Reviewed by Donna
SERIES REVIEW: Southern Charm 1 – 4
AUTHOR: Nicole Dennis
PUBLISHER: Totally Bound
BOOK #1 TITLE: Rules of the Chef
LENGTH: 144 Pages
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When hotelier Samuel Ashford arrives to change things, Southern Charm chef Dakota Mitchell fights against it and nothing will be the same.
Learning about the sale of his beloved home – The Southern Charm, chef and co-owner Dakota Mitchell is having a hard time with the potential changes. He wants nothing else to alter.
Chosen by his family’s company Ashford Hotels to re-create the Charm into the latest chain of boutique hotels, Samuel Ashford enters the Deep South. Inside the overgrown, run down appearance, he learns the Charm is run by people who care and love the building, the delicious food, and their guests.
Can these two put aside differences and arguments to save the Charm? Even if it means they find a little love along the way.
REVIEW:
Southern Charm, or simply The Charm to those of us in the know, is a gorgeous old B&B located on the Florida coast. And yes, I’m aware that Florida has a lot of coast but that’s about as specific as this chick from Australia can come up with. The Charm has been going through a tough patch; the economy is crappy, tourists stopped visiting after an oil spill from years earlier and the old building is in need of some serious repairs.
The story begins with half share owner Edward informing his co-owner Dakota that he’s sold his share of the business to a large, family owned hotel chain. Dakota is a chef and the owner of the restaurant that is attached to the B&B and it’s pretty much a case of one part of the business can’t exist without the other. So naturally Dakota loses his shit at the man who is meant to be one of his closest friends. And I should probably butt in here with the observation that I’m completely on Dakota’s side on this one. We’re meant to feel sorry for Edward because he had a stroke a while back and he just can’t handle it anymore financially, emotionally or health wise. BUT, none of that excuses giving your friend only hours of notice that his new co-owner will be arriving to look over the B&B and decide what changes need to be made. Sorry, but that is an asshole move.
Samuel Ashton (don’t call him Sam) was raised in the world of hotel ownership. His life has been suits, meetings and money but that left little time to actually relax and enjoy life. This is the first time he’s been put in charge of the take over of a hotel and he feels the pressure of his father’s judgment as he works to decide whether or not they should keep the doors open. His goal is to thoroughly assess the situation in the six weeks he’s allotted himself, and then take off back to his hotel room home in New York.
I can’t say that I really liked Samuel. I get that he needed to go in there appearing confident, when really he was feeling anything but, but maybe he overcompensated a little? Or a lot? His character just really rubbed me the wrong way and I was firmly Team Dakota until he started acting like a brat too. At one stage Samuel says that he doesn’t understand Dakota’s bipolar behaviour and I think that sums up the majority of this book nicely. They were either making out or ready to kill each other, cooing and cuddling or purposely making the other look bad in front of other people. Which may make some readers say “Yay, enemies-to-lovers” but as both enemies and lovers, I felt something was missing between the two men. Maybe because the back and forth was so constant it made me dizzy, I just missed feeling that connection between them as friends or foes.
My favourite aspect of this book was the fact that Dakota was a chef. I love books with chefs and I totally agree with Samuel that Dakota in chef mode was hot. The amount of food talk was not over the top but there was still enough to create interest in Dakota as a chef.
The ending came a little abruptly and left a few questions unanswered. There was no cliffhanger ending, but I’m assuming that some problems are going to follow through more of the series. Problems such as, why is Dakota’s crazy successful restaurant losing money and, who tried to harm/kill Samuel?
While this first book didn’t knock my socks off I was satisfied enough to continue on with the rest of the series.
RATING: 
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BOOK #2 TITLE: By the Numbers
LENGTH: 258 Pages
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Can a scruffy carpenter and a neurotic accountant find middle ground?
With permission to begin construction and repairs on the Southern Charm, Sullivan ‘Sully’ Tarleton can’t wait to start bringing the old hotel back to new life. He and his crew jump on the tear-down until he overhears his friends talking about picking up the accountant at the airport. Volunteering since he needs to head that way, he doesn’t know the changes this accountant will bring to his life.
Suffering from severe OCD and additional issues after growing up with a hoarder parent, Chandler Braddock prefers to keep his surroundings neat, perfect, organised, and minimal. A reason he enjoys working with numbers. They always balance out, match up to others, and are able to be tracked. Often refusing to leave his New York office, he gives in when his best friend, Samuel, requests his presence in Florida. But what will happen when he’s met by a sexy, but very messy carpenter? And will he be able to give up his orderly life for such a man?
REVIEW:
This second book carries on right from were the first left off. We were introduced to main character Sully in book one. He came in towards the end, his company hired to tackle the extensive renovations that the Charm requires. Chandler, on the other hand, was mentioned in Rules of the Chef multiple times but he doesn’t actually enter the series until Sully arrives at the airport to pick him up at the beginning of this book. We are already aware though that Chandler has some serious OCD issues as a result of his screwed up childhood and he also suffers from anxiety.
