Erin Hahn

4.25 Stars
5 stars for incorporating a small child with autism and how her people adjust to it (or don't) as a big part of the story (thanks for keeping it real and inclusive).
Solid 4 stars for the plot, setting, and wide range of likeable and relatable characters. I dropped down a 1/4 of a star overall because of the despicable bio mom (yes, I'm sure it happens IRL but her lack of feeling or understanding for her own child almost put this book in the DNF pile for me). Other social issues are mixed into the storyline as well and the sweet second-chance-at-love-with-someone-new is endearing, so I'm glad I pushed through to the happily ever after for the entire family. Best for 30 something readers and fans of contemporary romance of any age. Would definitely try this author's work again.

GoodReads FirstReads Giveaway… (meer)

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this story in exchange for my objective review. There are some spoilers that follow, so proceed with caution. Our female main character Moren left Michigan after a proposal gone wrong and a lost work promotion, and relocates to Wisconsin to take over an inherited bait shop on the lake where she spent childhood vacations. Joe, her older brother's best friend, a single dad to Anders and Lucy and ex-Marine, runs the family-owned local resort. This is the third in a trilogy, which I didn't know going in, but this worked fine for me as a standalone and I didn't feel I was missing out on key plot points by not having read the first two in the series.
What I liked:
• Written in dual first-person POV, which I always like because you get better insight into both main characters.
• I love that she was a park ranger and she also had a successful fishing YouTube channel when she was younger. There's a sweetness to her reminiscing about her past friendship with the gentleman who owned the bait shop.
• I enjoyed the way the author writes banter, and Moren's snark. I also really enjoyed her relationship with Joe's children, as well as how they were written with all their quirks (and that their quirks were something to be enjoyed and celebrated).
• I liked that Maren was the one to resolve the issues with her stalker on her own. I was concerned that the author was setting her up to be saved by Joe, but thankfully she was written as her own savior instead. As she should have been, you don't write a strong independent woman with a career and background like hers and then have her be incompetent with managing her own struggles.
• Although at first Joe gave her grief (alongside her brother) about her competence and abilities, and I worried how that dynamic was going to play out over the course of the book, he did seem to respect her independence and strength. Other books with similar storylines would have had him be her protector and hero (especially since he's the ex-Marine nurturing single dad). Thankfully the author didn't have this book play out like that or it would have been a DNF for me.
What I didn't like:
• Her older brother is an infantilizing jerk and was that way through most of the story. He gave her grief from the get-go, all of it mired in the over-done "little sister" dynamic. And it took his best friend to finally lead him to realizing he was being over-bearing and ridiculous and borderline abusive. He couldn't have figured that out for himself? It would have been a stronger resolution had he been willing to listen to Maren when she protested his treatment and attitude over and over and over again. I guess at least he apologized, eventually.
• The stalker. I get why he existed since it added some tension to the story (and the fact that she had a stalker seemed very realistic given that she had been at one point a popular YouTube star). But the resolution with Bryce felt unrealistic and a bit anti-climactic. He seemed such a large part of the story as he kept popping up in menacing ways, especially after years of infatuation. It felt like a bigger show-down was being set up to happen, and that he posed a much larger danger than he seemed to at the end. And then all that happened was that she told him off while also flaunting her boyfriend, and he was appropriately chastened and just slunk away? Yeah, okay.
• Maybe a minor point, but it seemed a bit much that she also did beauty pageants as a kid, in addition to being extremely interested in fishing. Not that young girls can't and shouldn't have diverse interests, but more like the author wants to make sure we know that, "Yeah she's outdoorsy but she's also gorgeous!" It seemed unnecessary and I didn't feel it added anything substantial to the story.

Overall, I did enjoy the story for the most part and I would read this author again. The writing and the story was enough to keep me engaged to the end, and Joe's kids were adorable and wonderful. It would have been 4 stars if her brother hadn't been such a colossal and condescending jerk to her for no real reason.… (meer)