Juniper Hill by Devney Perry

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Title: Juniper Hill
Author: Devney Perry
Series: The Edens #2
Published by: Indie
Release Date: January 11, 2022
Format: ebook
Pages: 326
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Romantic Suspense
Source: Overdrive
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Spring
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ IndieBound ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Memphis Ward arrives in Quincy, Montana, on the fifth worst day of her life. She needs a shower. She needs a snack. She needs some sanity. Because moving across the country with her newborn baby is by far the craziest thing she’s ever done.

But maybe it takes a little crazy to build a good life. If putting the past behind her requires a thousand miles and a new town, she’ll do it if it means a better future for her son. Even if it requires setting aside the glamour of her former life. Even if it requires working as a housekeeper at The Eloise Inn and living in an apartment above a garage.

It’s there, on the fifth worst day of her life, that she meets the handsomest man she’s ever laid eyes on. Knox Eden is a beautiful, sinful dream, a chef and her temporary landlord. With his sharp, stubbled jaw and tattooed arms, he’s raw and rugged and everything she’s never had—and never will. Because after the first worst day of her life, Memphis learned a good life requires giving up on her dreams too. And a man like Knox Eden will only ever be a dream.

My Review:

4.5 stars — I think I’m becoming a Devney Perry fan.  This series is my first real foray, but there’s something about the way she writes romance that just works for me.  There’s enough push and pull in a lot of areas of the plot, but it doesn’t drag out the relationship necessarily.  You actually get a lot of good happy couple time.  There are struggles, there are adjustments, our characters have flaws…but in their relationships they’re pretty honest.  And that’s fucking refreshing.

I love that there’s always a teensy bit of suspense tension going on.  I wouldn’t say these have a strong suspense element, but it’s just enough for me since I’m more about the romance anyways.  I could see the players involved, and I had some theories, but I’m happy to say I didn’t see all the variables and how they would come into play!

When it boils down to it, this story is about Memphis starting over, gathering her courage to leave and STAY her new course.  Obviously her decision to start over and make a better life for her son was brave, but at every step when she was so afraid and worn down, when she chose to keep staying, she was brave.  And when she made the HUGE decision to allow Knox and the Eden family to make her one of their own and love her and her son, that was the ultimate in bravery.  We don’t give enough credit to those steps, but I felt them in this story.  I appreciated that she could see how she had grown and changed, and could be proud of that.  She was hardworking, determined, and not afraid to feel.

I swear to God, I felt like I was being gaslit along with her in a few situations (no spoilers).

I feel like there were multiple situations in the present and the past, for both characters, where they struggled with something huge, and I appreciated that the message was that it wasn’t shameful to trust.  It gave our characters (and anyone reading) permission to make a mistake, without taking on guilt and shame for it.  The world is hard, and sometimes you don’t make the right choices.  It’s what you do after that matters.  And to not let it make you stop trusting.

Knox was pretty adorable.  I was worried with how closed off he seemed, but I felt like his backstory did explain it.  I loved watching his slow fall into love with both Memphis and Drake.  I loved that it was hard for him, but that in the end it made his life richer and fuller.  I appreciated that he got some closure on a few things I wasn’t expecting.  I LOVED his passion for his work, and how thoughtful he was over situations.  He was a bit pushy and bossy at times, but never in a toxic way.  I as the reader, like Memphis, truly believed if she told him to back off he would have.

The Eden family is fantastic, and also not without their flaws.  I can’t wait to read all of their stories.

I feel like I had some other thought, but I totally forgot it.  Figures.

Hot chemistry.  I loved that it started slowly, but then ramped up into wooooweeee.  They balanced and supported one another kind of perfectly, I loved seeing that.

So yeah, it was a hit.  Can’t wait for the next one!