Chandler works for Ashford Hotels and has been sent to the Charm to attempt to sort out their decades, yes decades, of incorrectly filed (and not so filed) documents, and hopefully discover if the previous accountant had been siphoning off funds from the business. Unfortunately between the new environment, the hoarder’s dream office and customs agents touching everything in his suitcase, Chandler is not having the easiest time of it.
So isn’t it lucky that Sully is The OCD Whisperer. Right from the start Chandler feels pretty comfortable around Sully. A lot of that is probably due to the fact that Sully is so accepting of his “quirks” as they call them. And when I say accepting, I mean unbelievably, effortlessly, prince charming was fashioned around this man accepting. He couldn’t be any more perfect if he was a fictional character. Err, wait… When Chandler’s anxiety does kick in Sully always seems to do exactly the right thing. And you know what, I know that sounded a little mocking but I actually really liked these two guys together. Also, to be honest, Chandler was such a difficult person to be around that Sully kind of had to be that perfect. It doesn’t matter how nice a person Chandler was, doesn’t matter how much his issues weren’t his fault, any non-perfect person would end up annoyed and frustrated most of the time.
I preferred this story to the first one. I don’t know if it was just because I found Chandler’s OCD so interesting but the story seemed more eventful. I do know that I definitely liked both Sully and Chandler better than Samuel and Dakota (from the first book). Actually I enjoyed getting the continued story of Dakota and Samuel in the background of this story and by the end I liked the two of them a lot more than I had previously. I love series that include the characters from earlier books.
There isn’t much sex in this book, which absolutely made sense because Chandler isn’t the sort of character to just dive into something without serious consideration. He’s also a virgin. A virgin with a hell of a lot of learning from the bible of blowjobs – Cosmo magazine. I think one of my favourite scenes is when he explains the techniques he is using as he gives Sully a handjob.
As I predicted, the few loose threads from the previous book carry through to this one but alas, there is still no answer to either the question of the missing money or to who harmed Samuel. Perhaps the next book will shed some light?
RATING: 
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ARe
BOOK #3 TITLE: On the Green
LENGTH: 193 Pages
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Can a flashy sous chef and hardworking landscaper go beyond their past and find one another?
Homeless as a teen, Malcolm Bissette has found a new life at the Southern Charm. Flamboyant, he often changes his hair colour on a whim. At sixteen, he crushed hard on the landscaper, Reece Simpson.
Now all grown up, the crush for Reece remains but there appears to be no reciprocation from him. Malcolm watches him at work every day from the kitchen, but lets the crush disappear. He vows to forget the man—that is until Reece changes the entire game.
Waiting for years to get his hands on the vast overgrowth around the Charm, Reece Simpson dives into the project with enthusiasm. Preferring plants to people, he sticks to just brief moments with men. There is one man he would consider staying beyond a moment with, though—the flashy, colourful sous chef at the Southern Delights. Realising his feelings, a wave of emotions knocks Reece off his feet. Is he in time to catch this flirty chef?
What would it be like to have Mal in bed? Would it make the summer afternoons even steamier? Is there a chance for love for both of them? Could they entertain the idea of a life together like their friends?
REVIEW:
On the Green has a timeline that overlaps much of the second book but obviously has two different main characters as the focus.
Honestly, this is easily my least favourite addition to the series so far, which is disappointing because I was looking forward to reading Mal’s story. We met Mal back in the first book. He’s Dakota’s sous chef at Southern Delights and was dubbed Chef Smurf in the second book because at that time he had bright blue tips in his hair. Which, according to the other guys looked way better than the solid pink hair he boasted the month previous. If you ask Mal’s friends they would tell you that the only time he doesn’t have a colorful head is when he’s feeling depressed. Unfortunately, for much of this book, Mal’s hair is plain old brown. The reason he’s so depressed? Well that would be due to Reece.
Reece was introduced in the second book and I’ll admit, I was a little worried about how I’d go reading a whole book with a character who spoke in such an annoying way. His brief appearance in book two was all hella this and hella that and I formed an instant dislike for the man. Thankfully, the author dropped that for this book. Now normally I’d be making comments about inconsistency in characters between books, but in my opinion, I think the author made a smart decision.
There were two main reasons I wasn’t overly fond of this book. Firstly, nothing really happens. The series wasn’t progressed in any way aside from the fact that two more of the gay men floating around this town are now matched up. The carried over storylines of the missing money and the poisoning of Samuel are barely mentioned and there are a few other occurrences from the previous book that I’m not actually sure we’re finished with. I’m uncertain if they’re continuing threads too. There was the attack on Chandler that was never mentioned again and the fact that Samuel’s father had someone spying on the men and taking photos.
But ignoring the series angle, this book is entirely uneventful in itself. Every time the men mentioned doing something, like their rather epic sounding movie nights, there’d be a lot of build up to the event and then you turn the page and it’s two weeks later with a brief mention of what a good night they had. And that wasn’t the only time. It seemed to me that a lot of the actual “events” that occurred during this story happened off page. Pretty much the entire story was Reece and Mal dancing around each other, and I actually got confused several times, not understanding if they were actually together or not.
