Jonquils for Jax by Katy Regnery

Blurb:
Did you fall in love with The English Brothers? Were you hot for the Winslows? Katy Regnery’s Blueberry Lane series continues with The Rousseau siblings in Summer 2016!

Jacqueline “Jax” Rousseau is vivacious, rich, smart and beautiful…but that doesn’t mean she’s lucky in love: she’s dated doctors, lawyers, actors and politicians who’ve all managed to end up disappointing her. In fact, she’s on a self-imposed hiatus from love when she has an unpleasant run-in with her neighbor’s gorgeous new landscaper, Gardener Lenox. Jax is not accustomed to gruff, ill-mannered men that can’t be charmed, but when he saves her skin, she realizes that something about Gard intrigues her…and if she can find her way through the armor that surrounds his heart, she might finally find a love that won’t let her down.

     

My Review:
4 stars — I received a free copy through the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

Oh how I’ve missed Katy Regnery’s romances.  I’ve read all the English BROTHERS stories, which are sort of Phase One of her Blueberry Lane series, though I haven’t yet read Kate’s story (which is too bad, since her beau ends up being one of the Rousseau brothers).  I’ve also read the first in her Winslow Brothers stories, but need to get back and read the rest.  But when I saw an opportunity to join the release tour for J.C. and the Bijoux Jolis (book 3 in the Rousseaus), I jumped on it.  And imagine my delight when there was also the opportunity to review books 1 and 2!!

And so here I am, immersed yet again in Ms. Regnery’s beautiful romances that always give me a Harlequin vibe (and I was a huge Harlequin fan/reader), but like the best of Harlequin, you know?  Her romance stories always find the best balance of fantasy characters and realism, of romance with conflict, but not so much that you get frustrated.

And it was that way with Jax and Gard.  They were such intriguing characters.  I loved how we’re told Jax is the sassy brassy one, and I thought she might be stuck up, but she wasn’t at all!  She definitely had the sass in her, but she was also very vulnerable, and quite frankly a lot lost.  I don’t know if we see hints of her story in previous books (I either don’t remember, or they were in the books I haven’t read yet), but I really had no idea what to expect from her, and I got so much more!!  I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with her.  Mad?  Yes, definitely, I fully anticipate falling for her.  But I thought Jax wouldn’t be quite my kind of girl.  But she was.  I really did love her.

And GARD!  OMG, I honestly had no idea what to anticipate there!  He had he own set of vulnerabilities and tragedies to overcome.  I even enjoyed seeing how his unique upbringing shaped him.

And the two of them together were a delight…you could really feel the chemistry between them, and I enjoyed the way they sort of pushed and pulled at each other, and how they were like two lost souls that were meant to meet and help each other find their way.

The other thing that I truly adore about Ms. Regnery’s romances is that the misunderstandings and angst doesn’t get drawn out and overplayed.  Like they have their struggles, but they work through them, and you don’t want to smack people all the time and roll your eyes.  Does that make sense?  It’s just watching a beautiful relationship develop and change and work through to where we all want it to go.  I love that.  And not in a boring way.  It’s just reasonable.  I’m probably not making any sense.  *sigh*  Oh well, c’est la vie.  😛  (Look at me, pulling out the french)

So yeah, highly recommend any of the Blueberry Lane series books, and the Rousseau phase started off with a bang with Jax and Gard.  And can I just say the Gardener/gardener joke did not get old with me either?  I loved how Jax just kept beating that dead horse for a while, I laughed right along with her.  Now to find out about Mad and Cort!