NEW REVIEW: Catch and Keep by Erin Hahn

OUR REVIEW:

I have really enjoyed every book in these interconnected stand alone novels featuring the three friends who love each other like sisters. In the other two we got to know a former child/teen star turned homemaker over star, a country music star, and now we get to know Maren-a former YouTuber known for her fishing prowess. Seriously, how unexpected is that? A woman who is known for her superior fishing skills?! Awesome. Love it. And even more than that, I love that her love interest is someone she's known forever, has crushed on forever, and is divorced and available. I even love how she ends up there--not the terrible former boyfriend part, but the part that sends her running home to her favorite place...the place that her dreams were really made of. So we have Maren, this super smart, super pretty, and super wonderful woman and we have Joe--her brother's best friend, divorced father to two awesome kids, and also wonderful human being. What a pair!

I loved their story because it was filled with so much kindness. She needs the kindness of him and his family to help her find her footing after leaving a great job and a less than great boyfriend. He needs her kindness to help him with the chaos of single parent life. They both instinctually know how to help each other and care for each other and love each other. Because they've known each other for so long, they're getting to know each other as adults and while there are definitely obstacles to them reaching their HEA, there are more good moments than bad. (I'll just say, thank god Joe finally said something to her brother because that guy was THE WORST for a good portion of the book). 

Loved the romance and their story, loved the autism representation, loved the cameos by her friends, and really, just loved the whole thing. Sign me up for the next Erin Hahn book, I'm ready!

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SYNOPSIS:

In Erin Hahn's latest cozy, swoony romance, Maren Laughlin has been fishing her whole life, but she’s finally ready to be caught.

At thirty-three, Maren Laughlin's just turned down her boyfriend’s proposal, walked away from her decade-long position as a park ranger, and returned to her childhood playground in Northern Wisconsin to accept her inheritance: a decrepit waterfront bait shop. After a lifetime of letting things happen to her, she’s ready to start making her own moves, even if everyone else thinks she’s making the wrong ones. Well, not everyone—at least the local heartstopper and resort owner is on her side.

Josiah Cole has made some missteps in his life, but he’s proud of what he has: two awesome kids and the keys to the kind of getaway spot that has families coming back every summer– their up north home away from home. After his marriage dissolved, leaving him a single dad, he feels he’s the last person to judge Maren for her recent transformation (even if his best friend, her brother, wants him to feel otherwise). Besides, he genuinely likes having her around. She’s a breath of fresh air, his kids adore her (not to mention her dog, Rogers), and it doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful.

Things between Maren and Joe are easy. So easy, they’re fully immersed in the middle before they even decide to begin. It’s not a question of should they, but rather can they make it last? Are things too easy, or is this just how real love works? In Erin Hahn’s heartwarmingly sexy Catch and Keep, Maren and Joe have to be brave enough to find out.
 

REVIEW: Friends Don't Fall in Love by Erin Hahn

 

OUR REVIEW:

Friends Don't Fall in Love is the next book in a universe of interconnected characters. In this novel we get the story of Lorelai (a friend of Shelby's in Built to Last) and Huck. Huck, our lovable, geeky, sweet, smart, record producer has been in love with Lorelai since he was in a band with her ex-fiancé. And Lorelai? Well Lorelai has been in denial of her feelings about Huck since she's been in Michigan licking her wounds after being 'canceled' for a benign protest when she was a rising country music star. They both end up in Nashville, where they are working on her album, and it's during this time that they fall even further for each other. Of course they muck it up--lots of doubts, unspoken feelings, and poor communication, even though communication is what they're known for. And in the midst of all of this there are missteps with her comeback, followed by the best steps for her comeback; thank goodness for good friends in high places. Also luckily for them, they have a lot of outside help that nudges them into the right direction when it comes to *them*, making for a sweet and happy ending.

Friends Don't Fall in Love is fun, sexy, and sweet; it reminded me of a Taylor Swift song--lots of longing and love that leaves you feeling fully satisfied when it ends. 

