Mad About Ewe by Susannah Nix

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Title: Mad About Ewe
Author: Susannah Nix
Series: Common Threads #1
Published by: Smartypants Romance
Release Date: March 16, 2021
Format: eARC
Pages: 325
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »cancer « Hide Spoiler
Source: Smartypants Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Spring
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Dawn Botstein is doing just fine after her divorce, thank you very much.

She’s got her yarn store to run, her house to herself for the first time in her life, and no use for men anymore. That is until the hottie silver fox who walks into her store turns out to be her old high school crush—the guy who rejected her 30 years ago.

No way is she going to lose her head over him this time, no matter how well he wears that salt-and-pepper lumberjack beard. Okay, so he’s the opposite of her ex in every way, and his attention gives her a thrill she thought she’d never feel again. She’s not risking her heart again.

Mike Pilota is having a mid-life crisis.

Only instead of buying a red sports car he can’t afford and dressing like a 25-year-old who’s time-traveled from the 1990s, he quit his job after his second divorce to move closer to his recently widowed mother.

He didn’t expect to run into Dawn again, but as soon as he lays eyes on her he’s utterly smitten. So he sets out to make up for past mistakes and prove he can be the kind of man she deserves.

But is it too late for second chances? Or will these two lonely hearts find a way back to each other?

Mad About Ewe is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #1 in the Common Threads series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

My Review:

I received a free copy through Smartypants Romance in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

3.5 stars — I enjoyed parts of the book, but ended up feeling kind of meh on other parts.

I think part of my problem is that I had a hard time connecting with parts of Dawn…or maybe the extremes of Dawn.  Like, I can definitely vibe with the caretaker personality of not wanting to be a burden on friends and family (though not necessarily from personal experience — more that I’ve seen it in others).  But wow.  She took it to a whole other level.  And I wanted to understand her, but it was so self-sabotaging, it was frustrating.  Because it wasn’t just how it affected her relationship with Mike, it was also sad to see how it affected her relationship with her kids.  Maybe I wanted more there.  We got to see her interact with Angie, but I guess I wanted to see her with her boys too.  Despite that, I LOVED how passionate she was about her store, and I was so excited to see her turn that passion into a new lease on life.

I enjoyed Mike’s story more in some ways — I kind of loved getting the perspective of a guy who was floundering with purpose in his life.  He had so many self-image issues to work through, which was kind of fascinating given he was a “cool” kid in high school.  I guess I loved that too, that we got to see how sometimes it’s a facade, preventing a kid from being wholly themselves…and how that follows them through life.  I loved seeing him finding himself, getting back some confidence, and going after what he wanted.

This book had a lot of heavy life stuff in it…and maybe I wasn’t quite in the mood for that.  It was so hard to see what Dawn was going through (and caught me completely by surprise).  And it was SUPER hard to see what Mike was going through with his Mom — parts of that *really* hit home.  There were all these hints of how their relationships with their parents had shaped them in some ways, but it was just hints.  I almost wanted more concrete.

And the problem with all that heavy life stuff?  For me it took a bit away from the romance side of the story.  It was 100% there, and I adored seeing them support one another.  But there were swaths of time where it was each of their individual stories without them interacting much…and I guess I wanted more on the romance stuff.  Because I really enjoyed that part.

And strangely, for a book that was focused on other stuff, there weren’t a lot of secondary characters I was in love with.  I didn’t really get to know anyone else, not even Angie.  That was a bit of a bummer.

For those that live for cameos from Penny Reid books though, be excited!

So yeah.  Definitely some bright spots, but it just didn’t give me the things I personally enjoy most.