Book 2: Exclusively Yours

Exclusively Yours by Stacey Shannon ended up being a very addicting little read. One that was I glad to find on iTunes for free.  It was a bit of a romance story between two exes that reunite in the form of a family vacation/interview.

I don’t know what it has been with me this year, I’ve definitely have been favoring the romantic stories. But I don’t hard core romance where scenes are just sets up of foreplay or pure bodice rippers. Instead I want stories that are grounded in reality. Something to give me hope for from a romance.  Give me a man with flaws but a sweet spot. 

The set up with Exclusively Yours is that Keri works for tabloid magazine and her boss finds out that Keri’s ex is the reclusive author Joe Kowalski. So she is sent home to get an interview with Joe.  She was able to connect with Joe. They find out there is still some sparks between them. So Joe devises this idea: come onto the family vacation and for everyday that you spend with the family, you could ask one question. He also kept a few things off limits which doesn’t exactly help Keri’s interview or career status.  

Spending time with your ex and his family isn’t as easy as it sounds. Especially when you are a city girl,  Joe’s sister is mad at you for unfriending her back in high school and then breaking Joe’s heart, and there are four rowdy boys in the mix.   But I liked that Keri was able to adapt as well as she did, okay she was a bit blackmailed into parts of the trip since if she refused activities, she couldn’t ask a question that day. She held herself well and it was nice to see her and Terri to repair parts of the friendship.

One of my favorite scenes was when Keri and Joe first hooking up. Part of it was how Joe got interrupted before that by his brother Kevin as he was retrieving condoms from the car.  Joe not being to happy about it kinda showed them to his brother poker style before he went to help his parents. But it really got good afterwards. Early into the vacation, Terry made the threat that if Keri and Joe were to hook up, she would hide all of Keri’s bug spray. Well nobody wants to risk their bug spray but it happened when in the woods.  And it was just funny how they all reacted to her swatting at herself until it was fessed up that Terry played a prank (not what started the prank).

I literally was hooked into the family dynamics. Sure I wanted things to end well, but it was more fun to see how everyone interacted. It was a rush to judgment for most people (other then Terry but that was her personality). I could see the kids doing what they were doing and it just felt like fun. I even wanted to go camping as I was reading it.

I'm going to be keeping my eyes out for more about the Kowalski family tales.