True North Series #4, Brooklyn Bruisers #4.5
Kindle e-book, Audiobook, Audible
Author: Sarina Bowen
Narrators: Teddy Hamilton and Seraphine Valentine
In this crossover book of two of Sarina’s series, True North and Brooklyn Bruisers, we find that Zara Rossi (the bartender at The Mountain Goat) is still feeling the bitter taste of Griffin Shipley’s rejection. That’s when a cocky, hunky, copper-haired tourist starts laying down the charm…hard. So, to have a good time, she takes him upstairs: no last names, no personal info, no feelings. Just fun. It was supposed to a be summer fling with no complications until the pregnancy test is positive and Zara has no way of finding her baby’s father.
Two years later, she has settled in to her single mom’s life when Dave from Brooklyn enters her coffee shop and the whole world stops. Hockey star Dave Beringer’s never forgotten the cranky, feisty woman with whom he spent the best summer of his life (just ask his teammates and his sister!), but finding out he has a kid is the shock of a lifetime. He’s been scarred and hurt by his parents. He’s never ever even contemplated the idea of having a family. But it’s Vermont, and people have been known to heal from all sorts of things there, so why not him?
Although I really enjoyed this book, it’s not a favorite. I guess after reading Keepsake the bar goes really really high… I loved the summer fling/no names vibe and the surprise baby/single mom trope is fine with me. Dave is definitely book boyfriend material and I like grumpy, prickly, self-confident heroines like Zara. Their interactions with their families, friends and teammates are fun and I liked see them finding a way into being a family – after all, that “no feelings” nonsense didn’t really work! I just think it could have been a tad shorter, but a Sarina book is always good!
Narration: Teddy Hamilton brings all the charm in this one and I’m really enjoying Seraphine Valentine.
Rep and Possible triggers: May Shipley is out and has a girlfriend; unexpected pregnancy, mentions of a death by drug overdose, physical abuse by a parent
