Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Pick Me

SERIES:  Sunday Brothers #1

AUTHOR:  May Archer

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  316 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 5, 2021

BLURB:

The job at Sunday Orchard was supposed to be temporary.

A chance to gain some work experience. To have some fun. To get away from my overprotective brothers. To maybe, possibly encounter some lumberjacks in their natural habitat before moving on to the dream career that awaited me in the city.

I had not expected to be welcomed into a family of gorgeous and weirdly efficient lumberjack-types myself. Or to find a purpose in the tiny Vermont town whose claim to fame seemed to be apple-based products and copious amounts of charm.

And I most definitely hadn’t expected to fall for Knox Sunday, my grumpy, burly, fifteen-years-older, reluctant roommate, with his infuriating lectures, his hot-as-fire body, his superior attitude, his snarky humor, and his stealth cuddles.

Now I find myself making excuses to delay my big dreams… just for a little while.

But Knox has unfulfilled dreams of his own. A career he walked away from. A big city life in Boston he left behind when he returned to his hometown to help his family. He claims he’s not looking for anything permanent, and I’ve never been one to put down roots.

My big life is waiting for me somewhere other than Little Pippin Hollow. So why does it feel like I’ve finally found the home of my heart?

And how can I get Knox Sunday to… pick me?

REVIEW:

Gage Goodman has a lumberjack kink: big, tall, and wrapped in flannel, with thick thighs and beards. Relocating from Florida to Vermont won’t be a hardship. 

“If fate was offering me the chance to live in the Land of Lumbersexuals … and lick maple syrup off their solid bodies before they went out and slaughtered trees, where was the harm?” 

Pick Me is a wonderful, comedic romance, the first in the Sunday Brothers series, which is a clever spin-off of the awesome Whispering Key series.  This book fits into May Archer’s wheelhouse – heartwarming family dynamics, and the eccentricities and joys of small-town life. And let’s not forget this is one of the Queens of Comedy – don’t eat or drink while reading this book or you’ll be spewing food everywhere. 

“Seeing anyone, Gageling? Because a friend of a friend just became single and… wait, how do you feel about guys who sob quietly during sex? Is that a deal breaker?” 

In my Kindle app, I highlight different types of passages in different colors. Laugh out loud hilarious is in blue. Let’s just say about a third of my book is now blue. 

Moving on … Gage is the youngest son of the Goodman clan, and as much as he loves Whispering Key, he needs a change, a job in a tech field in a big city, hopefully. To gain some experience developing apps, he’ll be spending a month or two in the town of Little Pippin Hollow, helping a family apple orchard business become more efficient through technology.  

Knox Sunday is the oldest Sunday brother who has recently returned home from Boston for a mental health sabbatical from his high-flying job in finance. After a series of panic attacks, he needs to find a better work/life balance.  

When Gage arrives at the orchard, he falls helplessly for Knox, with whom he’ll be working closely and rooming with. Knox seems to instantly dislike the very affable Gage for no apparent reason. Well, there’s a reason, he’s just not about to admit he’s attracted to the guy who’s fourteen years younger than him. Despite Gage throwing himself at him – literally begging “pick me” – Knox fights off his attraction. He repeatedly tells Gage he’s too young, the age gap is too much, and it’s not appropriate since they’re coworkers. Mostly it’s about Knox afraid of being hurt, though. 

Much of the humor is derived from the bickering interaction between Gage and Knox. When Gage first arrives, Knox either ignores him or is downright rude. As payback, Gage takes to babbling nonsensically, incessantly, to annoy him. Knox reacts with deep, grumbly, lust-fueled frustration and monologuing to the ceiling as if it was God. 

“Is this guy some sort of punishment, Lord?” he demanded. “An eleventh plague? Because, I have to ask… why not locusts? Locusts are a classic.” 

As usual, Ms. Archer’s side characters greatly enhance the story, especially Knox’s youngest brother, Hawk, his Uncle Drew, and his darling, six-year-old nephew, Aiden. It turns out, Gage is quite endearing with Aiden. Several Little Pippin Hollowans provide the laughs, too. But this is the Gage and Knox show and they shine. Knox is unapologetic, snarky, and adorable according to Gage. Even with his irrational fear of cows, Gage is sweet and perennially cheerful. He calls himself undislikable. He makes Knox’s days fun, interesting, and, ahem, “exciting”. Even their sexy times are fun, and the urgency of their want and need oozes off the page.  

The sweet epilogue includes all of Gage’s family and a couple of Whispering Key’s more outlandish denizens. It was just a little bit, but enough to tie the series together and remind me of how much I adore the Goodman gang shenanigans. If you enjoyed the Whispering Key series like I did, you’ll want to gobble up Pick Me. The tone is much the same, and you’ll find similarities to Licking Thicket, also. That said, there’s absolutely no need to have read any of Ms. Archer’s books before to fully enjoy this one. Highly recommended. 

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon