Review: Nuts by Alice Clayton {+Giveaway!}
Nuts (Hudson Valley #1)
by: Alice Clayton
Publication Date: Oct. 20, 2015
Publisher: Gallery Books
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age Group: Adult
Source: e-ARC received via BocciPR and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Page Count: 320 pages
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 4/5 stars
From New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton, the first in a brand-new romance series telling the humorously sexy tale of Roxie, a private chef who gets a taste of love—but is it to stay, or to go?
After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she's back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?
After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she's back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?
After loving Alice's Wallbanger series, I became an Alice Clayton fangirl for life. (I do still need to go back and read her Redhead series, especially after we saw Grace and Jack in this book!) I really enjoyed starting a new series from her and completely fell for Farmer Leo and his nuts. :)
I enjoyed Roxie's character. She is currently living in L.A. working as private chef and gets to do what she loves most- cooking and creating for others. She receives a phone call from her mom back in her hometown, enlisting her help in taking over the family diner while she's gone. Roxie is vehemently against this, as she swore once she got out of that small town, she wouldn't ever go back. She didn't like who she was there and wanted to make a new name for herself- not be the same clumsy girl from the past with the hippie mother. However as fate would have it, Roxie doesn't have much of a choice and finds herself back where she began. I liked that Roxie realized that just because she was back in her hometown, it didn't mean she had to revert to the girl she used to be. Her clumsiness is still a factor though, which actually makes for some great times between her and the sexy farmer who brings her mother produce from his farm.
Farmer Leo is one sexy beast and I really ended up loving the guy. I had a feeling I knew what his deal was though and I was right. He's pretty close-mouthed when it comes to his family and we learn the reason why later. Unfortunately I wasn't crazy about the fact that he withheld such information from Roxie, especially given how hot and heavy the two were. Even though Roxie makes it clear she's only staying for the summer, he still should have disclosed that information to her. I was surprised no one bothered to tell Roxie, because it seems like everyone knew about it. The thing to which I'm referring comes pretty late in the book, so I felt the resolution came rather quickly after the conflict, where I would have preferred a little bit more there in the way of development.
Alice Clayton is always on point with her banter. I thought Leo's nickname for Roxie was just precious and found myself swooning along with her every time he called her Sugar Snap. The innuendos with the food was just really great and definitely made for some interesting times.
I am really looking forward to the next book, as we met Oscar already in this one. He is an obscenely tall dairy farmer, who is a gruff and a man of few words. (Sigh. So he's going to be amazing in bed, let's be real.) I'm hoping Roxie's best friend Natalie will be his leading lady, as that moment towards the end of the book was just so much fun.
Overall, I thought this was a great start to a new series and I'm really looking forward to seeing Leo and Roxie in the upcoming books, as well as how things are going with them and their new relationship.
Giveaway Rules:
-Must be 18 years of age to enter.
-Giveaway is open internationally.
-Giveaway will run 10/20-10/30
-Winners will be contacted via email and then will have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen.
7 comments
I seriously need to read this author and I am dying to read Wallbanger. Her books sounds so awesome and this one sounds really good too. Awesome review!
ReplyDeleteWe already talked about this and you know I felt similarly about Leo withholding information too. It was frustrating tbh and did manage to lower my rating. And I wanted more sexy times. Haha!
ReplyDeleteBut this was still fun though and I think the next book will be more entertaining.
Great review, Jess!
Oh! I missed that she had a new series out! I will definitely check this out. Her humor is some of the best. Farmer Leo sounds sexy, though I probably won't like that he's keeping a major secret either.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, friend! <3
Farmer Leo and his nuts - LOL! Cooking, banter and innuendo, it sounds fab!
ReplyDeleteI love Clayton's books, they are so fun. I know Nick had a few issues too so I hope I like this one. I'm planning on listening to the audio.
ReplyDeleteI consider Oysters sexy food! And, can't wait to read this book!
ReplyDeleteIce cream ��
ReplyDeleteLeave me some comment love! And I will get around to commenting back!
My blog is an award-free blog, however, as I just do not have the time to follow-up.