Smoky Darling: Book One of the Darling Series

Elouise has loved Beckett Stoleman since he rescued her from a playground bully as a child. Twelve years after giving up on her crush, Beckett returns to Darling Lake and finally sees her as a grown woman. Their reunion brings a familiar small town romance filled with an age gap, a possessive hero, and spice. Beckett was my favorite of the two. His confidence and relentless pursuit were hot. He certainly delivered in the bedroom. Elouise frustrated me with insecurity that became annoying. I wanted more confidence from a thirty-year-old woman. Beckett carried so much of their chemistry. The writing was fine and the familiar romance tropes worked well enough. I was sitting comfortably at three stars until the final third suddenly introduced a kidnapping plot. What was that? The shift into romantic suspense felt disconnected from everything that came before it. Their existing relationship conflicts could have carried the ending without adding an obsessive coworker and rescue mission. That plot choice dropped my rating to two stars. The marriage focused happily ever after also missed the mark with my reading tastes. I would rather see the couple’s future together provide the payoff instead of marriage serving as proof that their relationship succeeded. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Gomez Pugh and Callie Dalton. It uses dual narration rather than duet. This is not my preferred format. Pugh was fantastic as Beckett. Dalton was frequently breathy and made Elouise sound highly anxious. Pick this up if you enjoy second chances, possessive heroes, small town romance, spice, and a random dose of romantic suspense. Beckett and the steam were the highlights, but the suspense plot and Elouise’s insecurity did not do it for me.

TWs: stalking, car accident, super light bdsm.

This wasn’t my favorite S. J. Tilly book but it was good. I think the men from the Alliance have just set the bar pretty high. It was a little insta-love and a little suspense. This book felt slightly rushed once they reconnected and I feel like there should have been more conversations and relationship building but it was still sweet. I liked knowing that Beckett never forgot about Elouise even though he was eight years older that her. It was sweet how he talked about how his feelings changed but that she was always in the back of his mind. I feel like we didn’t really hear much about what either of them did during their 12 years apart, aside from basic work details and I wish that was elaborated on a bit more. I also wanted to know more about their family members and those relationships were more glossed over than anything. It was a very sweet, not quite second chance romance, age gap romance. I hope we get to see more of them in the future.

Spicy: