Book Summary: 

Beatrice Archer has always done everything she’s supposed to —worked her ass off, ignored her non-existent personal life, and kept her mouth shut. Now she’s over it. The rat race, respectability…the underwire bras. She’s taking her life back. Starting with moving to Nowhere, Colorado to live life on her own terms.

Now Bea gives exactly zero forks. Beer for breakfast. Sugar for everything else. Baggy sweats and soft cotton undies FTW. Then a much younger and delightfully attractive cop is called to deal with her flagrant disregard for appropriate clothing outside the local diner (some folks just don’t appreciate bunny slippers) and Bea realizes there’s something missing from her little decathlon of decadence…and he might be the guy to help her out.

When it comes to breaking rules, Officer Austin Cooper is surprisingly eager to assist. He’s charming, a little bit cowboy, and a whole lot sexy. But Bea’s about to discover that breaking the rules has consequences. And all of the cherry pies in Colorado can’t save her from what’s coming…

My Review:

For those of you familiar with Amy’s “Trouble” series, we are taken back to Credence, Colorado one more time – a small town where visitors, seeking a quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of life, have a tendency to find more than they bargained for, including a fed-up Ad Executive by the name of Beatrice Archer.

Bea has had it with the rules and regulations of her life. Her grandmother and father set up boundaries so she wouldn’t end up like her mother. Her former boss commented on what she ate, what she wore, and what hoops she had to jump through while dangling her dream promotion (and corner office) in front of her like a carrot. Enough was enough! After one too many promotion snubs, Bea decided to do to life what it has been doing to her. Making a rash move to Nowhere, Colorado, Bea is determined to indulge in everything she had deprived herself, throwing caution to the wind and being as carefree as she wants to be. That sounds well and good until an anonymous citizen decides her disheveled appearance warrants a call to the police department. Austin responds to the call to find the much talked about out of towner enjoying the fruits of her easy-going attitude. Attempting to keep the peace, he is somehow drawn in by Bea’s antics and can’t seem to resist egging her on. Ten years her junior, Bea is a little too taken by the young officer and while she wants to let her hair down and have fun, she does have one set of rules she just not ready to bend… for now.

What I found interesting about the book: The introspection of the story takes you in and out of the humor, which also creates an ebb and flow of interest. Bea is fighting several demons as she is still trying to find herself. She wants to throw caution to the wind but walks the fine line of not becoming her mother. She wants to turn her back on the life that discarded her but needs to prove she isn’t a creative but an ad’s girl. Her constant dilemmas creates a ping pong effect for the reader, simply put she is caught between past and present and is opening the door to her own happiness while also standing the way. 

To add insult to injury, through her own internal crisis, she projects her insecurities on the one person who accepts her for who she is, putting his own wants, needs, and desires on the back-burner so she can have her freedom. Too blind with the need of vindication, validation, and redemption, she doesn’t realize she has gone full circle until it is too late. I thought it was brilliant that Amy wrote her path this way because while the individual pieces of the puzzle were confusing and didn’t make sense, once you had them all – you suddenly had the full picture of the who, what, and why that was Bea. As frustrated as you may have become with her character, you finally saw the one piece that was missing the entire time to make the picture complete – her connection with her mother.

What I am indifferent about but feel I should mention: The books starts in the middle so the first couple of chapters the reader may be full of questions as to how Bea got where she is and why. Amy does a great job giving the backstory through conversations but the missing information is disorientating at the beginning.

A slow burn, instant lust, forbidden love small town romance isn’t just a hot and heavy tale between a big city girl and a small town boy, it dives deep into the psychological impact of nature versus nurture, acceptance, and the in your face reminder that love doesn’t play by the rules.