Riptide: a Super Bowl Year (The Riptide) by Beth Bolden was written by Bolden for her fans of her series, as a final way to say goodbye and to show that all important Super Bowl game from the many perspectives of the characters we have come to understand and love.
We see Sam Crawford and Heath Harris, settled into their respective roles and relationship. As well as all the other teammates from the series who have come to mean so much. It’s the Super Bowl. But more importantly it’s seeing the characters and the impact on their lives one last time.
It’s a fitting tribute and a wonderful addition to the finale story.
For all the fans, it’s a must read.
Riptide series:
The Rivalry #1
Rough Contact #2
The Red Zone #3
Bolden’s connected Football series in order they are written:
How I live for the Morettis! Doesn’t matter what series or circumstances Bolden is putting them in on their way to a HEA, it’s a culinary Italian fabulous journey.
Christmas Falls that imaginary small town that’s all things Christmas is now getting the Bolden touch again in it’s second season as a Moretti has moved to town!
This story was everything. I’m a huge fan of Bolden’s, her ability to create real life stories and relatable characters, pulling the reader into their relationships and circumstances. But here? It’s a holiday story, where we get familiar characters, heartwarming themes, a wonderful romance,mouthwatering food (wanted that lasagna so bad), and the fabulous Moretti clan. Be still my heart!
Rocco Moretti has moved to Christmas Falls to carve out his own niche in the Moretti family of chefs and restaurateurs. He’s bought out a longtime favorite coffee shop, Jolly Java, to make his own and settle down. But things go wrong almost immediately.
Bolden sets up a faked boyfriend story during the holidays but with a twist when the Deputy Mayor Taylor Hall, needs a boyfriend for his interview and Rocco needs helps winning the town back after a goat cheese fiasco. Let a lovely heartwarming romance and relationship between these wonderful men begin. With the town fully invested.
This romance and the development of the men’s relationship made my night. It’s a holiday hug and a cosy evening reading with the drink of choice.
Highly recommended any time of the year but especially at Christmas.Don’t miss out on the recipe at the end.
Christmas Falls, Season 2:
The Snuggle is Real by DJ Jamison Flake It til You Make It by Beth Bolden ❤️
12 Dates of Christmas by Brigham Vaughn Here Comes Santa Paws by Lee Blair Under the Mistle-Foe by Rye Cox Christmas Beau by Amy Aislin No Business Like Snow Business by J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry Frost Impressions by Kelly Fox
Promise Yule Be Mine by Rhys Everly Mingle All The Way by Hayden Hall
Christmas Falls, Season 1:
Grinch Kisses by DJ Jamison Snowbody Loves You by Jacki James Get Frosted by Amy Aislin
It’s beginning to taste a lot like Christmas . . .
When Rocco Moretti gets the chance to buy a coffee shop in a small Illinois town, it feels like a miracle. And in true Christmas Falls tradition, Jolly Java is a holiday-flavored one.
He sets up shop and starts experimenting with recipes. The only problem? His changes go over like a piece of coal on Christmas morning. Instead of serving up cups of holiday cheer, he’s getting a solid “bah humbug” vibe from the town.
He needs another miracle, stat.
Enter Deputy Mayor Taylor Hall.
With the town’s city manager retiring, Taylor is looking to make a leadership move, but his dream is melting because the city council still sees him as an outsider. He needs to prove he’s in Christmas Falls to stay, and what better way than by getting a boyfriend?
Even a fake one.
Rocco needs the town’s acceptance, so why not date the deputy mayor? Faking it till they make it will be a means to an end. That’s all.
But sharing the holiday season wins over more than the town’s hearts. With each date, each mistletoe kiss, and every steamy night in front of the fire, it wins over theirs as well.
Come Christmas morning, there’s really only one miracle Rocco wants under his tree.
For the love they’ve been faking to become real.
Christmas Falls: Season 2 revisits a small town that thrives on enough holiday charm to rival any Hallmark movie. It’s a multi-author M/M romance series.
Beth Bolden’s intense, passionate Italian American Moretti family stretches over two series, sorry, three, as cousin Rocco is heading off to Christmas Falls towards the end.
