I read the first of Ms. Bowen’s new True North series earlier this year, Bittersweet. It was okay. I skipped her second in the series because recovering drug addicts getting together with ex-girlfriend, whose brother he just happened to kill, aren’t exactly my thing. But I was looking forward to book three, Zachariah, the lovable, quiet farmhand. What a disappointment it was.
Zachariah was thrown out from a cult 4 years ago, and has been since living in Vermont as a farmhand. He’s sweet and lovable, and has minimal real world experience, even now. Lark (seriously Lark, the forced whimsy is palpable) is a “Wild Child” of rich university professors in Boston. She ends up coming to Vermont for apple picking season, because she’s recovering from PTSD after being kidnapped while working in Guatemala. Lark is BFFs with one of the farm’s daughters. There’s our instant connection between Lark and Zach, but due to them each clearly having boatloads of issues things progress a little strangely.
So the one main thing I did like was that love didn’t magically fix everything. Lark at a point is overwhelmed by her demons and must seek professional help. Baring that brief stint of professional help though love did magically fix everything. For both of them. These are two seriously troubled people, and they really really should not be getting into a relationship at the moment, but here we are. We’re reading romance. Of course they’re going to get into a relationship. It just left me feeling icky, and that these kids should not be living together less than a year into dating.
Also, and this is just me, there was not nearly enough sexy times in this one. I generally fall more on the “prudish” side of my romance friends, but this one was a lot light for me. I need more steam. Especially after the first in the series, this was highly lacking on that front.
Anywho this is all to say meh. I read it, I’ll keep reading Ms. Bowen for now, but she continues to walk towards I’m no longer interested line.
I’m reading this one at the moment so I’m not going to read your review yet. The book itself isn’t quite catching my attention and might be a little too prosaic for me.
The only reason I finished was I’m still nursing and it was on my phone. Otherwise it would have definitely been a drift away at the 30% mark.
I’ve already drifted away to jump ahead once. Mostly to see how Audrey reacted to Griff’s surprise. I kind of love Audrey.
I didn’t even bother with the second book.
Contemporary romance is not my thing but I’m tempted to pick these up just to poke fun at the ridiculousness of coming to VT for apple picking season. Which is a quaint entirely made-up reason to come to Vermont. And so romantic because foliage, apples, and crisp fall air. And just as silly as Zac, the ex-cult member charmingly beefy farmhand.
I do live in Vermont and I do pick apples. And you know who you find hanging out picking apples at orchards? New Yorkers ;)
Who does the big picking? Seasonal labourers?
I want to talk about the cover art. I really had to stare at it to figure out that she is hugging him from behind. The whole thing is so shadowy that I thought we were looking at mostly naked cleavage sans nipples. Then I thought, no, we’re looking at the back of her head, and the “cleavage” is just her naked shoulder and upper arm. BUT THEN I saw all the hands and that was all clearly wrong.
It’s awful and my head hurts, is what I’m saying.
I had the exact same problem!
Oh thank god! There is something really wrong with his neck placement that makes the actual arrangement impossible to spot.
The damaged people fixed by love trope makes me crazy. No, no no. These people don’t know how to have an intimate healthy relationship. They will become codependent and screw each other up more if they don’t get help.
It’s the worst! Just reading 23/24 year olds (one of them with practically zero “real world experience”) moving in together a few months into dating made my skin crawl. That’s not romantic, that’s bad, bad news. The first one in the series was mindless fun, but then Ms. Bowen went down the crazy town path and we’re stuck with this.
I guess I should have waited for your review before asking to borrow it. I haven’t accepted the loan yet, and now I won’t. I am so far behind in reviews/reading enjoyable things I don’t have time for this nonsense.