Life in a small town can be tough. It can be even tougher when you’re a witch whose magic regularly backfires. But Summer Thorne only wants one thing: to create the perfect sanctuary for unwanted animals. Nothing and no one is going to stop her. Not even the sexy sheriff who is determined to shut down her rescue center. And certainly not the laboratory where she illegally obtained her mischievous … mischievous chimpanzee, Morty.
Sheriff Cooper Carlyle has one goal: to keep his town safe. That includes his stubborn neighbor, Summer, whether she wants him to or not. When the animals of Summer’s menagerie get loose and create havoc, he decides enough is enough. But things aren’t always as they appear, and Coop stumbles upon the secret the Thorne sisters have been hiding.
Coop and Summer discover Morty holds the key to unlock a twenty-year-old mystery surrounding the death of Summer’s mother. Now Coop is faced with breaking the law he is sworn to uphold in order to protect Summer and her beloved pet from a threat more dangerous than any of them imagined.
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A family drama
The author did a great job of getting a response from the reader about the characters. Cooper was a character that was impossible to like. Summer hurt so deeply by the jerk after years the old hurts a still there and when Cooper made a threat to destroy her animal sanctuary. Summer then does something radical she joins forces with her sisters to stop him. Now, remember this is a paranormal so what do you think might happen? Okay, it is a fun story and I highly recommend it. I did receive a free copy of this book and voluntarily chose to review it.
Love story line
What an amazingly good read, once I started it was truly impossible to put down. The author does an amazing job of giving each character as well as the story life. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series. This is truly paranormal romance at its best!
This is one of those tough-to-rate books, folks. There’s lots and lots of great stuff here. But…there’s also the fact that I hated the hero, Cooper, with the heat of a thousand suns, which is somewhat problematic in a romance novel.
But before I get ahead of myself, here’s the good stuff:
1. The world building is pretty good. And it’s not easy to find good world building in paranormal romance that doesn’t include vampires and shifters.
2.There is some truly hilarious banter between characters throughout the story. It was really well done. The author has a nice, flowy, fun writing style that’s really fresh in the paranormal market.
3. I liked all the side characters in Summer’s family. They were pretty obvious sequel-bait, but that’s OK because they were fun and interesting in their own unique ways.
4. Morty the chimp. He paints and plays jokes on people. He’s awesome. That is all.
And then, the bad…
Cooper:
I’m not even exaggerating when I say I hate this guy with the heat of a thousand suns. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve hated a romance novel hero as much as I hate Cooper. I can forgive him for purposefully crushing Summer’s heart in high school because he was just a dumb kid. A cruel asshat of a dumb kid, but a dumb kid nonetheless. What I can’t forgive is all the times he hurt Summer when they were grown ups. Even after he tells her he loves her and won’t ever hurt her again, he STILL manages to hurt her a few times. One time he even manages to hurt her physically because he acted a fool. And I don’t find it AT ALL believable that a guy who is THAT concerned with whether or not Summer has the ability to control his mind would ever truly accept her for what she is. He was a fair-weather boyfriend and if I was Summer, I would’ve nut-punched him and walked away forever. He was jealous when he had no right to be, short-tempered, stubborn, arrogant, and narrow-minded. He’s lucky he’s good looking, because in my mind, that’s his only redeeming quality.
Summer:
Summer would be a decent heroine if not for Cooper. There’s something about Cooper that turns her into a weak doormat. The fact that she didn’t at any point nut-punch Cooper irks me to the point that I’m not sure I can forgive her as a character.
Keaton:
Cooper’s brother Keaton is set up as the obvious sequel-bait hero in the next book in the series, and sadly, he’s just as much of a tool as Cooper. I hated him just about as much as I hated Cooper. He was a complete ass to Summer and her sister, Autumn, and he has the same small-minded jackass tendencies that Cooper showed. So, even though I really liked Autumn as a character, I’m not sure I can stomach watching her end up with a fuckwit like Keaton.
All the surprise relatives:
Oh, Lord, there is a lot of family drama going on here. In my personal opinion, there should only be 1 jaw-dropping family secret per book. It’s just TOO MUCH to have surprise relatives and shocking family revelations popping up in every chapter. And since most of those surprises were also obvious sequel-bait…well, it got old REAL fast.
Cliffie alert:
Yep, it’s a cliffie. There is no resolution in this book. You’re left with a HFN for Cooper and Summer, but that’s about it. Cliffies often feel like a ploy to trick me into reading other books in a series and I don’t really appreciate that. I tolerate them in urban fantasy, but not so much in romance. Boo, cliffie!
So, long-story-short, even though I violently hated the hero and had some problems with other characters and the cliffie, I still read the whole book and found parts of it to be super enjoyable. I’m not ruling out the possibility of reading other books in the series, but Keaton better grovel A LOT or else I’ll DNF his ass so fast his head will spin.
And don’t forget to check out the Romance Rehab blog for more rants, raves, book lists and other fun romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
I was hooked in. Summer has special abilities to talk to animals. Each sister has a special ability. I keep getting more impressed each time I read this authors books. She has a great imagination. Now back to Mr. Coop who is so wishy washy. One minute he wants Summer and next he hates her. This book will have you flipping pages to find out what is going to happen
I loved this book. This is the first book I have read by T.M. Cromer. I read an excerpt of Chapter 1 and thought, I have to read that. An elephant in a pool, who flirts with a horse, a monkey with a baseball bat, and talking squirrels; how can you say no?
This book was hilarious with all of the animals. The sisters were funny too, but mostly heartwarming and very loyal. Family is important to the 4 Thorne sisters and they always have each other’s backs. Especially Summer’s back, as her witchcraft tends to backfire. Plus, every time she swears, mice pop up.
I’m definitely going to go on and read the other books in this series. I want to see how the other sisters get their HEA too!
Loved this book and I am working my way through the rest of the series!