Totally Folked by Penny Reid

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Title: Totally Folked
Author: Penny Reid
Series: Good Folk: Modern Folktales #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: July 20, 2021
Format: eARC
Pages: 416
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Source: Social Butterfly PR
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2021 COYER Summer, Lenoreo's 2021 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

One unforgettable night leads to an unlikely shared connection, and unlikely connections never go unnoticed by the good folks in Green Valley, Tennessee...

Jackson James follows the rules. He has to. He’s a sheriff’s deputy in a super small town with a super big personality. However, strict adherence to the law during the day has been enjoyably balanced by rakish rules at night. Jackson, typically happy to protect and serve (and serve, and serve), starts questioning the value of wayward evenings when getting laid starts to feel more like being waylaid. Could it be that Green Valley’s most eligible—and notorious—bachelor longs for something (and someone) real?

Mega movie star Raquel Ezra follows only one rule: always leave them wanting more. Studio execs, reporters, audiences, fans, lovers—no one can get enough of the smart, savvy, and sexy bombshell. But when “generous offers” begin to feel more like excessive demands, years of always leaving has the elusive starlet longing for something (and perhaps someone) lasting.

When Raquel abruptly returns to the quirky Tennessee hamlet, her path crosses with the delectable deputy with whom she spent one unforgettable night. Unfortunately, scandal and intrigue soon follow. Raquel and Jackson must decide which is more important: following their rules? Or, at long last, finding something real.

TOTALLY FOLKED is a standalone, contemporary romantic comedy novel and book #1 in the Good Folk: Modern Folktales series.

My Review:

I received a free copy through Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4 stars — I’m in a weird reading funk, so I won’t count out that that affected this review.  But once I finally gathered my lady bits and just sunk into the book, I was captivated and curious.

Part of that was getting to return to a place that I already love filled with people I already love.  We got lots of glimpses of Winstons in this book, and they all came and went at just the right time and place so as to add to the story but not take over.

I still had a harder time connecting with Rae, but MUCH better than the prequel novella.  I just feel like it took me most of the book to really figure out what she was about, and once I did I enjoyed her so much more…and thus I would have preferred to know her earlier, you know?  She really was the strange bird that Penny Reid had warned about, but once I got how her upbringing had affected her, I got her better.  We got glimpses of this here and there, but I guess I didn’t completely grok all of her until the end.  She was so desperate for love, and she deserved it…I was glad to see her developing all sorts of wonderful relationships, not just with Jackson.

And then there’s Jackson.  I was never a Jackson hater.  I was disappointed in him, but I guess I assumed there was a lot going on with him.  I think it helped that I got to see him in Zora’s book in the SPRU, and thus see a different side of him.  He was so much more than I was expecting in some ways.  I loved his sensitive caring soul.  I ached for how the events of his life had made their lasting imprint on him.  I appreciated getting to see a character who was a dick in their youth still come out all right.  I think we forget that people can be jerks and still turn out okay — there are two paths, and Jackson chose the right one…or at least he kept turning until he got onto the right path.  He was so freaking black and white, and that really seemed to influence so much about him.  It was hard to have a character who had all these good intentions, but was being such a dummy about it by not *talking*.  I got it.  But it was frustrating at times.

I was NOT expecting the chemistry between them to be *this* hot.  Damn, when Jackson focused all that attention on Rae…fuck me sideways it was hot.  They had a lot farther to go in the other aspects of their relationship, but I adored the basics of what made up their connection — you could genuinely feel how delighted they were by one another, how easy it was, how free.  I loved seeing them banter, it made me smile bigly.

I think one of the things preventing me from rating higher is that both Rae and Jackson had to be beat over the heads with lessons.  I got it…I got that they needed it spelled out.  But it felt…I don’t know.  I was missing some subtlety.  And as much as I loved what we saw of Jackson, I will admit I wanted more time with him.  Maybe I’m just greedy.

Outside of the delightful Winstons, there were some other great secondary characters.  I really enjoyed getting to see more of Jackson’s parents.  And I freaking ADORED Charlotte.  I was so glad to see in the sneak peek that she gets the next book.

So yeah.  I was worried about this book, and I shouldn’t have been.  It was delightful and fun and emotional and sexy.