The Moretti family, brothers or cousins, can be found as chefs or restauranteurs in the wonderful Food Truck Warriors and now in her Indigo Bay novels. And as I mentioned even more.
While these books are listed as standalone, they really aren’t as they need the foundation of the preceding novel to give the reader depth of understanding of the characters, their history, and the setting of Indigo Bay from the perspective of both stories.
Here, it’s Enzo Moretti, a character who was introduced to readers in Sweet as Pie #1, but returning home (temporarily) older and as an established mural artist . He’s separated himself from the Moretti family culinary path, and has tried to do the same with his own life by his absence.
I thought Bolden, who always does an exemplary job of layering her characters, has made Enzo a person to relate to with his complicated family dynamics and own troubled journey to maturity . The author is also able to let us see into his artistic passion and processes as he creates the mural so important to the story and town.
Oliver Billings fled Florida and his family food business to move to Indigo Bay, opening up a fantastic ice cream shop, Cherry’s. Oliver is just as much a beautifully written character as the man he’s being paired with. The recipes are mouthwatering, the shop and employees are believable, and this stressed out, hard working man is a delight to watch get his HEA.
Of course, this starts as a fake boyfriend trope but Bolden’s chemistry between the two is palpable and real. Also great are all the other people who live and are necessary for the story and their relationship. Mothers, families, friends. Just perfect.
I hope Bolden will give us Rocco’s story too. And further adventures of the Moretti family. I’m so invested.
When Enzo Moretti’s mom lures him home to paint one of his famous murals in Indigo Bay, he expects an awkward family reunion.
Not an awkward matchmaking attempt.
And not Will Johnson, the new owner of Cherry’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor and it turns out, also who she’s been boasting to about all Enzo’s perfect qualities.
He’s perfectly embarrassed, all right.
When Will suggests pretending to date might be easier than fighting his determined mama, Enzo knows he should say no. That Will is as tasty as his frozen desserts doesn’t matter. Enzo isn’t staying.
Instead, he plans a series of very public romantic dates. Dates that only end up proving that, yes, Will is as sweet as his ice cream, and no, Enzo isn’t as immune to romantic entanglements as he thought. The longer they continue the charade, the less it feels like a game of pretend and more like a truth he can’t avoid.
But can Enzo really admit his mom got it right—and stay in the town he’s always wanted to leave? It’ll be tough to live down that “I told you so.”
Even tougher to leave Will behind.
Because what he never expected is for Will to be the cherry on top of this matchmaking sundae. He’s one tasty treat Enzo never wants to finish.
• Publication date: July 12, 2024
• Language: English
• Print length: 313 pages
INDIGO BAY series:
🔹Sweet as Pie #1 – Luca Moretti is very grumpy. Not just about his six younger siblings, or the four Italian restaurants he runs for his family, but about Oliver, who not only seduces him with all his delectable baked goods, but just so happens to be sweet as pie.”
🔹Cherry on Top #2 – When Enzo Moretti’s mother lures him home to paint a mural in his hometown, he doesn’t expect her awkward matchmaking attempts. Or that the source of them is Will Johnson: the very cute new owner of Cherry’s Ice Cream Parlor. But the last thing he expects is for Will to suggest they fake a few dates to get his mother off their backs. Or that he’ll enjoy them quite so much.
What a wonderful story and fantastic way to send off the series and this team.
The interactions between holdover player, defensive end Deacon Harris and the new owner of the Charleston Condors, security industry billionaire Grant Green, has been a subtle but significant part of the series and team’s dynamic. It was always clear that the two men had a strong connection and attraction to each other. But, throughout each book it was clear that they never actually had acted on it due to their roles in the organization. And we wanted them to have their romance.
The Play returns us to the beginning of their history together, back in college as student tutor and college football player needing help. The chemistry that’s never acknowledged but present is cut short by choices made for career reasons that will quickly separate them until years later. Because of the realness of these scenes we feel every bit of the pain and frustration of this unexpected change in this new relationship. And the startling moment when they meet once more.
