REVIEWED by Jay V.
TITLE: Cold Pressed
AUTHOR: Allison Temple
SERIES: Seacroft Stores #2
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 291 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 15, 2019
BLURB:
No strings attached is all Oliver can offer. He’s hiding a broken heart that holds him back from diving into a new relationship, but he’ll go on a blind date to make his family happy. Just one date, though; he doesn’t have time for love to derail his plans.
Divorced and demoted to the night shift, Nick has his own problems. He’s got an ex-wife who needs him and a kid with one foot in juvie. The last thing Nick needs is to butt heads – or other body parts – with a tempting hipster who wears a sad smile on their blind date.
Their chemistry can’t be denied, though, in an argument or in bed. No strings sex is uncomplicated and that’s what Nick and Oliver need. But getting into bed together is one thing. Staying out of each other’s hearts soon becomes so much more complicated than either one imagined.
REVIEW:
Boys are stupid.
What comes from a chance encounter and a blind date, Oliver and Nick decide to be in a sex only arrangement. Both of their lives are so complicated they try to keep their distance emotionally from each other and just have fun. Even though they don’t know what is happening with each other’s personal lives, we get a glimpse of both their lives – Oliver is trying to start a new career opening a health store business and Nick is trying to navigate through some tough family issues after recovering from an accident. Keeping a non-relationship going is tough – and their personal lives are crashing in to each other, showing maybe it’s more than they are comfortable being and truly need each other to keep going.
Allison Temple take on two of the well-tread troupes is well executed and she manages to make them believable. The two men struggle to find their own personal ways as life tumbles around them. They feel that keeping things light with each other will help them escape when they don’t realize that they can be each other’s comfort. Oliver, who has fallen in to being somewhat of a hipster was a former lawyer and sometime that part of his personality shows through, not the best attitude to have but it gives him some layers that make for some compelling explanation on his behavior. The tie in to the series is that Oliver’s brother is the focus of the first book. I have not read the entire series, but the glimpses I got from this book will likely have me picking up the first book, as the brother is an entirely amusing and intriguing person.
As I simply stated earlier, a lot of this book comes from several of the characters not wanting to open up and admit their issues. Some fun mishaps occur as several events spiral out of control. The pacing is good but there was something about the characters that didn’t quite vibe with me – maybe too close to me being like them? I still think this could be an enjoyable read for many and likely should be started with the first book as there is some discussion of the events that had happened that could spoil that story, though I think the brother’s personality would make up for any foreknowledge one might have when reading it. I’m intrigued where Temple will take this next as there are some good side characters that desperately need HEAs.
RATING: 
BUY LINK: