Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Apple-y Ever After

SERIES:  Apple Meadows Romance

AUTHOR:  Catherine Cloverdale

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  218 pages

RELEASE DATE:  July 1, 2022

BLURB:

It’s only temporary, so why can’t I walk away?

When my latest assignment lands me in Apple Meadows, Vermont, it’s just another step on my career ladder. Take photos, type a write-up, and move to the next place. I don’t have time for distractions if I want to be one of the top photographers in the business.

I don’t expect Julian, the owner of the barely functioning bed-and-breakfast I’m staying at, with his gorgeous jawline and a hidden past. Sweet, happy, and clumsy to a fault – Julian is my complete opposite. How could a guy with a falling down B & B be so damn cheerful all the time?

I’ve always fallen for the wrong type of guy, the type of guy Julian isn’t. But my career has to be the highest priority — I’ve put in too much time and effort to get distracted by just another stop along my way to the top of the photography world. The way he looks at me makes me want more, just for a night. Anything more would be a distraction…even if he does make my heart skip a beat every time he fixes me with one of those breathtaking smiles. But every time I get close he pulls away.

Could my years of traveling lead to forever in this small town – and into Julian’s arms?

Apple-y Ever After is the first in the Apple Meadows Romance Series, and can be read as a standalone. This is a small town m/m romance featuring the grumpy/sunshine dynamic (with a sunshine LI), elements of hurt/comfort, extra steamy scenes throughout the novel, and a guaranteed happy ending.

REVIEW:

Adrian, a photojournalist is sent to a small Vermont town to cover the fall Apple Festival.  His boss has booked him into a Bed and Breakfast owned by Julian.  Julian seems to have a lot of difficulty staying on task and the BnB is in need of some TLC.  It’s clear that there is an attraction, but Julian’s lifestyle has caused him problems in the past with the travel and being away.  He’s definitely worried that he won’t find a partner while he’s working on his career.

I soooooo wanted to love this story.  However, for me, there were too many things that just started to pile up on the “need a solid proofreader/editor” stack.  First there are about a million comma splice sentences.  I had it drilled into me in High School that is a fatal error – the paper is an F if it is turned in with one of these issues and runons, comma spices, subject/verb disagreement, etc. were part of them.  These are a particular pet peeve of mine and thus it really hampered my enjoyment of the story.  There were also times when it seemed like the author forget the story is being told from Adrian’s POV and would switch to something else and refer to Adrian as “his” and I was confused as to what was happening. I think the author’s story idea was good but the execution caused me difficulty in connecting with the characters.  Overall the execution was just a little disappointing for me to give a full blown recommendation, but if you are looking for a small town feel with an HEA, maybe give this one a try.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon