CW: Death of a parent, death of family, guns
This book was a delight. A treat just absolutely wonderful.
At it's core it's a very wonderful steamy slow burn (it's got the good dirty parts, but no full on sex until later in the book) build up. Great plot development with the Hannah and Javier taking center stage.

I loved how strong Hannah was and take no shit. Javier was not quite a cinnamon roll but close and ready to support her and do whatever he needed to for her.

Just a great book.

First things first, every book with Southern character or setting needs to have an editor who knows the importance of spelling "y'all" correctly and will notice the incorrect "ya'll" on read throughs (or can do a control+f to make sure there's not even one abomination in there). Now that that's out of the way: this was another tasty treat from Slaughter. Javier was the most precious while still keeping that "alpha male" vibe so many writers try to give off but end up just making the men look like dicks. I chose this book after seeing Talia Hibbert's glowing review, and it did not disappoint. The ending of the drama wrapped up just a little too nicely and the resolution seemed implausible, but I'm willing suspend reality for a bit and go with it.

DNF at 37%. I just couldn’t get into this one, and I’m not sure why.

What's not to love about arranged marriages and moonshine rivalries?

2.5
so middling I've already forgotten most of it

This book is so good. The whole marriage of convenience plot worked perfectly. I loved both main characters and there's an instant attraction between them that made this entire book be filled with sexual tension. This book gets steamy fast and I enjoyed it so much. The hero is such a nice guy and I loved the way he treated the heroine and how much emphasis he put on communication. The heroine is a badass.

While I learned a lot about moonshine (I knew very little about it), I really liked that the whole business and the conflict with the other family didn't take over the story. It was present enough to be interesting but it didn't overpower the romance.

Because this was a short novel, it was almost more of erotica than a romance. It had an interesting premise, possibilities for unique setting and characters, but really just fell flat for me.

This is a great short romance with moonshine along with Black Appalachia. I learned so much about moonshine in KY and hill life. It was a fun little book with steam, HEA, arranged marriage, gun, kidnapping, and a lot of moonshine.

Great read and enjoyed Jodie Slaughter writing. The flow was great and wonderful development of characters for such a short story! I will for sure look for her other books!

Overall, 3.5 stars and 4 steams