Harlow James

In Not As Planned we finally get to the last of the Ladies Who Brunch – Noelle. And just like in Penelope’s story, we see a side of Noelle we haven’t seen before. Remember Noelle is the one who has been uber-focused on having a baby, having a family of her own, and after patiently – and not always so patiently – dating and searching for the right man, someone who wants her and would be a good dad, she decided it was just time to take control of her own destiny. And she did, in a big way. She had baby Scarlett with a surrogate. Officially. Someone whose history and genetics and characteristics she knew, but who she never met. And she’s fine with that, even if not everyone is supportive. (Of course the other Brunch Ladies – Charlotte, Amelia and Penelope – are there for her and always will be.)

Throughout the course of the series so far we’ve seen a Noelle who is frustrated then sad then desperate then resigned then determined and always brave. Now the Noelle we see at the beginning of Not As Planned is fierce and so grateful to have her beautiful baby, but she’s human and we see that she’s also overwhelmed, exhausted, a little resentful and sometimes doubting herself. Her job is going well, Scarlett is healthy and practically perfect, her friends are always there for her but sometimes she feels so alone, so unable to keep up, as if she’s on a treadmill with each day just a repeat of the previous one. Just like a mom. And men? Ha ha ha. What are they? She gave up dating before even having Scarlett and now she wonders how she could find the time or the energy and questions whether anyone would be interested in this woman in mom jeans.

Not so fast. Enter Grant Thomas, dashing airline pilot. Sexy glasses, sexy salt and pepper hair, sexy physique – well, let’s just admit it, sexy everything. Who Noelle stumbles into in the coffee shop line while having an embarrassing wardrobe malfunction. As in falls into. And this sexy sexy sexy sexy man gives her the shirt off his back. Literally. So take a second and swoon now, I know you want to. And then swoon some more when you find out how Scarlett is immediately taken with him, and the feeling is mutual.

Grant is not exactly on the market himself. He would love to have a family of his own. Family is so important to him. He adores his nephews. But he has some past history that has scarred and scared him, and some secrets that he is afraid to share. He doesn’t want to do one-night stands but his flying schedule doesn’t exactly lend itself to a stable, long-term relationship.

There’s a lot of heat in that brief coffee shop encounter but Grant doesn’t get Noelle’s number and is immediately smacking himself in the head over it. But thanks to the wonders of fiction she just happens to be on the plane he’s flying in the next few weeks, and this time he doesn’t hesitate. From there we have a wonderful sweet and romantic story of the push and pull, the attraction versus the fear, the wanting to take it slow but feel so magnetically drawn it’s hard to resist. Some thoughtful, sweet heart-melting moments, some perfect dates, and some confusion and misunderstanding and second-guessing. It’s a delightful story. You’ll have your fingers and toes crossed the entire time you are listening wanting this perfect family to come together, to jump in and do it because the three of them are meant to be. And speaking of listening, this story, and all the stories in the series, are meant to be audiobooks. Everything is sweeter or funnier or steamier when you hear it spoken. For Not As Planned we are lucky to have Connor Crais and CJ Bloom as our exceptional narrators. Once again wonderful pacing and clarity and emotion. I didn’t want my daily walk to end so I could keep listening.

Thanks to Home Cooked Books for an advance listening copy of Not As Planned. This has been such a wonderful series. I have loved every minute of listening. I am fervently hoping that author Harlow James will keep on with more of the wonderful characters we’ve met. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.… (més)

Now’s the Time is the third book in Harlow James’ outstanding Ladies Who Brunch Series and every bit as fantastic as the first two books in the series, Never Say Never and No One Else. Narrators Jacob Morgan and Erin Mallon are always-favorite narrators and they make Now’s the Time truly special. They always manage to do whatever it is they do to change their voices just enough, change the cadence and pacing and emotion and accents just enough, to transport you right into the characters. I don’t think I’ve ever heard Jacob Morgan so grumbly and growly, and Erin Mallon strikes just the right note to capture Penelope’s personality. Quite impressive, because Pen has a large personality.

The Penelope we see in Now’s the Time is not the Penelope we’ve seen in the previous two books. Penelope is the Brunch Lady who’s especially bold, loud, often inappropriate, and borderline crude. But she’s always got her girls’ backs. She is fierce, dependable and loyal. But this Penelope is softer, more vulnerable, and we get a glimpse into her past and why she is the way she is. What her fears are. Pen’s philosophy for life is love ‘em and leave ‘em, why get involved when one fabulous night is so much better than all that mess commitment brings. And now we learn, maybe all that heartbreak.

Penelope is beautiful, sociable, and very, very good at her PR job. So when her boss sends her to manage an event and she checks out a guy who’s checking her out she thinks why not, no harm, I’ll never see this tasty guy again. Her night of fun is so much more than she expected and her heart reacts in a way it hasn’t in about twelve years. But, again, no need to take a risk, because she’ll never see this oh so tempting man again. Just shut that down and never think of him again. Except . . . she can’t stop thinking about him.

And – except again – two months later her boss tells her she’s being assigned as PR rep for the local football team that just acquired Maddox Taylor, aka Mr. Desirable who awakens all those feelings and brings up all those old memories she’s worked so hard to keep buried and who is living rent-free in her head. This is going to be hard, isn’t it?