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Lorelai Jones had it all: a thriving country music career and a superstar fiancé. Then she played one teenie tiny protest song at a concert and ruined her entire future, including her impending celebrity marriage. But five years later, she refuses to be done with her dreams and calls up the one person who stuck by her, her dear friend and her former fiancé’s co-writer and bandmate, Craig.

Craig Boseman’s held a torch for Lorelai for years, but even he knows the backup bass player never gets the girl. Things are different now, though. Craig owns his own indie record label and his songwriting career is taking off. If he can confront his past and embrace his gifts, he might just be able to help Lorelai earn the comeback she deserves—and maybe win her heart in the process.

But when the two reunite to rebuild her career and finally scratch that itch that’s been building between them for years, Lorelai realizes a lot about what friends don’t do. For one, friends don’t have scratch-that-itch sex. They also don’t almost-kiss on street corners, publish secret erotic poetry about each other, have counter-top sex, write songs for each other, have no-strings motorcycle sex, or go on dates. And they sure as heck don't fall in love... right?

Erin Hahn’s Friends Don’t Fall in Love is about long-time friends, taking chances, and finding out that, sometimes, your perfect person was right there in your corner all along.

REVIEW: Built to Last by Erin Hahn

OUR REVIEW:

 It's been a few years since I've read an Erin Hahn novel and I'm so glad I picked up Built to Last. I zoomed through this novel on the nights when my jetlag kept me awake and it was the perfect companion on those sleepless nights.

 I hooked on the story of Cameron and Shelby from the first few pages and as I got to know them and their history, I couldn't help but root for them. They were both so clearly smitten with each other and their on the page chemistry and friendship was fun to read. I really appreciated how together Shelby was and what a mess Cameron seemed to be--a nice reversal of what I think some readers expect in their characters. I loved how they worked together to foil their nemesis-a nice touch. Additionally, I found myself laughing out loud at some of the scenes between Cameron and Shelby and having not read an Erin Hahn novel in quite a while, I didn't know to expect that.

Overall, a sweet romance with some laughter = a perfect way to get through my haze of jetlag. 

BUY IT HERE.

REVIEW: You'd Be Mine by Erin Hahn

Annie Mathers is America’s sweetheart and heir to a country music legacy full of all the things her Gran warned her about. Superstar Clay Coolidge is most definitely going to end up one of those things.

But unfortunately for Clay, if he can’t convince Annie to join his summer tour, his music label is going to drop him. That’s what happens when your bad boy image turns into bad boy reality. Annie has been avoiding the spotlight after her parents’ tragic death, except on her skyrocketing YouTube channel. Clay’s label wants to land Annie, and Clay has to make it happen.

Swayed by Clay’s undeniable charm and good looks, Annie and her band agree to join the tour. From the start fans want them to be more than just tour mates, and Annie and Clay can’t help but wonder if the fans are right. But if there’s one part of fame Annie wants nothing to do with, it’s a high-profile relationship. She had a front row seat to her parents’ volatile marriage and isn’t interested in repeating history. If only she could convince her heart that Clay, with his painful past and head over heels inducing tenor, isn’t worth the risk.

Source: Netgalley

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OUR REVIEW:

Shel: You'd Be Mine is a throwback to when New Adult was new and really targeted to those late teen/early twenty somethings who were trying to figure out the world and their place in it. It's youthful without being too young and it's mature without it being super sexualized, like NA novels seemed to become in the heyday of the NA world. You'd Be Mine feels like the older sister to YA and it works. It novel features two young up and coming country music stars, Annie and Clay, going on tour together and trying to navigate some of the pressures and expectations of what people expect of their 'stars'.

Shel: More so, it's about both of them finding out how to begin coping with the baggage that they each carried onto the tour. They were both so deeply wounded by things in their past that it was really rewarding to see how they found their HEA at the end. I appreciated the way Erin Hahn designed the path of love and acceptance that Annie and Clay had to journey on. Their dreams, heartaches, struggles, and confrontations were pitch perfect for who they were and what they wanted to be--nothing ever felt too much or not enough.

Shel: I have no idea what Erin Hahn has planned next but I do know that I'll be looking forward to reading whatever it is.