Bolden’s writing has never been better. Her characters go from uncertain college youth with the future ahead of them to seasoned men who have been living full lives. One, Grant, now at the pinnacle of his career and the other , Deacon, ready to retire after a shattering year of betrayal and disappointment. Each has made big impacts in their professional careers but their emotional relationships haven’t been as successful. The reason is because they have been only interested in one person.
How Bolden works the past and present together, weaving the emotions that never left either man back together into a tight layered narrative of sports, team dynamics, partnership, and a deep bond between them is a read that can’t be missed.
We get the present day run for a playoff spot, as intense as can be and fantastically realistic. Bolden gives us boardroom NFL drama such as what might be likely to be played out across CNN and sports coverage alike, and then while all that is happening, layers into the story, all the human drama we love.
Grant and Deacon trying to find a way to each other in an organization where Grant is the owner and Deacon a player, albeit a retiring player who wants to continue to work with the club. This is a complicated situation that’s believable and loving. They are great, they communicate, and we love them.
And finally, as if I hadn’t just bawled my eyes out over Jason Kelce’s retirement speech, here comes another. Deacon’s speech was a fabulous second. And all the players from the other series who meant so much to the readers are there as well as the important individuals from this series. It’s a testament to Bolden’s ability to create great characters and deeply moving moments that everything about the scene is beautiful and real. And I was bawling again.
Tissues had a workout this week.
Read this book. But not without reading the stories that come before. It’s a great series. And Bolden’s an auto read for me. The Play is simply another example why.
Charleston Condors:
✓ The Star #1
✓ The Game #2
✓ The Score #3
✓ The Play #4 – finale
Bolden’s connected Football series in order they are written:
Last year, defensive end Deacon Harris witnessed the very worst of the Charleston Condors. After everything he and the team went through, he promised himself he’d walk away from football. But before he can retire, the team is sold to the last person he ever expected to see again.
Deacon stays because the Condors are going into major rebuilding mode. New owner. New coach. New players. New rules.
But one rule hasn’t changed: don’t fall in love with the owner of your football team.
Grant might be brilliant and a billionaire, but Deacon only remembers Grant as his tutor in college—and as the one who got away.
In all his dreams about reconnecting, he never imagined that Grant would end up as his boss. Both his downfall, and also his salvation.
Or that they’d be forced into confronting the Condors’ most difficult challenge yet—but that they’d face it together, hand in hand, tackling their critics and proving once and for all that love doesn’t take sides.
Silent Night by Beth Bolden is a novel written for the Christmas Falls multi-author collaboration about a small town whose inhabitants live and breathe Christmas.
But it’s very much a mashup with her successful football series, the Charleston Condors, as one of the main characters, Jem Knight, is a famous Condor player currently on the injured reserve list.
We know Jem from his best friend relationship with Deacon, another character and teammate. Both men are going through some very difficult times, emotionally, mentally, and in Jem’s case, physically.
Sports (also food) is where Bolden’s writing excels. It’s in the team dynamics, the on-field team chemistry and excitement, and the ability to translate the author’s knowledge and love for each sport into a compelling narrative.
Here Jem is outside of his usual comfort zone and it shows in making him an outsider in his hometown. It absolutely works in his status and his emotional distance from the town’s citizens and events. We feel that outsider status from the minute he arrived back into town. He’s never emotionally home and that’s the issue, no matter what happens, he and Bolden never believably make him a viable choice to come back for us or him. It’s Told To Us. But nope.
The other man, local craftsman made famous, gnome carver , Murphy Clark, is also a terrific creation. He’s vulnerable, fearful of repeating the past, and insecure about his own attributes. Murphy is a very strong character. He belongs to Christmas Falls one hundred percent.
However, it’s the reality and relationship between the men, the parents (especially Jem’s) that just wasn’t there for me. The intrusive aspect where Jem’s parents decided they were the best judge of two grown men’s lives, including leaning against the son over another man, struck me as cold. Instead I found it completely natural for Jem to have stayed away from the town and family for years.
The author made a case, but not in the way she anticipated. And that negated most of the rest of her storyline. I could see a friendship rekindled but didn’t Bolden didn’t make me feel the chemistry that normally comes with one of her stories and couples. And so much of the deeper characters and depth, with the exception of Murphy’s best friend, was missing. Jem never felt a part of this town or family. It all seemed forced, unlike Charleston.