As for Maddox, he felt a connection the first time he saw Penelope across the room and it’s not going away. He’s been burned and avoided really any relationships at all for a long time now, and keeps his past very well hidden, but this thing with Penelope feels so special, so promising, he’s not about to let it go. And this is one persistent man.

Now’s the Time just takes off. It’s wonderful; I couldn’t stop listening. Pen resists, resists, resists, runs, tries to hide. I don’t know how narrator Jacob Morgan does it but he makes Maddox seems like the most desirable man in the world, and Penelope feels her walls breaking down, and it’s terrifying. Their magnetic attraction is fun and funny and sexy and steamy and a little scary at times, because trust is so hard to give. The supporting cast of characters is varied and so entertaining: of course the other Ladies Who Brunch who are amazed and heartbroken to hear Penelope’s past story, a rash young football teammate of Maddox’s with a heart of gold, and so many others who are charming, or lovable or just plain mean.

This series just keeps getting better. One of the best things about it is that with each new book you get to catch up again with all the characters, not just the focus couple, and it’s so entertaining and so much fun and brings so much joy that I am now hoping Harlow James will just continue this series endlessly. Please?? I received an advance listening copy of Now’s the Time from Home Cooked Books. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.… (més)

The Ladies Who Brunch series gets off to such a rousing start with Never Say Never that there is no doubt this will be a favorite to listen to over and over. As soon as you meet the “Ladies” you can’t wait to learn all about them: Charlotte with the toxic always-butting-in mother, Amelia whose career passion is because of her childhood trauma, Penelope of the loud mouth, crass comments and one night only philosophy, and Noelle who has to be a mom, has to be a mom, has to be a mom – NOW.

Charlotte and Damien grew up together, not friends but serious rivals, so unpleasant that on the eve of their high school graduation Charlotte made Damien promise to never think of her again. Charlotte’s mother didn’t get Charlotte’s competitiveness – girls, and women, only needed to use their brains to snag the perfect guy, and everything else was about diets and face lifts and the right clothes. Damien’s father believed women weren’t bright enough to be anything but second best and real men always finished first. Both of them couldn’t wait to escape and were relieved to never have to see each other again.

Twelve years pass with no sightings, but apparently California isn’t as big as they thought, because suddenly they almost bump into each other. Damien does a double take; Charlotte pretends she didn’t see him and makes her escape. He feels something strange at seeing this beautiful woman who was his nemesis at one time. What she feels is strangely close to terror: he cannot be anywhere near her, he just can’t. But Damien needs a fake girlfriend for a promotion at work, and Charlotte could actually use a fake boyfriend to get her mother off her back for a few minutes at her parents’ 30th wedding anniversary in Hawaii. And there you have the premise for a brilliant, delightful book that had me howling with laughter, when I wasn’t sighing and swooning or almost crying, of course.

Never Say Never is hilarious, laugh out loud funny. So many mix-ups and misunderstandings. So many absurd situations. Think fake massages and swingers and pineapples and men shopping for products they know nothing about. But also sweet and tender. Think bafflement about those intense feelings from high school still being intense but not so confrontational, about unexpected protectiveness, about men shopping for products they know nothing about but still shop because they care. And last but certainly not least, Never Say Never is scorching, steamy, sauna-like in its heat.

You will fall in love with Charlotte and Damien right away. They resist and protest and grudgingly go along with things, but we as readers – and Amelia, Penelope and Noelle – know better. This couple is quickly moving from enemies to friends to friends with benefits to – big sigh, can there be a happily ever after for them?

Author Harlow James’ excellent book is made pretty much perfect by the outstanding performances by the narrators. I have to admit that if Home Cooked Books offered me an advance listening copy of “Teddy Hamilton Reads Your Grocery List” I would scoop it up without hesitation. Add the subtitle “Samantha Brentmoor Reads the Menus” and I am so there. However, even though you may be thrilled that these are your favorite narrators, once you listen to a couple of paragraphs you forget it’s “Teddy and Samantha” and you are fully immersed in Damien and Charlotte’s story. Even though I recognize Teddy Hamilton’s unique voice, he subtly alters his voice so no two performances are the same. Samantha Brentmoor brings the same excellence. Pacing, clarity, tone, emotion all there and only enhance the already satisfying story.

Thanks to Home Cooked Books for providing an advanced listening copy of Never Say Never. I just loved it and cannot wait to hear Amelia’s, Penelope’s and Noelle’s stories. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.… (més)

The last book in the NEWBERRY SPRINGS series features a pair of high school sweethearts having their second chance after years apart living their own individual lives. The hero goes to Las Vegas and meets up with the heroine, having a chat with her and realizing that the feelings for her are still there. However, the heroine's fiancé appears, and the meeting closed with the hero returning back home. The hero's brothers persuaded the hero to go back to Las Vegas and speak his part as the heroine's wedding begins. But the wedding ensues, and the hero returns back, heartbroken and thinking the heroine is married. Weeks later the heroine appears at the hero's ranch, and thus begins the second chance romance.

This is the last book in this particular Harlow James series. It was so nice to have the last Gibson brother have his happy ending in this book. It's also nice to have known more about the heroine, given she has left a huge mark on the hero from the beginning of the series. I really appreciate the Gibson family and the extended circle that surrounded the couple, especially the other Gibson brothers. I liked the main couple, but it would have been nice if the heroine groveled a bit more in the book. Other than that particular point, this is a great book to end the NEWBERRY SPRINGS series and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.

** Thanks to the author and The Author Agency for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **… (més)