And that brings me to my second complaint. The relationship between Mal and Reece. We have kissing and flirting and dirty dancing yet for some reason both men aren’t sure if the other one is interested. Mal has been mooning over Reece for close to a decade but right after Reece kisses him for the first time, and granted it came out of nowhere, Mal heads out to the club lamenting the fact that he’s single and can’t find a guy to get serious with. Now if a guy that I had been crushing on for that long kissed me, and I’m sure you’d all agree, I’d be riding that emotional high for the next week at least! I wouldn’t be moping over my lack of love life because I would be feeling like I had a shot at winning the jackpot. And I know I’ve mentioned the abrupt endings before but this one was worse that the previous ones. I felt as though these guys barely scraped in with a HFN.
The good parts of this book? While sex in a commercial kitchen is all kinds of wrong and just yuk, it was also pretty hot and funny if you get caught by your pedantic boss. Although, I guess it’s kind of understandable that Dakota is going to kick off after discovering they desecrated his pristine workspaces.
This book also deepened my love of Dorian. I realize he probably needs to get a bit older but I can’t wait for his book.
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BOOK #4 TITLE: When in Bloom
LENGTH: 166 Pages
BLURB:
Could the personal challenges of a former Army doctor and a brilliant florist get in the way of a chance at life and love?
Fighting Type One diabetes since childhood, Jude Sebastian runs to prove he can live a normal life, until epileptic seizures begin to change his life. Even with Dawson, his Medical Alert Golden Labrador, at his side Jude finds daily life difficult. He owns the floral shop, Flowers in the Breeze, and designs everything from simple bouquets to elaborate themes for weddings and celebrations.
At the Shore Breeze Clinic, Jude comes across a man clearly suffering with a PTSD episode. A new arrival in the small town, Doctor Elliott Sheffield, a retired Army Ranger doctor is looking for a second chance after what he saw in the Middle Eastern deserts.
Wanting a normal relationship, Jude tries to deny his disorders, but something is happening. He can’t regulate his sugars and his disorder worsens. When he returns to the clinic, Dawson alerts him to an oncoming seizure.
Will the personal issues and challenges of both men get in the way of a chance at love?
REVIEW:
Onto the fourth book, and I was a little concerned that this was going to be one of those books in the series where you’re left thinking – now why on earth did the author choose those characters? You know what I mean, those seemingly superfluous stories that tend to pop up around book three or four in a series and feature previously unknown or little mentioned characters while you’re still waiting for a better known character’s book. After feeling a little let down after On the Green I really didn’t want another story that didn’t feel connected to the series and I’ll admit I perhaps went into this book prepared to dislike the main characters. However, this ended up being my favourite story of the series so far.
The story begins with Elliot experiencing a flashback, a very inconvenient flashback considering he’s a doctor dealing with an emergency at a busy hospital. Elliot made a previous appearance way back in the first book as the doctor on duty when a very distressed Dakota rushed in Samuel for treatment. The way the two men described their home to Elliot stayed with him, so when he finds himself desperately needing a change from the fast pace of the city hospital he sends off a job application to the Shore Breeze Clinic. It’s at his job interview that he bumps into Jude for the first time.
Jude has had a few mentions through the series, he’s the owner of the local florist who provides flowers for The Charm. He has diabetes and epilepsy severe enough to require an alert dog, Dawson and lately he’s been experiencing increasing seizures because he just can’t seem to get a handle on his blood sugars. Lucky he’s started dating a doctor, huh?
This couple fit together perfectly. Not that everything is easy for them but I liked the way they were there to help each other. My problem with the first book in this series was that I didn’t really feel a connection between the main characters and to some extent that carried through to the other stories too. But by the end of When in Bloom I felt that Jude and Elliot had really cemented their bond.
This was also the first book to really stir any emotion in me. And wow, did it ever. I was crying like a baby when one of Elliot’s patients dies. I think the author did a great job of evoking the emotions needed to make that scene memorable, particularly because we hadn’t met any of the characters involved prior to that scene.
Series wise, Mr. Harding rears his head again (figuratively – we still don’t actually meet him), and there’s the new mystery, although probably connected, of what’s up with the town’s computers? We’re also introduced to a couple more men who need a story. This series is gearing up to be a long one!
The events at the end of the book were a little, ok a lot, dramatic and maybe over the top, but I really enjoyed it. And for once I was actually not left whining over the way the book ended. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.
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OVERALL RATING:
Yes, I realize that those four ratings don’t average out to 3.5 but I don’t think my dissatisfaction with one book in a series should drag down the rating so I kinda, maybe just left that book out. As I just mentioned above, I’m looking forward to see what happens next with this series. Ok, I had a few complaints but what I liked best about this series is that I actually got exactly what I was expecting. Sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and relax with a book that, while it doesn’t blow you away, is easy to get into and is comfortably satisfying.