Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 Audiobook: 🌟🌟🌟💫 Spice: 🌶️ 🌶️

by Nikki Payne – Thanks to @berkleyromance and @prhaudio for free digital and audiobook copies of this unique retelling of Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.

Nora’s life first went off the rails when a sex tape with her ex went viral on the internet, then a second time when she and her sister discovered that they were their father’s secret family. Upon his death, their wealthy father left them only a dilapidated old inn, teetering on foreclosure, in Maine. With absolutely no skills, they must restore the inn before Labor Day, or they lose their slim inheritance. The other complicating factor is Ennis “Bear” Freeman, an Abenaki eco-tour guide, who claims the property. Nora and Bear become unlikely partners in the remodel and are surprised by how much the city girl and small-town guy with startlingly different backgrounds have in common. As the story unfolds, their relationship helps them open themselves up to futures they hadn’t thought possible, but will secrets and obligations prevent them from finding happiness?

There was a lot I enjoyed about this book. It is fun, funny and touching. Nora, the “fish out of water,” becoming capable and confident was excellent, as was her ultimate realization about the sex tape. I did find some of the pacing to be a little off – some chapters picked up minutes or hours after the last, while others were separated by weeks. I would recommend reading this one over listening as I felt like some of the voicings of secondary characters felt more like caricatures than the more heart-felt way they seemed in the print version. Thank you to @parnassusbooks for my physical copy as part of the Love, Parnassus book club, which included a gorgeous postcard portrayal of Bear and Nora (see last pic). If you haven’t been to Parnassus, it is one of the best indie bookstores in the country.