Of all the things Murphy Clark loves about Christmas Falls, there’s always been one he loves a little more than the rest:
His childhood best friend, Jem Knight.
Doesn’t matter that Jem’s barely been home in years, or that he’s busy conquering football fields instead of hanging out at Jolly Java or admiring Murphy’s carved wooden gnomes. Murphy’s always loved him anyway.
But now Jem’s finally returned to Christmas Falls to be the honorary figurehead of the biggest holiday festival in the Midwest.
Murphy’s hoping to rekindle their friendship but he didn’t count on Jem not recognizing him. Or flirting with him. Or re-igniting the hopeless crush he’s always had for his best friend.
He definitely didn’t expect for his crush to no longer be hopeless at all.
Or for both of them to realize that all they want for Christmas this year is each other.
Christmas Falls is a multi-author M/M romance series set in a small town that thrives on enough holiday charm to rival any Hallmark movie.
I may have become disillusioned with the RL game of football but not with Beth Bolden’s fantastic group of connected football series. They continue to keep me emotionally invested in each and every team and player.
The Charleston Condors are the third team and series represented in the group and The Score signals the penultimate storyline as this wonderful series comes to an end.
Carter Maxwell is a Condor that’s made indelible appearances in every book so far, usually because he’s happily hitting on the men in almost every scene he appears in. Not that anyone takes him seriously. Funny, handsome, a sexual hound, a “player” as they call it, and a star on the field. All very surface level things.
Now Bolden does her best job in bringing us a man in trouble. One filled with rage and long simmering resentment left by dysfunctional parenting that bordered on abuse, neglect, and internalized guilt that’s affecting his life on and off the field. Carter needs and finally asks for help.
And gets it. In several ways.
In an agent who works for him, one who hires a son and his mother to help Carter get his life together.
The son is Ian Parker. A well known LA sober coach whose goal is to become a professional agent like Alec, he’s hired by Alec to be a companion/coach for Carter. The whole steamy dynamic between Ian and Carter that began upon their initial encounter is fully realized. Bolden creates such heat between them immediately that you wonder how the rest of the story is going to unfold. Including the no sex part.
The other aspect I was unexpected and so well thought out was the therapist/therapy sessions with Carter and Moira, his therapist. Who is also Ian’s mother. Bolden’s work here is nuanced and thoughtful. Both on how these sessions provoke a discussion and how they affect the life of Carter because he’s open to the dialogue that’s happening.
And for all the situations that are also involved when two people are related and in the positions they have taken on in their respective lives. In other cases, this could have been a disaster. That was only marginally addressed.
Now to what Bolden’s spectacular at. That’s bringing the game of football alive on the page. Whether it’s team dynamics, inter team chemistry, game planning and then the all important explosive on the field action, it’s brilliantly described and vibrantly illustrated in the scenes. Those pigskins soar, every hit hurts.
Win or lose, this author carries us with her players and team with a passion.
And that’s why I’ll continue to read about football and her teams. Because she makes me continue to care.
A few quibbles. Ian’s career development wasn’t really explored towards the end. Did he really want the job? Was he a part of Alec’s team? Not sure what happened with that.
There’s a sense of HFN here as they are getting settled into their new roles as well as their relationship. And Carter’s ability to get a handle on his temper is new.
I’m looking forward to the finale story with Deacon and Mr C. And if there’s more football in Bolden’s future, writing wise.
I’m definitely recommending the Charleston Condors series as well as all of Bolden’s connected books. That includes The Score! It should be read in the order that the series is written for relationships and team development.
Charleston Condors:
✓ The Star #1
✓ The Game #2
✓ The Score #3
◦ The Play #4 – March 31, 2024
Bolden’s connected Football series in order they are written:
Carter Maxwell knows he’s a screwup. Four teams in three seasons tells the story, as much as he wishes it didn’t.
But finally, he’s landed in a good place, where he likes the team and the team actually likes him. Even the Condors’ current rebuilding mode suits him. There’s a new owner. New coach. New players. New rules.
