“His walls might be tall, but I wasn’t afraid of the climb.”

Kindle Ebook  |  Paperback

 

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Blurb

Take a vacation, they said. Get away
from Silicon Valley’s back-stabbing and power-grabbing. Recharge the innovative
batteries. Unwind, then come back stronger than ever.

Instead, I got lost at sea and fell in love with an anti-social lobsterman.

There’s one small issue:

Owen Bartlett doesn’t know who I am. Who I really am.

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I don’t like people.

I avoid small talk and socializing, and I kick my companions out of bed before the sun
rises.

No strings, no promises, no problems.

Until Cole McClish’s boat drifts into Talbott’s Cove, and I bend all my rules for the sexy
sailor.

I don’t know Cole’s story or what he’s running from, but one thing is certain:

I’m not letting him run away from me.

 

 

 

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Review

4.5 stars!

This is a gorgeous love story! It’s a quick read, but a beautiful m/m romance between two strong but very different men who you cannot help but love. With sizzling sexual tension, a wonderfully well-developed relationship and a great mix of sexy time and heartfelt emotion, this is a great read, and I loved it!

Kate’s fans will remember Owen Bartlett from a cameo in the Walsh series he is the fisherman who married Nick and Erin on his boat, and while I love that tie-in, this book has no other relation to the Walsh series whatsoever and can be absolutely read as a standalone.

Owen is a surly, mostly solitary fisherman living in a small coastal town in Maine. He likes his privacy, and he loves the small cove that he calls home, so when a boat sails into his waters, of course, he investigates. Little does he know that that one decision is about to upend his life.

Cole McClish is an internet billionaire and reluctant celebrity businessman who has lost his design mojo and is on the verge of being ousted from his own company. He was forced into taking a sabbatical and decided to go sailing, but ended up getting lost. When he is rescued by Owen and is offered a place to stay for the night, the peacefulness and anonymity he finds is impossible to resist, and he quickly decides to stay for the summer.

For the first time since high school, I wanted to slow it all down. I wanted to take a break.
Not the bullshit PR cover-up sabbatical, but a vacation.
In Maine.
With a fisherman who didn’t know anything about me.

It all sounds very sweet so far, but there is a raging attraction between the two men. Neither knows that the other is gay, and so instead we get this sort-of-friendship situation where they work together and live together, with epic sexual tension that builds with every moment they spend together. It’s intense and spine-tingling, and lots of fun, and it creates a fantastic set up for their story.

This was crazy. Even if he looked like rough-palmed sex, he was straight. Probably. Maybe. Aw fuck, I couldn’t tell. The longer I thought about it, the easier it was to convince myself that he was gay and a huge, husky gift to me from the sea. From Poseidon himself. But it wasn’t like I had enough game to make anything happen. I’d earned my born-again virgin chip some time ago.

OMG, the chemistry between these two is fantastic. I could feel their attraction, and with the story written in dual POV, we can see all that they are going through as they get to know each other and become friends as they dance around their attraction. And as the sense of anticipation builds, there are sweet moments, hotness, flirting and laugh-out-loud monologuing as each little step gets us closer and closer to the big shift in their relationship.

It wasn’t like I could throw myself at him. As thrilled as I was to hear of his preference for penis, I couldn’t drop my shorts and ask if he wanted a taste of mine.

I love these guys! They are so different, but there’s just something about them that clicks. Owen is quiet and reserved. He’s a simple man who doesn’t even use the internet, and he’s content with his solitary existence. And then along comes Cole, tech genius with a quick wit, a smart mouth and a million questions who never seems to shut up. It’s a wonderful dynamic and lots of fun, and I couldn’t help but fall in love with both of them as they easily and naturally fell for each other.

I wanted him and that want was infinitely greater than sexual desire. I wanted to fuck him straight through the summer but I also wanted to wrap my arms around him and never let go.

And all of that chemistry explodes into an intense and passionate love affair that is far beyond anything either of them have ever experienced.

I’d never experienced sex like this before. There was the insanely good fucking component but that wasn’t the whole story. It was the feeling of it all. The emotion behind every thrust, the intention in every kiss, the promise in every breath we shared. This kind of sex was an affirmation, and an ever-growing part of me knew I could scavenge the earth and not find anything else like it. Like him.

But Owen has no idea who Cole really is, and with Cole’s stay in town limited to the summer, what kind of future can they have – even if it’s all they really want?

He was everything to me, and I was dying to be everything to him.

This is a gorgeous, gorgeous romance. It’s real and raw, passionate and intense, fun, sweet and functional. Owen and Cole have a wonderful dynamic, and I loved every moment of them together.

And with other residents of Talbot’s Cove introduced, there are glimpses of future stories and it looks like we may be getting some more books from this sleepy seaside town, and I cannot wait!

I loved this one! 4.5 stars.

An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

 

Talbott’s Cove series

 

 

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About the Author

Kate Canterbary doesn’t have it all figured out, but this is what she knows for sure: spicy-ass salsa and tequila solve most problems, living on the ocean–Pacific or Atlantic–is the closest place to perfection, and writing smart, smutty stories is a better than any amount of chocolate. She started out reporting for an indie arts and entertainment newspaper back when people still read newspapers, and she has been writing and surreptitiously interviewing people—be careful sitting down next to her on an airplane—ever since.

Kate lives on the water in New England with Mr. Canterbary and the Little Baby Canterbary, and when she isn’t writing sexy architects, she’s scheduling her days around the region’s best food trucks.

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