Happily Ever Kissed by Vicky Holt

Blurb: Starry-eyed Ava Simmons, co-owner of the ramshackle Heartbeat Inn, needs to steal her first kiss on the historic Heartland Cove Bridge before the Mayor has it torn down. Then she can join the ranks of her entire family tree in having her first kiss on the second longest covered bridge in North America. In a race against the Mayor’s bulldozer, she sees every hot and available guest of her B&B as First Kiss Potential.
If only she could escape the judging eyes of her omnipresent handyman, Sebastian Haddock. He’s too busy, too dusty, and too local for Ava’s tastes. She likes her heroes straight off the covers of the romance novels she devours like her guests eat her amazing baked goods. Yep, her First Kiss recipient needs to be strong yet sensitive, handsome but modest, hard-working but relaxed, and dreamy yet grounded.
Basically, she needs one of her Book Boyfriends to step out of a love story and kiss her! Because convincing her guests to visit the bridge with her turns out to be as tricky as baking the perfect cupcake in a broken oven. How do the romance novels make it look so easy? And how come Sebastian keeps catching her with her nose in a book? And when one of her guests turns out to be a kissable romance novel cover model-why isn’t she ready for her First Kiss after all?

5 stars

Oh my gosh I loved the little details in this story!  All the romance cliché references were so dang hilarious.  And while I got a bit annoyed with Ava’s stubbornness, I was equally enamored by her naivety. She was so oblivious and it was cute as hell to see her attempt to re-create her favorite scenes from her romance novels. She just kept picking the wrong people!

I loved the little tid bits thrown in, her love of cooking and reading gave her character layers that I enjoyed learning about.  And she had a great family support system with her grandma.   This side character was such a delight! She exuded the “you are only as young as you feel” adage and I hope to be half as cool as her when I get older!

And Sebastion!  Hmmm, he was yummy.  It might have something to do with the fact that my husband is a carpenter so I’m a bit bias when it comes to those characters.  But he was just perfect for Ava! He helped to balance out her romantic side. He was stoic and practical.  I’m a bit practical myself so I was really attracted to that.  And I found his simple thoughtfulness to be romantic. He didn’t swagger or exude confidence. He let his actions speak for themselves and boy did I hear them loud and clear.

I really enjoyed the world of Heartland cove that Ms. Holt took me too. and I would highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys romance.