This is a story about Ethan, who was injured on the job in some kind of military incident where his friend ended up dead. He has a lot of pain both physically and emotionally and he is home at his families ranch/horse rescue business to recover.

Enter Mia, a high powered PR exec from NYC, she is in town for the summer while her client's daughter works with Ethan for a college cheating scandal that a judge sentenced her to. This is a fun enemy to lover story. Mia and Ethan have hate at first sight even as they fight their attraction.

It was a well written story with some things that I could not wait to find out like, was it just cheating? how was Ethan hurt? I really enjoyed Ethan's sisters and hope to read their stories as well.

This is a great opposites attract/enemy to lovers romance. Ethan is ex special forces who is coming home to work and recover on his family’s bed and breakfast and farm in upstate New York. Mia runs a PR firm in Manhattan. Mia has a client Jonathan Lake who is running for Mayor of New York. He is a unicorn of a politician, one who really cares about the people and doesn’t lie (I have heard of these mythical politicians, but have yet to see one in real life). Jonathan’s 19 year old daughter is in trouble at school and must serve her community service at the farm. Jonathan insists that Mia stays with his daughter while she is at the farm. Of course Mia and Ethan initially clash, but eventually give into their attraction. This is a great read. All of the characters are well developed, the relationship takes time to progress, and all of the secondary characters are interesting. This is my first book by this author and I cannot wait for Ethan’s sisters’ stories. I was given an ARC of this book for my honest review.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'm a fan of this author and this story did not disappoint.

Ethan moves back home after an injury from his Special Forces mission. He has physical and psychological injuries and believes the solitude of his childhood home can provide the escape that he needs. His two sisters run an Inn where his home is and they are supportive but urge and need him to try to heal. He agrees to help with their horse farm which houses horses that are rescues. The irony is not lost on Ethan that the horses are suffering like he is and he will try to help.

Mia runs a PR business in Manhattan and she is on the fast track to success. She managed to represent a top political client who is set to win a major election and this exposure can make her career. Her ckient, Jonathan, needs a huge favor from her. His daughter has been sentenced to community service due to a vandalism charge and he needs her to be with her until she completes it. She agrees because she can still run her business remotely. The service is located in a small town where, Chloe, will help with rescue horses and whatever help the farm needs.

Mia feels out of her element and she meets Ethan on her first day and the meeting did not go well. The feeling is mutual, and the two decide that distance from each other is the best solution.

This is short-lived as the Inn has some new guests who are on an adventure and they see the tension emanating from the two and decide to include them with their fun. It works and the two find that they can't be apart from each other which evolves to deeper feelings where they want more.

But.......Their relationship becomes tested because Mia is called back to the city to work with her important clients and the Ethan and Mia are starting to wonder if their feelings are are in enough for the distance and ti!e apart. Can they make it work?

If you are a fan of this author, then you will enjoy the story, the and the flow of how the story evolves. The sun characters added a nice layer that complimented the overall tone that was intended. I'm guessing that based on the epilogue, that there will be more to come. YES!!!

I received this ARC for an honest review. I am a big fan of Jennifer Prost. I just love her writing. This story is about Mia and Ethan. Mia gets suckered into watching a teenage daughter (Chloe) of the mayoral hopeful of New York. Mia owns a PR firm and the daughter gets in trouble and has to do community service for the summer at Ethan's horse farm. Mia is a fiesty city lover and experience a culture shock at the farm. She stays at his family's B&B on the farm. I just love how they interact with each other. I am not going to give examples because YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK! I love how Chloe grows as a person. You are pulled into the story and you don't want to leave!

I loved this book so much! The characters, the story, the side characters, the B&B, the chicken/rooster, and Ethan. So much Ethan!

Dear Jennifer, I loved your book and cannot wait for the rest of the series!

At first I wasn’t sure that I was going to enjoy this book. The heroine, Mia Thrush, is a total city girl who is constantly dieting and glorying in her work in the PR agency she founded. Then, in a totally unbelievable plotline, her chief client, a candidate for New York City mayor, asks her to spend the summer in an upstate small town to accompany his daughter who has been assigned community work on a horse farm. Yeah, sure, that’s what a candidate would ask of his PR chief. But roll with it.

In the beginning, she hates everything about the fresh air, friendly atmosphere at the Bread and Breakfast/horse farm where she’s staying, especially the derision in the eyes of Ethan Bishop, a former Special Forces paratrooper who has come home to recover from the injury that ended his career and the PTSD he’s suffering. He has no interest in a feisty princess who has no idea how to dress or act on a horse farm.

But of course, opposites attract and they start falling for each other. Once Mia got over her cartoonish antipathy to living in the countryside, and she and Ethan act on their mutual attraction, the book became much better. She became a much more likable character and the candidate’s daughter also became more likable. I started to care about these characters and was cheering them on to find a way to make a match between a guy who gets debilitating flashbacks when he’s in the city and a woman who’s been working her whole life to achieve success in her chosen field.

I was given a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love it when Jennifer starts a new series. It's like a whole new world for me to fall in love with. I love the way she tells a story and has us falling in love right along with the characters.

"I caught the way you looked at her. It was cute."

"I refuse to discuss this further. I once parachuted into enemy territory, broke my arm landing wrong in a tree, ran eight miles, and still managed to extract the target to safety. I'm not cute."

This was one of the funniest enemies to lovers book I've read in a while. It was light on the angst I usually enjoy with those types of stories though. They were complete opposites but throughout the story you get to watch them evolve and want to change for the other and open up to have them in their life. There might have been a few cliché lines but if I'm going to read a book with them then I'm going to read it from Jennifer because she always delivers on the swoon and the flutters.

