Hard Wood by Lauren Blakely

A Review by Wendy

5 Long Awaited And Worth It Stars
* * * * *  

Spoiler Free

There's a feeling you get when you have been wanting something for awhile...A type of anticipation, an excitement in the possibility of what is to come...This feeling can happen about big events you have planned and are counting the days for...But this fluttery feeling can also take place when pondering something simple....easy... and just plain pleasurable...

Like this book Hard Wood by Lauren Blakely. Ms. Blakey, the Master of Secondary Characters who are worthy of their own stories, has been taunting and teasing us with Patrick and Mia in a few books now. In one book, she would introduce them and hint of an attraction... then in another she would tip her hand and give Patrick and Mia a bit of brooding and longing...with all of this revealing more and more about who they were...

This way of giving us characters is genius and many authors do it.... Ms. Blakely does not have a copyright on the practice...

But what Ms. Blakely does have is this subtle way of drawing the reader in...

It is Not Too Much or Over the Top force feeding us to be interested...
It is also Not Too Little so that we have to rack our brain to remember who the hell these people are...
It is the Just Right Amount to lock us down and set us up to be curious...
This is the way she links all of these characters together as Real Life Family and Friends...

There is no forced purpose. You can believe people became friends because they happened to live in the same apartment building. Links from college are always strong and holding onto relationships happen ever single day. Brothers have Sisters... Sisters have Brothers and marriages widens social circles...All of these life events happen and Blakely just causes them to flow into one another.... but never forced.

And with all of this background, we have been wondering about Patrick and Mia...

Well, the wait is over and O.M.F.G..... All the anticipation and flutters you felt, they were minor compared to what you will feel while reading this book. I mean it. If in Real Life, any of you experience the type of Man Patrick is...then Kiss the Ground and Say a Prayer that you have been given such a gift.

This Patrick is so special in his straight forward understanding of who he is and what he wants out of life. We are given the insight of how this man developed from the awkward gangling boy into this self assured man. He has no pretense... just the desire for a simple direct life. It is having a company which promotes what he loves, the outdoors. He has taken his love of the outdoors and of animals and made it a successful business. He is smart, well read and just charming....

And then we have Mia...a product of a loving family with a brother who was her champion. He looked out for her in all the standard brotherly ways... but did even more... He showed her how to take something she thought was a weakness and make it a strength... He gave her the ability to handle any challenge and not back down.

Mia is an equal to Patrick in her ability to take what she loved and make it a successful business. She loved animals and she loved beauty... She decided to make beauty products that are Cruelty Free... and it has served her well. Her business in San Francisco has taken off and it is growing by leaps and bounds.

These two had all the makings for a wonderful coming together...except there was this one little thing holding Patrick back from seriously pursuing Mia...

Actually, it was more than one....it was more like 3,000....
Yeah... Patrick lived in New York City and Mia was living 3,000 miles away in San Francisco...
And we all know how well long distance romances work...

But here is the deal...
Patrick is Smitten...
Patrick is Ready...
And he is More than Willing and Able...

He just needs to read the signs and figure out how to show Mia how ready he is for her...

This was as swoony as you could get... I wanted to eat these two up with a spoon, that's how perfect they were for each other. The dialogue was incredibly smart, the sex hotter than hot... and the love in their hearts... the best.

And just in case, all that I have told you isn't enough to pique your interest...
Then how about a cat named Zeus who is the holder of all truths...Every time Zeus was on the page... his sly way of understanding humans worked and made me grin.

Thank you Lauren Blakely for giving me everything I wanted... the anticipation, the flutters and all the heart clutches a gal could want.

A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review.

 About Lauren Blakely

A #1 New York Times Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that's hot, sweet and sexy. She lives in California with her family and has plotted entire novels while walking her dogs. With fourteen New York Times bestsellers, her titles have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Lists more than 85 times, and she’s sold more than 2 million books. In October she’ll release HARD WOOD, a hot & hilarious romantic comedy.