But one rule hasn’t changed: don’t seduce your agent-appointed c*ckblocker.
Ian Parker agrees to live with Carter and keep him on the straight and narrow for one simple reason: Alec, the agent in charge of cleaning up Carter’s reputation, has promised him something Ian wants very, very badly.
Even more badly than Carter naked above him and below him and next to him.
A chance for Ian to become an agent.
But Ian didn’t take into account just how persuasive Carter is—or just how desperately he desires to be persuaded. Or how, while spending time with Carter, they’ll somehow stumble into a fake relationship that begins to feel all too real.
It doesn’t matter that Carter’s never fallen in love or that he’s never been in a real relationship. It doesn’t matter that Ian’s risking his future as an agent.
He’s determined to score the impossible and reform the bad boy—only after encouraging Carter to misbehave one last time. But this time, only with him.
I absolutely loved this story! Micah Rose was a character whose complicated journey started with the Miami Piranhas team and series .
A damaged, angry man, Micah’s transformation was a side storyline that was so compelling that the reader just wanted to know why he was so hurt and broken that it almost cost him his career in Miami.
In The Game, Bolden gives her readers the answers. We finally understand the hardships and pain that drove Micah to make the decisions he made to arrive at the man he was in the Piranhas. As well as the new man he’s become that asked for a trade at the end of that series.
That’s our starting point. After the events at the end of The Star which saw a teammate caught betting on game play, a trade was made and it brought Micah Rose to the Charleston Condors.
It also brought him back into the life of the man he loved and left. Beckett West. The other half of himself. The other half of the famed Northwestern “Wall” when they played together in college. And the events that drove them apart.
Bolden’s exemplary narrative charts the awkward moments between the tentative first reunion between them through the all the detailed history and emotional scenes that will bring forgiveness and redemption to them both as well as love and HEA.
This is a story about forgiveness, families in whatever form that may take, love and redemption. Bolden dogs deep into both lives to find the reason for their own suffering and eventual forgiveness. It’s a remarkable story.
And if I had thoughts that Micah was to easy to forgive his mother’s actions perhaps that’s on me and not the character. Within the narrative, it was believable and grounded within the people and families.
The next book has a tough bar to fly over. I look forward to seeing what the author has to offer.
Meanwhile, I’m absolutely thrilled to recommend this series by Beth Bolden. Start at the beginning and work , book by book, through the series. Just outstanding writing, fabulous action sequences, football commentary, characters and relationships, etc. 15/10 recommend.
Charleston Condors:
✓ The Star #1
✓ The Game #2
◦ The Score #3 – Oct 31,2023
Bolden’s connected Football series (characters appear/are mentioned
Micah Rose is ready for a clean slate. He might’ve messed up his rookie year with the Miami Piranhas, but being traded to the Condors is the best way to put all that behind him.
The Condors are rebuilding, too. New owner. New coach. New players. New rules.
But one rule hasn’t changed: don’t marry your ex-best friend in Vegas.
Beckett West isn’t looking forward to seeing Micah again. Back in college, they shared not only a ride-or-die friendship, but a ton of sexual tension they never acted on.
That was before Micah pushed him away.
Still, Beck’s never forgotten their last drunken night together. Not only did they finally confess their feelings, they both promised if the day ever came when they played on the same team again, they wouldn’t waste the chance to be together.
But Beck didn’t expect that day to ever be this day.
He certainly didn’t expect to wake up in bed with Micah’s ring on his finger.
Or that he’d never want to take it off.
But it turns out the only man for him is the one man he could never forget. The one man he’s always wanted to make his.
Bolden extends her connected football series with the addition of the Charleston Condors, that reviled team that targeted the Miami Piranhas the last season to such an extent the NFL demanded their sale to a new owner who’s done a complete overhaul. That’s the point where we dive into this new team and series.
I love Bolden’s sport’s romances for any number of reasons. She has a in-depth, passionate knowledge of the sport she’s writing about that makes her players, the team, and the team dynamics she makes a huge part of her stories so realistic and compelling.
