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My Review:Title: Parks and Provocation
Author: Juliette Cross
Series: Green Valley Heroes #2
Published by: Smartypants Romance
Release Date: May 18, 2022
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Chris Brinkley, Lila Winters
Length: 9 hours and 29 minutes
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Source: Audible
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2023 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2023 COYER Chapter 2
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon
My rating:
Blurb:Lola Landry stares through the window of her locked car with the keys in the ignition and the radio blaring Beck’s “Loser”. While standing there and sweltering in the soupy Tennessee humidity, she wonders how her orderly life had crashed and burned so badly. Then her high school nemesis saunters up in all of his tall, strapping fireman-to-the-rescue glory, slapping her with the humiliating proof that it can always get worse.
When the uber-confident Jedediah Lawson requests a date in return for popping her lock, a lightbulb goes off. Revenge is sweet. He would make the perfect victim—guest, that is—for her next podcast episode on Kiss and Tell. What shocks her is the casual way he not only agrees to the post-date interview on air, but ends up hijacking her audience and wooing them with his swoony Southern charm. Not even a low score on the date-o-meter can dissuade the man or keep her fans from demanding more of the charismatic Jed.
What’s worse: She secretly wants a second date with this man who is so different from his teenage self. His unwavering patience and dimpled smile erodes her will, until she breaks the Kiss and Tell rules by agreeing to a second…and a third date. It’s a disaster. Not the date. They’re wonderful. The disaster is that she is falling for a man she once dubbed Jockstrap Jed.
Parks and Provocation is a full-length contemporary romance and can be enjoyed as a stand-alone. Book two in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.
3 stars — I think I wanted to like this one more than I did…since I kept doing anything other than listening to this audiobook to finish it. It wasn’t a bad story, there were just a few things that didn’t work for me and prevented me from loving it.
One of the major things is that while I really enjoy Mr. Brinkley’s narration, I am less a fan of Ms. Winters. I actually didn’t realize I’d listened to her narration under another name and already been meh about her, so I was bummed when I figured that out. There is absolutely nothing actually wrong with her narration — she has a good pace, good emotions, and a humorous delivery I’m sure many would enjoy. This is entirely just a personal taste thing…for me there’s a weird affectation to her voice that just doesn’t work for me. And here’s the kicker that makes this actually matter: it’s not 50-50 for male/female POV in this one. It’s at least 2/3 from Lola’s POV. So I’m thinking if I’d read this book instead of listening, I bet it would be at least a half star higher for me. But I was stubborn and stuck to the audio b/c I’d used a credit. *rolls eyes at self*
In the end I also just wasn’t as big of a fan of Lola herself, outside of who narrated her. The flaws she’s gifted with are wholly realistic, but unfortunately I had a harder time connecting with it. She was ambitious yes, and a perfectionist, but mostly prideful and just didn’t make the best decisions along the way, especially given her relationship with Jed. I kind of hated how one-sided it seemed so often, and how she wouldn’t take the time to listen to her heart until the end. Now, she does have a pretty great turnaround, but by that point it was just too late for me personally. And while I enjoyed the concept of her podcast, I did not like the way she kept that information from her dates until the end. It felt disingenuous, especially considering how hard it is *to* date.
Jed was pretty adorable, and I kind of loved the way they set up one of his issues throughout the story — you could guess at it based on actions along the way. I appreciated his strange combination of bashful/shy with confidence in certain areas (wink wink). Beta in the streets, alpha in the sheets? I loved how close he was with his family, and his genuine nature of care for the ones he loves.
While I did feel like their relationship felt very one sided so often, for longer than I would have hoped, they did have great chemistry both as friends and more.
So yeah. I really should have just sucked it up and bought the ebook, but live and learn.
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