs to overcome. The question becomes can he do that to give Julia what she and Charlie Brown are going to need. The biggest thing that they have against them, communication and explaining what it is they each want from the other.
It was an enjoyable read, and although I have missed books one and two, this book has convinced me to get them and jump back into life and love in Charleston.
I know two things when I meet my new boss, Greyson Parker Montgomery III. One, he’s an egomaniac. And two, we’re going to get naked. Something I didn’t know? That I’d end up pregnant.
This book started off interesting but unfortunately lost it’s sparkle when I was endlessly trying to find the story in between the sex, which is where the story was lost. The characters were likable but made drama out of really petty things which became annoying and boring. The only thing that helped me finish this book was the narration from Emma Wilder and Joe Arden.
This is my first Jessica Peterson book but it won’t be my last.
This was a really fun and entertaining story. With characters you can’t help but love. I definitely need to check out the other books in the series as I need to know the supporting characters stories.
I loved Greyson so much. Who knew the growly boss could be so darn sweet and swoony. He was a man of two sides and seeing them both was a shock to the aural system. Are we supposed to dislike this guy or want to climb him? *Shrugs* Julia did both and it worked out okay for her, just saying.
I really liked the heroine, Julia, for the most-part, but during the main conflict, I felt she was really selfish and that annoyed me. Maybe because I’ve never been pregnant so couldn’t relate. But I felt she expected too much without any guidance and expected him to change to her demands. Rather than it being a compromise but otherwise, I really empathised with her.
The tension and buildup because Greyson and Julia was all the things. The sexy time was enough to make someone need a moment to recover with with characters lol. I was glad the conflict was resolved quickly. And we got to see how it was affecting both of them. I loved that they weren’t ashamed of their emotions and need communicate well. (With the exception of the hiccup—which is probably why I was frustrated as they appeared to be so together in their desired and communication.)
I really liked that it didn’t make the pregnancy all sunshine and rainbows. It felt a lot more realistic. From what I’ve heard. The reader in my just loved that element to the story, and how connected the book Julia was reading played a part in her relationship. Julia was every romance book lover.
As a lover of the southern accent, I was very happy to have so much southern in my ears. Emma Wilder and Joe Arden were fantastic. Emma’s range was really showcased as she not only had the characters, but also the story within the story—which I thought was a very unique and fun element to the book. The production was smooth with no issues.
I really liked this audiobook! You have a feisty heroine name Julia who teaches English literature and this really cool new romance literature class ( which is really an homage to romance novels in this book and their importance. Shout out to Kennedy Ryan who is named in this book) and does design on the side. She works for this sexy “grumpy” alpha hero named Greyson at his company doing design work. Greyson is a workaholic and has built his world around his family and company. Old hurts has made him opt out on anything more than casual encounters. Julia and Greyson meet and can’t help but have an instant attraction. Their is immediate chemistry and sparks fly. They decide to have a no strings attached fling but the consequences of that are for a lifetime.
I really like this book and it is mostly because there is a lot of steamy sex and the heroine is really feisty and doesn’t take crap from the hero. I love books where the heroine isn’t afraid to tell the hero how she really feels and what her needs are and to let him know when he’s not meeting them. It is refreshing to see heroines that stick up for themselves without coming across as whiny. But of course this kind of feistiness from Julia leads to a lot of conflict with Greyson who is use to always getting his way. These two clash a lot because of their different outlooks about what is important in life and how to obtain them. Also, they are such different people entirely. It is definitely a case of opposites attract. They fight and make love with equal passion!
Aside from the conflict with each other we see that Greyson has a lot of inner conflict. Past romantic mistakes and decisions has emotionally crippled him and has made it nearly impossible for him to move forward with a relationship. He has a hard time letting go of old wounds and can’t move forward from them. What I liked about this is we see how it affects him as man and how he is grappling with issues of self worth and esteem. We don’t often see alphas with this kind of vulnerability in romance novels and I really appreciate how real this felt.
Overall this book deals with some interesting themes and very real world problems and yet it is still sexy and steamy. The narration was wonderful and very well acted. I am looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.
Audio Review
I’m loving this series and I have to say listening to Southern Gentleman was a wonderful experience, the narrators, Joe Arden and Emma Wilde did a fantastic job bringing this book to life.
This is Greyson and Julia’s romance and it was a story that drew me in and captivated from the first page to the last line. I fell hook, line and sinker for this couple and I wanted more.
Julia is a very special type of person and she does her utmost to show Greyson there is more to life than work and if you are prepared to try you can get a happy medium. I loved how Greyson stepped up and became involved in Julia’s pregnancy and really wanted to be part of the baby they created. I loved the chemistry and the banter this couple shared throughout this great read or listen in my case.
This book left me smiling and in a world that’s a bit crazy at the moment what more can you ask for.
Southern Gentleman touched me on so many levels and I highly recommend this gem. Great story, great characters and great narration.
4.25 stars. I’ve really enjoyed listening to this series on audiobook. Emma Wilder and especially Joe Arden nail that southern charm. Grayson and Julia just worked for me. There was no OW drama which is rare to see and the drama didn’t feel forced. The descriptions this author creates really bring the environment and the characters to live. I cannot wait until the next one. I volunteered to listen and review an ALC of this. All opinions are my own.
5 Star Review Southern Gentleman (Charleston Heat #3) by Jessica Peterson
AUDIO REVIEW:
Having read or listened to several books by Jessica Peterson, I enjoyed her style of writing and the narrators Joe Arden and Emma Wilder did justice to the story with their entertaining performance. Ms.Peterson wove a story with characters you couldn’t help but fall for.
This is Greyson and Julia’s story and I was hooked from the first chapter. I fell hard and fast for Greyson and Julia, both separately and together. The chemistry that sizzles between them is intense and I loved the banter.
Greyson is a workaholic and I loved that as there relationship progressed, Julia was able to help him get a better work/life balance that he desperately needs. There were times I laughed out loud and Greyson was totally swoon worthy when he stepped up to be involved in Julia’s pregnancy and the baby they created . It is a story of accepting the past, of letting it go and in doing so creating a wonderful future together.
By the end of the book, I was left with a smile on my face. Southern Gentleman is a little gem that ticked the boxes for me.
Southern Gentleman may be my favorite story in Charleston Heat! Julia and Grey are so sexy and their chemistry is off the charts! I love the enemies to lovers to baby storyline, and Jessica nailed it! Greyson goes through a lot within this story, and I love his development from previous stories. This is a must read for anyone! One of Jessica’s best best books!