In The Star, we see a number of familiar characters or faces that are associated with characters in other series. Tight end Landry Banks comes from the legendary football Banks family that includes his brother, Logan (center for the Miami Piranhas). We have seen him before when the entire family came together for Logan in Miami. A huge, impressive figure, a Thor-like physicality combined with a strong, centered personality. He’s immediately likable and a person who the reader can relate to, odd as that sounds.
Bolden’s ability to get such a distinct looking person and make him relatable through his actions and innermost emotions is one of the greatest qualities of her stories. The other being able to get the reader into the locker room, or onto the field, in the middle of the action and plays, letting us feel the pressure, the excitement and adrenaline! During those scenes, it’s as though it’s actually happening and we’re caught up in it all!
Which brings us to the other main character and his complex relationship with his older brother who also happens to be Landry’s best friend. Rookie quarterback Riley Flynn also has major football connections, in this case it’s his bigger, older, more famous and still playing NFL quarterback brother, Aiden Riley. The golden boy who’s raised him and is now trying to control his life.
This entire situation and element is unexpected and well done. It’s tricky because, as stated Landry and Aiden went to college together, remaining best friends still. Now through a series of surprising events, Riley ends up as the quarterback of the Charleston Condors, something his brother is unhappy about.
In addition to the torturous brotherly relationship he lands in the middle of, Landry is undergoing an epiphany about his sexuality. The only “straight” brother of the Banks family isn’t actually so straight after all when faced with a grownup Riley .
Bolden’s storylines are beautifully woven together as personal attraction grows into something more along with a team that’s learning that it’s possible to overcome the past and for the Condors as a team and organization to come together and move forward as a new unified family.
The Star was a wonderful story and romance as well as a great start to a new series. I can’t wait for The Game to be released! I’m highly recommending this !
Tight end Landry Banks knows the score when he signs with the Charleston Condors in a rebuilding year.
New owner. New coach. New players. New rules.
But one rule hasn’t changed: Don’t hook up with your best friend’s little brother.
Rookie quarterback Riley Flynn knows what it takes to make it in the NFL. He’s in Charleston to prove himself—to the world and to his teammates, but mostly to his older brother, who’s never believed he could be a star.
The last thing he expects is for his brother’s best friend Landry to welcome him with open arms and an offer to become roommates.
Riley’s always believed Landry was straight—but the way Landry keeps checking him out leaves him suddenly unsure. And Landry’s hot looks certainly don’t help squash the crush he’s always had on his brother’s best friend.
Revisiting his teenage crush isn’t part of the plan. But as he and Landry fall into a rhythm of thrilling plays on the field and sizzling tension off it, there’s no denying their connection.
Riley isn’t willing to trade becoming the next big NFL superstar for love. But with a man like Landry Banks waiting to catch anything he throws at him, maybe he can have both.
Bolden’s connected Football series in order they are written:
Beth Bolden’s Sweet As Pie is everything I needed and all I love about contemporary romances. This genre is able to encompass so many different styles, elements, types of characters and storylines that I can choose right now between a beautifully written novel about grief and loss or this heartwarming tale of family, food, and two chefs in need of each other.
Bolden’s story called to my heart at the right time. Letting me know I needed her superbly written tale of a romantic journey between two lonely hardworking chefs. One from a large Italian family of California restaurateurs and the other a baker of exquisite pastries in a small South Carolina town , Indigo Cove, with a romantic legacy that bears his family name.
Luca Moretti, a family of restaurateurs we’ve met before in Food Truck Warriors, is instantly recognizable as the overworked (self induced) , tightly controlled brother who sees himself as the person who has sacrificed himself for his family. He’s intense and very stubborn.
And believable. I’m sure there’s some readers who are able to see him as someone they know. Bolden makes his personality and our ability to further understand him enlarge when he meets baker Oliver Billings.
Oliver, a genuine creative genius with baked goods and a fine businessman, understands Luca in a way his own family hasn’t been able to. Kindred spirits from opposite sides of the country.
They bond over food, Luca’s mission to save his aunt’s deli, their love of family with all its attending issues, and finally their love for each other.
I was so caught up in their love story, this small world of people, and , yes, the food they were creating, that I hardly noticed the time.
The author is able to pull me into this world so completely for so many reasons. One it’s her love of her subject matter. Not love, but food.
