ARC Review: What It Takes by Shannon Stacey

“…I did enjoy the small town, relaxed vibe of the book.”
~ Under the Covers

Even though this is my first time reading this series, I’ve been wanting to give it a try for a years.  This book doesn’t actually feature a Kowalski HEA but instead one of their lifelong friends.   I don’t have much of a frame of reference in terms of comparing this to previous books, but I did enjoy the small town, relaxed vibe of the book.

Ben is a sexy paramedic.  He grew up with the Kowalskis and had left town to live in the city until, recently, he came back.  He sees all his friends settled down and having kids and is ready to be in that same place himself.  Laney just got out of a bad marriage.  She’s trying to find herself again and her independence by working at the Northern Star.  The last thing she wants is a relationship, a man, or anything more than a fling.

I thought the romance between Ben and Laney definitely had sparks, but I didn’t think when they finally got together those sparks lived up to the expectation I had for them.  He spends so much time trying not to take over and let her set the pace, and she spends so much time wanting to prove to herself she can be independent that I felt like at times they were both getting in the way of the romance a bit too much.

Fans of the series will be happy to get glimpses of a lot of the previous couples.  The fact that this plot centers around an annual family camping trip will give everyone a taste of old characters and for a new reader of the series like myself it sparked my interest in some of the other members of the family.  The group scenes were so much fun to read about and felt natural and real.  Definitely my favorite part of this story because it gave the book a true feeling of family comfort.  That coupled with the cute small town with all the expected gossipy people and it had a lot of those elements I love in this type of story.  I will be checking out the previous books for sure.

[about-author author=”Shannon Stacey”]

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