Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Knocking Boats
SERIES: Swallow Cove
AUTHOR: DJ Jamison
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 380 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 16, 2024
BLURB:
He was my best friend, and now I hate him. So why do I keep kissing him?
There was a time Ash and I were inseparable.
When I moved high schools, we went from friends to rivals. I could deal with that. But when he hooked up with my ex-girlfriend? We became enemies overnight.
The Ozarks is a big lake, but somehow he’s always in my way. First at a flashy rival boat company, where we’re always knockin’ boats on booze cruises. Sometimes literally.
Now at the newly redeveloped Swallow Cove resort where I’m based.
Ash has some hair-brained idea to run a food boat for the resort. It’s a silly fad that will never last. All flash and no substance, like him.
But now there’s no avoiding the guy. Or his annoying face and perfect hair and cocky smiles always flashing my way.
Ash has always gotten whatever he wanted. My sports trophies. My ex-girlfriend. A job with *my* friends.
But as tension mounts between us and the heat of anger boils over into lust, I start to wonder:
What if the thing he wants most is me?
Knockin’ Boats is Book 3 of the Swallow Cove series. It features ex-besties to enemies to lovers, a double bi-awakening, a super tight friend group, and a quirky lake town.
REVIEW:
I love this series! This town is such a quirky slice of life. These two MCs going from best friends to enemies/antagonists to lovers was so fun. Their shared history was a series of angry teenagers who were both hurt and had no idea how to process their emotions. Sawyer’s whole world blew up and they went from besties to rivals overnight. Then there was the fact that Ash totally broke the bro code by sleeping with Sawyer’s ex. YIKES!
Years later they are still riling each other up. When their friends and bosses and even Sawyer’s mom try to get them to bury the hatchet, well Sawyer isn’t very interested. Mel, the ex in question, also tries to get Ash to just wake up and apologize to Sawyer about their teenage falling out and try to get back to being friends or a least stop antagonizing each other.
The more time they spend together though, they keep butting heads. They discover the way to shut each other up is to aggressively kiss the one who is arguing. When their friends find out, they are somewhat skeptical that this is some sort of fighting technique 😉 This shocks Sawyer since he’s always considered himself to be straight. Ash has only ever been with women too, but he can’t deny that he is incredibly attracted to Sawyer.
When they finally get together, it’s like lighting a match. Both of them are shocked, but it’s only the beginning. It’s a bit of a push-pull as they try to figure things out.
This is just a fun and easy romance that has plenty of spice and laughter. The banter and fighting between these two are hilarious. There is definitely a fine line between love and hate and they never really hated each other. They were both hurt and were kind of dumb kids who didn’t know how to deal with some really crappy circumstances in their lives. They each dealt with their disappointments in different ways. Sawyer doesn’t take risks. Ash risks everything to become his own man. Together, they really do balance each other in unexpected ways. The found family of these two support them in all kinds of ways – from jobs, to living spaces, to rides home to encouraging them to be themselves even if it was not at all what they envisioned. I loved seeing all the other couples in this series too and catching up on their lives 😉 Highly recommended. This series is rally a gem! Fun, funny, punny, sweet and romantic.
RATING: 
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