Beth Bolden is an excellent conveyor of her passion for food and its chefs. Whether she’s writing about bakers or sous chefs, chefs in fine restaurants or those madly cooking fare in food trucks, it always feels, passionate, authentic , exhilarating, with the aromas and , yes, flavors, coming through the pages.
I’ve drooled while reading these pages.
And her characters are rich with warmth, lively with humor, living, breathing human beings that capture your heart and mind.
This is a book that will be a comfort read for me. Give it a chance. I bet it will be for you too.
Luca Moretti is grumpy—and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Wrangling six—Italian—siblings and the family’s restaurants would make anyone cranky. But when his mother requests that he save his aunt’s struggling Italian deli in charming, picturesque Indigo Bay, he has no idea that he’s about to overdose on sweetness.
Luca expected his aunt’s stubbornness—she’s a Moretti, isn’t she?—and his cousin’s resistance to actual work, but the last thing he expected is the absolute ball of sunshine known as Oliver Billings.
Oliver loves Indigo Bay. Loves owning his small artisan bakery, Sweetie Pie’s. Helps nice old ladies cross the street. Even volunteers for the local Sweethearts Festival.
Sweet isn’t really Luca’s style, or so he thinks. But when he discovers Oliver can be a little spicy too, his prickly exterior begins to crumble like a well-baked crust.
If Luca isn’t careful, he’s going to develop a taste for sweets—and a particular baker’s pie.
A finale book is a hard one to read and I imagine, extremely hard for the author to write. For a reader, especially a fan of the series, expectations are high to see how the writer can send off the characters and close down the arc in a way which satisfies us and makes sense.
Much the same as it must be for the author who’s been writing and creating these characters and their stories over a period of time. If it’s a series like the Miami Piranhas, where we had an entire NFL football team and a whole bunch of couples, well that makes the finale that more challenging.
So I liked that Bolden chose to make her two last characters and couple in this series , men at crossroads in their lives, whether they realized it at the time. Men with doubts and thinking about their own life choices. On and around a team that’s newly reformed and establishing themselves and their own identity in the NFL. It’s looking like a a fresh start or beginning will happen but there’s to be a ending first.
So logical and well planned. While the story didn’t go into detail about some elements, it brought full circle so many aspects of this series (as as as another), that it led me back into the other series to begin again.
The character of prickly journalist Julian Anderson, who has quite the journey of emotional growth and professional development, is one I got. He is layered with the believable qualities of someone who’s experienced deep loss and abandonment, and now has the barriers to show for it.
His chemistry and relationship with Kenyon Ellis is real, emotionally fraught with issues and the tough facts of each person’s profession and painful history.
Kenyon Ellis. What an incredible man and character. Bolden shows her deep love and understanding of this sport in Ellis. His love for his team, his divided attention, his guilt, everything that preying on his mind and heart at this time of his life and career. He’s painfully, beautifully real in every aspect of his personality and my favorite character.
All the others from the team make impressive supporting roles here to come together as a team and as friends.
No spoilers this time. Just a white knuckle ride and a highly entertaining and deeply thoughtful show, that ends as it should.
I’d give a trophy for them and this. And I hope to maybe see them again someday. You never know in a Bolden book .
Kenyon Ellis knows getting involved with Julian Anderson is an enormous mistake—but from the very first night, he finds him annoying, intriguing and ultimately, irresistible.
One, Kenyon is a player, and Julian is a reporter, so hooking up with him, no matter how spectacular the nights are, is a terrible idea.
Two, he’s falling for him, even if Julian continues to be prickly and impossible. But every time Julian’s walls shift, Kenyon sees the real man behind the attitude, and he only wants more.
Three, between the Piranhas and the charity work he’s committed to, Kenyon really doesn’t have the time for a relationship—but a relationship with Julian turns out to be exactly what he wants.
Maybe even exactly what he needs.
But when Julian starts calling out his performance on the field, the last thing Kenyon expects is to feel betrayed. But is it betrayal? Or does Julian simply see something in Kenyon he’s lost along the way?
The answer leads him not only to love, but to the biggest crossroads of his life.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 