Photo credits: Crissa (pixabay), Leolo212 (pixabay) Edited by Vaishali Title: My Beautiful Neighbour Series: The Greene Family #1 Author: Piper Rayne Publisher: Self published Year of Publication: 2021 Format: E-book/kindle app Genre/Themes: Contemporary romance R E V I E W... My Beautiful Neighbour is the first instalment of what I'm certain will be a family-angled saga for the Greene's of Sunrise Bay. I'm unfamiliar with Piper Rayne's Bailey series (ostensibly a reader favourite) but it's a pre-written series set in a neighbouring town that was a major inspiration for the big family vibe in The Greene Family series. As the opener to a tethered series, we’ve got the Greene clan who became an extended family after death devastated their lives. A new addition brought light and laughter back into their hearts but no less than four Greene sibling remains untouched by the tragedy, all still and somehow troubled by the loss that took from them, even more than a decade later, and My Beautiful Neighbour zeroes in on Cade Greene, eldest brother to his busybody siblings. Eldest and arguably the most unwilling to risk what could ruin him. Sunrise Bay is Cade’s home. It's where he wants to be, where he needs to be, where he co-owns a bustling brewery with his step brother, and it's where his involved and tangled family fill the corners of their hometown. It's where his heart is and he wouldn't have it any other way. But gossip reaches a peak after the death of a townie brings Presley Knight away from her own home to the tighter community cluster of a small Alaskan town. She's high heels, big city and big money, but it's none of those things that draws the undivided attention of a man who's known for shielding his heart. The identity of the town newcomer stirs up the rumour mill Presley finds herself owner and inheritor of the neighbouring business to Cade's brewery, the same building that Cade's business partner (and step brother) had his heart set on for their own operational ambitions. Piper Rayne build a wonderful quaint town in this family/community-centred romance. All the small town textures brand the setting. From overbearing family members who haven't mastered the art of minding their own business to a community of secretive and spirited senior retirees who may or may not enjoy a racy pastime and a collective of Greene's who are a small community within a small town community, the authors have created quite the open scene in Sunrise Bay. The style and aesthetic is equally very small town from the cobblestoned square to the requisite awnings. At first, I assumed this might engage the theme of an enemies to lovers, and when I quickly realised that really wasn't going to be the case, It mostly fits the pattern of one-sided suspicion when Presley believes that Cade's interest in her is underhanded. PRESLEY: I really didn't know what to think of Piper Rayne's heroine when she stepped onto the page. She was neither here nor there for me as a leading lady. There wasn’t anything particularly interesting about her. I also didn't believe I'd progress to find anything interesting about her. But the more I became acquainted with her character, the more I did begin to admire the qualities in her. She's bold, unafraid, deals really well with the gossipmongering that coils through the town. She's completely new to the town but driven to find a life for herself in a place that's worlds apart from where she came from, and doesn't let anything derail her. It's a new beginning for Presley, and one she accepts with little fuss. It really troubles me on a level of pure ownership when I read about an imbalanced hero/heroine dynamic, but I praise Presley's intent to hold down boundaries, maintaining her confidence and saying what needed to be said when it came down to it. I thought she handled the coming events, especially the drama with Cade really well. What did bother me was her quick forgiveness come the end. She accepted Cade's turnaround after just one explanation following the heartbreak he caused her. That style of swift resolution never sits well with me. CADE: I'm very much in a hero-specific mood at the moment. I find myself wanting to read about charming, charismatic male leads with golden hearts coiled through with alpha ambition, and that's what Cade was. He's sweet, accommodating, very thoughtful and just a lovely man. He seemed almost reservedly smitten with Presley, always hoping for a chance with her despite her resistance (I love a hero who doesn't give up, who secretly wants more). So let it be known that I did not predict that he would be the runner in this romance. Here was my problem with Cade; I've read many adaptations of him. Many. The no-comittmant man, off-limits beyond the short-term, the emotionally unavailable bachelor with unresolved grief who only becomes available when the story finds its end. I can sympathise with a troubled hero but not when I’m patiently waiting for a change said lead has no desire to act upon. I await the day a male MC ceases to squander away the bounty of burgeoning love. It's a rife and rampant motif but one that exasperates me without reasoning that feels worth the reluctance, and I soon started to become frustrated with the stages of his denial. I also echo Cade's sister because my first thought when the grand opening scene ended was 'you just humiliated her in front of an entire town (a town that included an ex-girlfriend who wanted him back). Cade takes so long to brave the jump, hurts Presley in the process and didn't care to work through his own pain, whereas, in the case of his heroine (who despite her own abandonment issues) doesn't let that quell her feelings enter the framework. Cade struggled to make the commitment before it was almost too late, and only acted when he thought she was leaving. Safe to say that throughout the book, his denial gradually wore on me, even though I liked his character in a general sense. While the story spans an opportunistic opening to the series, it's actually the romance in My Beautiful Neighbour that fails to be the front burner. From the beginning I had a sneaky suspicion that parts of the story were going to be underdeveloped. The setting strikes a charm but the writing was perhaps too simplistic and plain to feel out every corner of the romance, and to add on, the protagonist's personalities verge more on the undiscovered side. The writing of a story should rattle and ring with intrigue; writing can imbibe a story with spelled leverage, and resultingly its characters become the life of what's being written, how they're being written. The truth of it is I never feel bewitched by Piper Rayne's writing style. I don't feel as involved in their stories. If Presley and Cade's romance was an earth-grown bloom, it would need supplemental watering because there's little more than the barest threads of emotional connection between them until Cade overcomes both his denial and dishonesty at the very end of the book. The romance is very slow burn, even the agreed upon friends with benefits arrangement is more akin to foreplay, and only does Cade wait until the not so grand finale to show an interest in being all in. As a personal fancy, I don't relish a wait until the final pages of a book to observe a holistic union, lets say. I like to see the growth in a couple making their way towards that goal - and to see something more well-seasoned between them - so I was disappointed that I only felt the emotional resonance towards the end. Just to reiterate, Cade is a trusty and likeable leading man, and maybe I do drive a hard bargain but I'm easily worn down by a level of resistance that could have been nipped in the bud early on, and one that even started to seem untenable when the plot was commandeered by his utter inability to accept more. Presley and Cade never have that moment where they're emotionally connected or wanting to get to know each other bar a few mindful maybes, especially not vocally. It just wasn't enough for me, especially given the fact that I thought the community was going to assume the resisting force against the town newbie. Alas, it was Cade himself. The authors do rescue the romance some by adding in an epilogue (which was needed, even if it doesn't reference Presley's own progress one year ahead) to what was a rushed reconciliation. I do credit the authors for managing some depth come the end, and I honestly didn't think I'd shed a tear, but I did. It was only then that I really felt some of the weight of what was going on. Perhaps a case of simple impatience or simple dissatisfaction but everything took too long to happen. There were also inconsistencies and plot points that were left unexplored, not abandoning character backstories such as how the impact of Reese's betrayal affected Cade; he doesn't want to get hurt but doesn't express how his ex did hurt him. He also doesn't talk about his mother, even though she's the epicenter of his distress. With Presley, after the initial ambivalence towards her biological mother, there's no further on-page processing about her mom’s life or death. Which led me to think it was only a strategic reason to plant her in the town, overlooking the opportunity to discuss the troubling nature of being given up and adopted, and to explore the woman responsible. And as I touched on above, the author does use the term ‘abandonment’ (granted, only once from Presley’s perspective), but if she does have feelings pertaining to that, It’s not explored either. Ultimately there were some threads unfollowed, threads unplucked and threads left blunt but it was the romance itself that didn’t grace the novel with the strength I was looking for. It also wasn’t particularly romance-driven for me, when that’s the precisely why I eat the genre up with abandon. The supporting characters such as Jed Adam, Xavier, Clara, Nicki and Chevelle are all given a place in the story to season what I’m sure will be their own coming stories. I did love the choice of opening up each chapter with a quote from that chapter - it helped to snowball the interest. I’ve read the first book in Piper Rayne’s Single Dads Club (which didn’t provoke the bookish fun I was looking for) and I’ve also read the opening instalment to their White Collar Brothers series (which was better than the former but still didn’t exact a fuller rating due to a lack of depth), so it is fair to say that I don’t have the best of a sparkling history with their books. As I still find myself coming back to them and their romances over and over again, I confide to watch this space because (in the best of incorrigible faith) it might just happen again as I rue the day I stop seeking the sparkle. Light, sweet and stubborn with the intimacy of familial tinkery. I gave this book 3 stars - Content Warning: Swearing, some smutty scenes and a past parental death. --------------------------------------- M Y R A T I N G S Y S T E M: ★ - 1 star: I did not like the book ★★ - 2 stars: The book was okay ★★★ - 3 stars: It was a good, solid read ★★★★ - 4 stars: A great book ★★★★★ - 5: A phenomenal read --------------------------------------- ___________________________________________________ R E L A T E D P O S T S: ● Book Review: Sexy Filthy Boss by Piper Rayne ___________________________________________________ E X T R A T H O U G H T S: 1) The cover is a glorious thing so feel free to fawn over it as much as I did 😍 2) I know that romance authors have a habit of wanting their heroes and heroines to have sex at least once without protection (and honestly, It’s all good), but to have to do the deed the first time without a layer of protection (despite a professed ‘I’m clean’ or ‘I’m on the pill’) never really sits well with me. Surely that can wait until after a more solid bond is built. 3) Some parts of the story also made me frown from time to time. I’ll give an example: “Let her go if she wants.” I spread my arm out along the seat of my truck, my other hand on the steering wheel. “It’s just that she can’t control herself around me.” I laugh. Presley doesn’t. “That’s not it. Surely you have better things to do rather than take me around town.” Both grandmas peer through the window, waiting to make sure we pull out of here. “Actually, I have about an hour,” I say. “Can you handle an hour in my presence without jumping my bones?” She guffaws, and I want to clap myself on the back for earning that reaction. - So, my confusion here is really about why she laughs at his attempt at smug humour the second time and not the first. Feel free to tell me something I might be missing but these sort of instances just flew over my head. I’ll give another example: ‘She laughs and I stop for a moment in the middle of the hall and stare at her. That might be the first time she’s laughed in my presence since the first time I met her at the wake.' - so, this isn’t actually true. I’m certain she ‘chuckled’ and even ‘guffawed’ once or twice before, and when those details are overlooked, it sort of nullifies what I know to be true. There are a few times where Cade keeps using Presley’s name sentence after sentence when her pronoun would really be more fitting. Another example coming your way: ‘Presley’s laughing so hard, she slips, and I feel her falling to my right. Somehow, I catch Presley before her head hits the floor.' Another inconsistency: 'We grab a coffee from The Grind first. Although I would’ve preferred a beer, I’m not sure I’m ready for another interaction with Cade.' - For someone who’s professedly not a beer person, I’m not sure why she does want one. 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February 2024
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