ALC in exchange for an honest review. 

Everett has recently moved to Blossom Beach after inheriting his grandmother's house after her passing to start fresh and continue his teaching career. On his first few days in town, he keeps bumping into Gemma, and the attraction, interest, and chemistry is instant. It turns out Gemma is his new neighbour and mother to one of his new students, Sutton. Gemma lost her husband in an accident when Sutton was a toddler and has been closed off to romance since, so suddenly developing a romantic interest in Everett is a bit inconvenient for her, however she pushes through like a trooper and is soon propositioning him for a friends with benefits situation that he is more than willing to participate in and the story goes from there. 

This was a quick and easy read, there was plenty of small town vibes with a cosy family dynamic with Gemma and her siblings. The romance between her and Everett was definitely insta-lusty and skewed more to the physical aspect than a real emotional connection developing, in my opinion. The spice was great, and there was plenty of it, but that didn't leave much room for anything outside of the physical chemistry to grow on page, so their love connection felt tentative at best to me. I enjoyed the scenes with Everett & Sutton Gemmas son and found it really sweet the way Ashley wrote Everett in those moments. Like I said above there was plenty of spice in this, I'm on the fence about the nickname Everett used for Gemma, initially I liked it but I think it got overused at times and that put me off a little bit, the exhibitionism and slight breeding kink woven in were fun aspects I wasn't expecting and the dirty talk was great but im a sucker for that anyway. 

Samantha Brentmoor and Connor Crais narrate, and both do a fantastic job as always. Overall, this was a good, easy, spicy, and fun listen and a great introduction to a new series. So if you're looking for a small town, single mum, spicy read, this will deliver that. Book releases on January 6th. 🌶🌶🌶