Rating: 5🌈

Like I Needed is one man’s deeply revelatory and redefining journey from a purposeless wealthy party boy living in London to the committed, grounded and incredibly happy partner of a farmer in Heather Bay.

Novak really outdid herself with this story. It’s my favorite not just of the series but of any recent contemporary romance I’ve read.

It’s with the beautifully written characters , the incredible landscape and storylines that that pulls a narrative that often feels poetic from Novak. And it’s the truth you get from the lives that they are leading as farmers that engages the reader so completely that you forget you’re reading a book as you lose yourself in lambing season or whatever is happening on that farm.

“The first lamb of the season was born just after midnight on the seventeenth of March, a date I knew I’d never forget for as long as I lived.”

That’s Jamie Stone, who fled to Heather Bay in search of new direction for himself and answers for why he was so dissatisfied with himself and life in London.

It’s always amazed me when an author can take a certain “type” of main character and turn him into someone we find we empathize with and deeply care about. That certainly happens with Jamie. A man who’s decision to flee the city for something completely different lands him in Heather Bay where every step he takes leads he further down the path towards the man and life he’s always wanted and never knew he could live.

That’s with Will Foster, the last of the Fosters on a farm that’s been in his family for hundreds of years. The weight of that responsibility and the pressure on him to insure the farm’s future is heavy. The reader feels every bit of the love he has for his heritage, the land and farming as well as the toll it’s taken on him.

Novak’s picture of the reality of a farming life, right in the middle of winter, the cold, early hours, constant cold , snow, and bitter winds, is raw and believable. But so is the wood fired stove that heats the old farmhouse, Mog the cat the moved in and never leaves, and farm dogs, the pain and joys that needs to be shared.

It’s lambing season.

“We’d gone out to do one last check before bed because Will had been pacing up and down the kitchen with a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. So we’d wrapped up warm, loaded Nell up onto the back of the quad bike, and headed out to the fields. The sky was cloudless and studded with a million stars, the moon so close to full it looked like someone had tried to draw an approximation of a circle and flattened it on one side. It was crisp and cold, our breath fogging in the air, and the world felt almost empty.”

— Like I Needed (Heather Bay Book 3) by Charlie Novak

The beauty in the descriptions, the warmth of two men finding each other. Truly a favorite story for me.

And of course, all the wonderful meddling friends, the Friday nights at The Sleeping Goose, it’s enough for me to want to head there right now and pull up a chair.

I love this so much. Right to the end, it’s pretty perfect.

The series is great. Low angst, loving, full of people finding a home and HEA in the most beautiful places and inspiring ways. Read them in order for the events and couples. Then arrive here at one of my favorites!

Heather Bay series :

✓ Like I Promised #1

✓ Like I Wished #2

✓ Like I Needed #3

◦ Like I Pretended #4

◦ Like I Wanted #5 – Sept 28,2023

Buy Link:

Like I Needed (Heather Bay Book 3)

Blurb:

One night isn’t supposed to lead to love.

Jamie Stone is rich, beautiful, and bored out of his skull. The past few years have been an endless round of parties, and the decadence has lost its lustre. When a late night decision to get away lands him in the small seaside town of Heather Bay, Jamie’s convinced he’s made a mistake.

Heather Bay is no Ibiza, but it does have Will.

Will is stressed, stretched, and doesn’t have time for anything but work. He’s too busy trying to keep his head above water to focus on the London party boy who keeps ending up in his bed. Jamie is nothing but a distraction, but Will can’t resist coming back for more, especially with the harsh realities of farming nipping at his heels.

With the clock ticking on Jamie’s stay and the chaos of lambing season fast approaching, both men will have to look beyond themselves and let go of their fears. If they can, they might find the one thing they’ve always needed.

Like I Needed is a steamy and sweet hook-ups to lovers contemporary MM romance featuring a city boy with a hedonistic reputation, a gruff farmer in need of a break, endless amounts of snow, friends with no boundaries, terrible scrambled eggs, and the breathtaking beauty of the Yorkshire moors.

It is book three in the Heather Bay series and while it can be read as a standalone, it’s best enjoyed as part of the series.