Shucked by Kate Canterbary is live!
Oh, I love this book! A brother’s best friend, enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine romance, this story is funny, sweet, sexy, heartfelt, and beautifully romantic, with wonderful characters who I absolutely love. This is a gem of a read, and a fave for 2023!
Amazon (available in KU)
Blurb
His best friend’s little sister is not an option.
No one ever accused Beckett Loew of being the nice Loew brother, especially not Sunny duJardin. Stuck back home in the quirky town of Friendship, Rhode Island, Beckett is scrambling to save his family’s oyster bar and take care of his teenage brother. He doesn’t have time to deal with the beautiful, sunshine-y owner of the new vegan cafe next door too. His best friend’s little sister may be all grown up, but Sunny’s still a distracting pain in his side.
No one expects much from Sunny duJardin, especially not Beckett Loew. She’s not worried about her older brother’s tall, dark, and broody best friend or battles he insists on waging with her everyday. She’s not the same kid he teased years ago. Now, she composts his type for breakfast.
They’re all wrong for each other.
Bitter rivals.
Complete opposites.
Off limits.
Except they can’t keep their hands off each other.
They tell themselves it’s nothing more than a steamy summer fling until secrets spill and real trouble comes their way.
Review
5 stars!
Oh, I love this book! A brother’s best friend, enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine romance, this story is funny, sweet, sexy, heartfelt, and beautifully romantic, with wonderful characters who I absolutely love. This is a gem of a read, and a fave for 2023!
Beckett Loew is the eldest of three brothers, and due to his loving but flakey parents, he is the caretaker of the family. So, when his parents become inadvertent criminals, the family oyster restaurant and bar is in trouble, and his 17 year old brother is left alone, he leaves his life overseas to return to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island, to take charge. But things have changed in his absence – notably, the brand new vegan café that has opened up across the car park from his bar, run by none other than Sunny du Jardin, little sister of his best friend, Lance, and now a bright, hippy-ish, free spirited stunner that he cannot keep his eyes off.
Sunny grew up in Friendship but moved away, only to return when she took ownership of the building she and her best friends have converted into their dream café. Everything is going great for her, and then Beckett returns to town. He and her brother tormented her during her teenage years, and he is still a moody, grumpy bastard who is completely lacking in social skills. She wants nothing to do with him, but suddenly, he is everywhere.
Beckett is smitten with Sunny at first glance (and don’t we love watching the big hardasses fall to pieces so hard and so fast?!), yet with every interaction between them full of snark anger and snark, it’s a battle from the very beginning, and damn, I was there for it!
She glared at me, her gaze viciously cold. God, this girl hated me. Which was excellent, considering my immediate reaction to her was complete depravity.
It’s bitter and funny, every moment made all the more intense because of Beckett’s need to insert himself into every facet of Sunny’s life (all in the name of helping her, of course!). Her years-old grudge soon turns to attraction, and the sexual tension is so freaking good! I wavered between desperately wanting to see something happen, and soaking up every moment of the slow burn, completely enjoying the ride.
I was powerless in the face of those evil grins and those smart-ass comments. All she had to do was smile and tell me to go to hell, and I was fucked.
When they give in to it all, it’s with complete honesty and eyes wide open. They know what they’re getting in to, they just can’t stay away from each other anymore, and it’s so. Freaking. Hot! And despite their differences, the difficulties that they expect when Sunny’s brother finds out, and the fact that Beckett is only in town for a little while, it’s on.
“Here I am now, in a place where I am forced to accept I do like you,” she continued, ignoring me completely. “I like your scowls and your moods, mostly because I’ve found all your buttons and it’s a lot of fun to push them.” … “And I find you attractive,” she went on. “Distractingly so. It’s actually a problem for me and I don’t know what to do about that.”
While Beckett is a complete control freak who lives to take charge and fix everything, Sunny is a smartass free spirit. They may both be headstrong, but otherwise they are complete opposites, and watching them come into each other’s lives and deal with their differences is so entertaining. It’s further complicated by the chaos that is going on around them, and between family issues, business issues, Sunny’s health condition and the troubles that she’s finds herself in, there’s plenty of opportunity for Beckett to show his uber-protective and possessive side (gold!), forcing him to deal with his rapidly changing feelings.
“I like you. A lot . It’s very uncomfortable for me.”
It’s funny and sweet, and so, so fun. I loved the dynamic between these two, how openly they accept each other despite their differences, and how honestly and openly they fall for each other even though they had no intention of doing so. As as if Beckett isn’t irresistible enough, he has this vulnerability about him that brings a bit of drama, but that ultimately made me love him even more! They have a lot to figure out – personally and together, and I was feeling it all with them, and loved every moment of the journey.
“Don’t overthink,” she said, “even though I know it’s your superpower. Whatever this is, we just have to let it happen. It’s better that way, okay? We don’t have to know what comes next. We don’t have to control it.”
There is a fabulous cast of side characters. Sunny’s friends are a hilarious bunch, Beckett’s colleagues, and the townsfolk of Friendship are lots of fun, and in a bonus for Canterbary fans, this book is set within the same small town as [book:In a Jam|62597278], and Noah and Shay both make very welcome cameos. And even though Beckett’s family is falling apart, there’s a lot of entertainment there – and with two troubled, smartass Loew brothers just begging to have their stories told, I am so looking forward to more from this series.
I loved this book. It’s a long one, but it certainly didn’t feel like it as I lost myself in this story, and lapped up every moment.
Such a great read – 5 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
About the Author
USA Today Bestseller Kate Canterbary writes smart, steamy contemporary romances loaded with heat, heart, and happy ever afters. Kate lives on the New England coast with her husband and daughter.
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