Second read April 2022:

Upgraded to 5 stars because I love this damn series and I love Matt and Lauren. ( )

I don’t know if it was the author’s intention or not, but I spent the majority of this book disliking the heroine. And loving the hero. Matthew was just wonderful. I liked him from start to finish but I was angry with Lauren and the way she pushed him away and the way she treated him for the majority of the book. If the secondary characters and the sex weren’t so well done and entertaining, I may have put this one down and walked away. But I am glad that I didn’t. Lauren redeemed herself in the end so I have to forgive her and move on. Matthew got his happy and that is good enough for me. The journey to get to that happy was full of smoking hot sex scenes and a lot of frustration.

I was sold on this book by the first line of the synopsis, “If I had known I'd have a hot architect balls deep inside of me before the end of the weekend, I'd have made time for a pedicure.” I thought for sure I was going to love the heroine. But she was not what I expected and I liked Matthew, so any slight against him had me putting my hackles up. Matthew’s siblings, on the other hand, are delightful and I am really looking forward to more in The Walshes series. Kate Canterbary is a wonderful writer. The dialogue in this book was exceptional. Lots of humor and information gleaned from it and it was all very natural. The first half of the book was a little slow for me, though it may have been me wishing Lauren and her walls away that made it drag because the second half was great. The Walshes are a neat blend of characters and siblings. Shannon and Riley made this book more appealing for me and I really enjoyed that missing sister, Erin, was still a character albeit a virtual one through her emails with Matthew. I hope she gets a book in the series. For now, I am going to be happy with Matthew and Lauren’s story. Despite my feelings for Lauren, this was a really good read. Both in story and quality. The Space Between is next in my reading line up for sure. ( )

I just didn't get it. I don't think there's another way for me to say it, but I don't get it. It was flat, I didn't really understand their spark other than being spoon fed that there was one because they couldn't contain themselves, and the hero talks too much about stuffing his cock in the heroine's mouth for my taste.

I did like the family and the family business aspect, just couldn't get on board romance-wise. And I guess that's the main reason for romance so there you go...

DNF @ 42% ( )

This is my favorite Walsh Family series book. Kate Canterbary stuns this reader with the originality and engrossing storytelling that had me reading chapter after chapter with the inability to put it down until 'The End'.

I will apologize in advance for the redundancy of the reviews of the series. That paragraph above will be repeated with each book. Although this review is supposed to be centered around this particular story, I'd be remiss if I don't explain what it is that I love about Ms Canterbary's writing. In whatever genre you prefer, there will be repeating of storylines/tropes. But when you find an original voice that gifts you with engaging characters - you just fall in love with reading again. For the entire Walsh family series, Kate Canterbary built upon a foundation as a whole while keeping each siblings story focused. As a reader, I felt emotionally involved with the each unique story told.

Matthew and Lauren are two of the most unlikely pair. So unlike in their drive to accomplish their goals. One is methodical and what I call a 'glue' person. Lauren is driven and so goal focused that nothing will impede her way - including herself. In a vain of honesty, if Lauren was my best friend, I would have knocked her upside the head a number of times. But what made the story work was Matthew wasn't giving up on Lauren no matter how hard she pushed. They come out of the battlefield of HEA a bit bloody and bruised but you know in the end they so deserved their love story.

Here goes the lecture: You will read the series in order. And I also recommend you read one right after another. Kate Canterbary is just starting the foundation for book one. You want to be a part of the construction and relish in the final reveal. This series is amongst my personal favorites and one I will read over and over again. 5 out of 5 stars

( )

To be fair to this review, I have to admit that I just powered through all the books in this series that have been released to date, so trying to tease out my thoughts about them individually will be challenging. However, I think it's fair to saw that I liked them!

Also, all of these books take place through overlapping sequences of time and events, so you get to see some of them through multiple points of view. This makes it especially rich and interesting, but does mean that they will lose something as stand alones. I highly suggest reading them in order.

As the first book in the series, this one captured my attention with its intelligent, snarky, slightly less angsty the usual characters. Yes, sometimes they do dumb things, but they are dumb things that real humans do, not the contrived and painful plot points that sometimes clog up romance novels. And the sex is hot. So really, it's a win-win kind of book. ( )