"When your life is chaotic, what’s one more complication?

Jane Tanner’s friends are settling down, while she’s been settling for less. She longs for adventure and the big city, but caring for her ailing grandfather means she's shackled to her small town. She’s excited her vintage gift shop is finally up and running, but it’s not enough.

Longing to fulfill at least one dream—to become a mother before her biological clock ticks out—Jane drunkenly propositions the worst possible candidate for Dad. Kurt Elway is off-limits with a capital O. He’s a good friend, but he's too young, too busy running his family’s ranch. Plus, he and Jane’s sister, Kate, used to date. That kind of off-limits.



Unbeknownst to Jane, Kurt’s pining for her. When he’s fully on board to father her baby, she sees him in a new light. Then lingering baggage between Kate and Kurt suddenly surfaces and Jane is reminded of just how messy life is. But…so is parenting. Maybe it’s time to embrace the mess?" From the book's Amazon page.

People who like "chick lit," women's fiction, weird romances, family drama, small town stories... and fans of Brenda Novak.

I liked Jane and Kurt and Kurt's family and Jane's grandfather, and Ellen and Tallulah's characters.

The whole weirdness with the sister... not just having previously dated Kurt, but the whole scene the night the police were called too.

reconsider my reading all of Brenda Novak's books.

Mostly bored or disgusted, but there were some nice friendship, small town and family scenes. The end of the book worked out nicely.

"
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak has written over 60 novels. An eight-time Rita nominee, she's won The National Reader's Choice, The Bookseller's Best and other awards. She runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity that has raised more than $2.5 million for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). She considers herself lucky to be a mother of five and married to the love of her life. www.brendanovak.com
--This text refers to the mass_market edition." from the book's Amazon page.

I really don't... unless you read the first two books and really want to read the whole series. I wish I had just returned it instead of plodding through the whole thing.

Stated in places above and below.

This is the third book so far in Brenda Novak's Coyote Canyon series. It was published on February 20, 2024, and even though I didn't like it, it has an average 4.5 star rating on Amazon and 4.4 stars on Goodreads.com.
It's three hundred and sixty nine pages long.

More detail about what I didn't like:
At the beginning of the book, it was made to be that Kurt and Jane's sister (Kate) had a light, not serious romance. Then later it escalates to them not only having slept together but Kate having always thought they were going to get married. And Jane went from being creeped out when it was light... to being all in when it was so much more. It was just too weird and inconsistent for me. Granted, it took me a long time to get through this one because I kept putting it down in favor of more interesting books. So maybe I forgot something. But it didn't feel like a logical, cohesive story to me in that area.

Also, the whole scene where Jane was afraid for Kate's life and hit Kate's attacker in the head with a frying pan and then Kate not only refuses to thank her for her help but totally turns on her and refuses to corroborate her story with the police. Hated that.

Loved that Kurt came as soon as Jane called him for help though. Kurt was really a great, almost too good to be true character. I was glad that he and Jane worked things out... but really, I don't even have a sister and am 100% sure if mine had slept with a guy and dated him on and off for many years, I wouldn't date him. If I were single. Which I'm not.

So, a mostly irritating or boring book, with some action and some nice parts. My final recommendation... skip this one and see if the next one in the series is better. Book one was okay. Book two was okay. Both were definitely better than this one (book three).

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Created Mar 07, 2024 at 8:02pm • Submit your own review...