Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Taken by Storm

SERIES:  Palm Island

AUTHOR:  K.M. Neuhold

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  201 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  April 8, 2022

BLURB:

Chef Storm is moody, antisocial…and he just asked me to be his fake boyfriend.

Most people on the island avoid the hot-tempered chef, but he doesn’t scare me. Sure, he’s prickly, but I’ve also caught him feeding a stray cat, so I know there’s more to him than the sky-high, barbed-wire fence he’s built around himself.

When Storm’s ex-husband shows up unexpectedly during the off-season and refuses to go home, pretending to be Storm’s boyfriend is apparently my new job.

Faking it with my grumpy boss should not be this much fun, especially since the last thing I need is to make a fool of myself by falling for anyone else on the island.

Is there anything more exciting than being swept up in a storm? Maybe taming one…

REVIEW:

Grumpy Bears are some of my favorite characters and then paired with younger but sassy men who are just adorable, then we are so on! Chef Storm/Steven has the reputation of being a perfectionist when it comes to his food. He wants it to be serve less than a minute after it is done so that his customers will experience, feel and taste exactly how it should taste freshly cooked. He is antisocial. He growls and snaps and most people would stay far away from him. After his divorce, he sold his old restaurant in one of the big cities and decided to start again, this time in a secluded island that only gets really busy during a season or two. Deep down he wanted to be less famous and just be, happy and content with his life. He and his ex-husband had had a tumultuous relationship, the kind that goes off and on again, over and over. They were not good for each other. They bring the worst out of each other.

Hennessy/Henry came to the island for a short vacation, fell for a guy and stuck around. He thought he had deep feelings for that guy and then found out that it was just all in fun(according to that guy). He has been harboring this resentment/anger towards him. But aside from that, Hennessy also decided to stick around because for one, he wanted to start a new life. He left a very demanding job back in the big city and it left him wanting more of his life. And he wanted to avoid relationships for now as he had been in bad ones even before. He wants peace and a simple life. A life that’ll give him a chance to garden and grow his own produce for his consumption. He feels that this island can give these to him.

Hennessy has been working for Chef Storm for three years now. He doesn’t let Chef Storm’s grumpiness affect him, in fact, he pokes the bear from time to time just to see how that particular bear would react. Does he have a death wish? Maybe. Or maybe he just knows that like him, it is a defense mechanism to hide pains and hurts from a past life.

When a situation requires for them to pretend as fake boyfriends, they were outright honest with each other that this is all for the benefit of pretending. And that they are not looking for relationships at this point in their lives. Both of them have been hurt badly in the past. But seeing themselves getting more comfortable day after day, and finding out things that they normally wouldn’t mention even in the amount of time they have been working together, has them looking at each other a little differently now. So what started out as pretend is becoming more and more real as days pass.

I love Ms. K.M. Neuhold’s stories, they have these amazing characters who are not perfect but are so beautiful in their respective ways. I love the backstories and how each try to make the most of what life has given. I love my angst so that really keeps me going, although sometimes sassiness, grumpiness, sweetness, friendships does it for me too. And this particular book has a lot of those, so grab your copy and immerse yourselves in a fun, sweet fake boyfriend trope.

RATING:

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