I loved Cora and Beau! Their story is charming, sexy, and funny, but lacks the depth and complexity I’m used to from Lauren Dane. I was entertained, but left a little disappointed at the end. ~ Java Girl, Guilty Pleasures
Blurb:
Sometimes what you find isn’t what you were searching for…
Beau Petty has been searching his whole life. Searching for a place that fills all the empty spaces in him. Searching for a way to tame the restlessness. Searching for answers to the secret he’s never stopped trying to solve. What he wasn’t searching for was a woman to claim all of him, but when Cora Silvera walks back into his life, he’s ready to search out all the ways he can make her his.
Cora has spent her life as the family nurturer, taking care of others. But now she’s ready to pass that job on to someone else. It’s time to make some changes and live for herself. It’s in that moment that her former teenage crush reappears and the draw and the heat of their instant connection is like nothing either of them has experienced. He craves being around her. She accepts him, dark corners and all.
Beau thinks Cora’s had enough drama in her life. He wants to protect her from the secrets of his past, even if it means holding back the last pieces of himself. But Cora is no pushover and she means to claim all those pieces.
Whiskey Sharp: Torn, the third and final book in the Whiskey Sharp series was a quick, entertaining read. Cora and Beau are charming, funny, practically perfect characters. For me, they were a little too perfect. Even though they knew each other briefly, and not romantically, twenty years before, their relationship progressed at light speed. I did feel a connection between the two, but Ms. Dane spent a lot of words telling the reader about that connection, which is almost always an issue for me. I prefer to see it on the page through their interactions, which I did, so the words felt unnecessary. I felt these two characters didn’t quite fit with the Dolan sisters and their men, even though Ms. Dane went to great pains to explain how the relationships came about, they just didn’t feel genuine. As charming as they are, I thought the story lacked the complexity and depth of the first two books in this series. They shop, they discuss art and poetry, they eat—Beau is a chef, his food sounds amazing–they hang out with friends, and have a lot of sex, but there’s just not a lot of substance here, and no real conflict. They each have family issues, which are left unresolved, for the most part, and neither of which is a source of genuine conflict for the couple. Cora’s mother is a narcissist/composer/artist, who comes across as a horrible person, even though her family loves her (I’m not sure why) and spend a lot of time and energy “handling’ her. I was hoping for some type of ‘come to Jesus’ moment, but instead Cora’s father smiles indulgently and he and Cora re-direct conversations. Because there wasn’t a resolution, Cora’s relationship with her mom, which is kind built up to be an issue, just fizzles as a conflict. Beau’s family issues are also left hanging, albeit with slightly more resolution than Cora’s. I did really enjoy Cora and Beau’s romance and watching their relationship grow, but it was a bit fluffy for me, and felt a little forced. I love (and expect) a happy ending, but the end of Whiskey Sharp: Torn left me feeling disappointed, an emotion I rarely feel with a Lauren Dane book. I loved the first two books in this series. They were filled with drama, angst, difficult relationships, and tough decisions, but still managed to be funny, sexy, and entertaining. Torn is entertaining, funny, and hot, but doesn’t live up to the rest of the series, so it was a bit of a letdown for me.
3.5 stars
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