Title: Make Me Exhale
Series: Oil Barrons #5
Author: Marie Johnston
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Small Town, Grumpy/Sunshine, Age Gap
Release Date: April 4, 2023
Series: Oil Barrons #5
Author: Marie Johnston
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Small Town, Grumpy/Sunshine, Age Gap
Release Date: April 4, 2023
BLURB
Trust fund? Check. Plans to restore an old train foundry into a brewery? Check. Grumpy project manager? Sigh . . . check.
If I wanted to deal with a man just like my uptight dad, I would’ve told my parents what my brewery plans were. Only I didn’t tell anyone. I waited for my trust fund to deliver once I turned twenty-five, and I bought the old train foundry I’d been eyeing for years. Then McCoy Cunningham shows up.
I’m told he’s the best. He’s older than me and knows both sides of the business—the restoration and the brewing. But all I’ve gotten from him are scowls and dismissive grunts. McCoy might think he’s the expert, he might look at me like I should be in diapers with pigtails, but he’s wrong if he thinks he can bulldoze me.
All it takes is one look. One time I catch him eyeing me with something other than disdain. One conversation where we’re geeking out over yeast strains and hops. One kiss that leads to more.
I promised myself I’d never settle for a guarded man who thinks he knows everything, especially one who won’t put me before business. And after what McCoy's been through, he’s all about work. No personal entanglements. The last thing I need is to be left with flat beer and a broken heart.
If I wanted to deal with a man just like my uptight dad, I would’ve told my parents what my brewery plans were. Only I didn’t tell anyone. I waited for my trust fund to deliver once I turned twenty-five, and I bought the old train foundry I’d been eyeing for years. Then McCoy Cunningham shows up.
I’m told he’s the best. He’s older than me and knows both sides of the business—the restoration and the brewing. But all I’ve gotten from him are scowls and dismissive grunts. McCoy might think he’s the expert, he might look at me like I should be in diapers with pigtails, but he’s wrong if he thinks he can bulldoze me.
All it takes is one look. One time I catch him eyeing me with something other than disdain. One conversation where we’re geeking out over yeast strains and hops. One kiss that leads to more.
I promised myself I’d never settle for a guarded man who thinks he knows everything, especially one who won’t put me before business. And after what McCoy's been through, he’s all about work. No personal entanglements. The last thing I need is to be left with flat beer and a broken heart.
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MY REVIEW
Isla's long been short shrifted by her family, her parents in particular. But now she's out from under their thumbs and has used her trust fund to buy the foundry. In it she's planning on a brewery. To do that, though, she needs help. Unfortunately, or is it fortunately? that help comes in the form of a grumpy older guy who is awfully similar to her disapproving dad. Sparring with and standing up to, McCoy, seems an exercise in futility, until he starts slowly seeing things her way. He's still keeping her at arm's length even as they give into their attraction, though. And when she finds out that secret he's kept from her? And it affects what she's trying to do here? Yeah...now she's got a choice to make - stand up for herself and her new business, or let McCoy's baggage stand in her way, even if it means it keeps him in her life.
I love grumpy/sunshine. There's something so satisfying reading as a grumpypants meets sunshine and cannot resist the warmth, and falls hard. McCoy had valid reasons for his grumpiness, but he was seriously frustrating to read as he keep Isla at such a distance, didn't open up to her. But Isla more than made up for him with her work ethic, her backbone, her sureness in what she wanted. She was so slighted by her whole family, that the strides she made just made me cheer for her, and root her on as she brought her own grump to his knees.
AUTHOR BIO
Marie Johnston writes paranormal and contemporary romance. She also works as a medical laboratory scientist and has worked as a public health microbiologist. Depending on the situation, she can be oddly unconcerned about germs or weirdly phobic. Marie’s been a volunteer EMT, a college instructor, a security guard, a phlebotomist, a hotel clerk, and a coffee pourer in a bingo hall. All fodder for a writer!! She has a husband, four kids, and even more cats.
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