"Mia?"
"Yeah?"
"You're enough. Never doubt you're more than enough for a man. Because if you belonged to me, I'd get on my knees in gratitude every damn night and make sure you never doubted it."

I don't read a lot of the "cookie cutter" or the "classic" or the "inside the box" romances. I love to live outside of that and read romances that are not mainstream or typical. When I do go for them I like to stick to the ones that I know can deliver a good story with all the emotions that romance books should have. Jennifer Probst nails those for me every time and she has never let me down.

I love a good a enemies-to-lovers story, and Jennifer Probst’s throwing together of a wounded soldier and an uptight, prickly PR shark sounded like a read up my alley. As total opposites (at least on the surface), Ethan and Mia clash immediately. The latter wouldn’t be caught dead on a horse-rescue farm while the former is the furthest away from branded designer wear and corporate work having been burnt by the bad experience he’s had in the past.

‘The Start of Something Good’ however, has all the hallmarks of the rom-com movie: characters that do fit a certain mould as their relationship finally coasts after a rocky start…until crunch time arrives. And all of it’s done with no small amount of irony, some banter and humour and a supporting cast of characters that form part of a backdrop that’s supposed to be sepia-toned kind of charming.

Mia’s portrayal is however, a little too stereotypical for my taste—the spoilt, shrewish city princess on a strict carb-free diet got me rolling my eyes after a while and her insistence on doing things the only way she knew how did get a tad bit irritating. On the other hand, Ethan’s master of all trades persona and the idyllic life in the country felt a little oversold as the story seemed to build its case around a city vs. the country sort of dilemma.

The choice between frenetic city-living and the slowness of small town life is one that I saw coming from the very start the moment Probst laid out Ethan’s and Mia’s obvious differences. Small town quirks admittedly, aren’t exactly to my own liking—the emergence (inevitable, it seems in such stories) of nosey, cock-blocking senior citizens who take glee in other people’s businesses being one of them—and the oneupmanship between Ethan and Mia got old quickly as the middle part lagged a little after a good setup in the animosity between them. Still, it’s a journey that’s fairly predictable and the conflict that’s about to come past the usual angst about short-term fling and settling down could be sniffed out a mile away.

I did like Probst’s way of getting Mia to reevaluate her notions of success as well as the incisive, assured writing that catalogues the changes wrought in both Ethan and Mia as they slowly start to see each other beyond the gripes and the snipes. ‘The Start of Something Good’ is a decent read nonetheless, and the setup for the next books sounds interesting enough for me to warrant a closer look at this developing series.

I have been a fan of Jennifer Probst for a long time- so I was excited to read this new book.

I loved the slow-burn aspect to this story. Often times the romance jumps from the beginning of the book and it seems to quick for me.
I also enjoyed the whole hollywood storyline- but I will say that some of it just didn't flow for me- or maybe it was just a disconnect with the characters.
Overall I liked this book, but didn't love it like I expected to.

The Start of Something Good is the first book in the Stay Series by Jennifer Probst. This book follows the story of Mia and Ethan. As a former Special Forces Paratrooper and bodyguard, he's seen his fair share of pain and drama. So, when he finally makes his way home, his wounds are far deeper than people imagine. He hides out at the family farm so he won't have to deal with people and the town he once lived in. All is going to plan until Mia blows into his life and turns everything upside down....Being in the country for the summer is the last on her mind. But when a client needs help with his teenage daughter, she has no choice but to help. Only the farm is no place for an uptight and quick tempered Mia. She butts heads with Ethan from the moment they meet. To say they don't hit it off would be an understatement. Their disdain for one another is completely palpable and leads to a passion that neither one of them can deny...

I'm going to be totally honest with you, I didn't really like this book in the beginning. I had a really tough time with it. I didn't really like the characters and had a really hard time connecting with them. Mia was your total cliched city girl: snobby, stuck up and acted like she was better than everyone else. Ethan had his own share of issues and thought he had Mia pegged from the very beginning. I found him to be a bit arrogant and didn't like his behavior towards Mia. He wouldn't give her a chance even when she was trying to do the right thing. Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes this behavior in characters works for me, but I think in order for it to work, I've got to find something in the beginning that makes me want to invest in them and sadly, it took a while for it to happen for me. I had a few times where I put this book down and honestly wasn't sure if I was going to finish it, but I'm happy to say that I did finish and I'm glad that I stuck it out. The characters did end up winning me over. Once they got over themselves and stopped fighting, I saw the redeeming qualities in them that I was looking for. I felt their passion and pull and wanted to get to know them better.

I actually really liked Chloe, the girl that Mia was looking out for. She was 19 and wasn't perfect. She made a lot of mistakes and was sent to the farm to hopefully learn from them. I enjoyed getting to know her and there was definitely more to her than what meets the eye. Don't get me wrong, she definitely acted immature at times, but I felt like her father didn't see her as an adult at all. He wanted to make her life fit with his agenda and it just frustrated me to no end.

Overall, I thought this book was an ok read. It was a little rough in the beginning, but won me over in the end. It is a stand-alone, enemies to lovers romance. I loved the small town feel of this story and think that there is a lot of great potential there. The old couples from the B&B were a hoot. I loved how they were up in everybody's business and was entertained by their matchmaking skills.

Even though this book wasn't a 100% hit for me, I'm glad that I checked it out and gave it a chance. I think this series has a lot of great potential and would open to checking out more from it in the future.

I haven't read any books by Jennifer Probst before but I knew her name and so when I saw this ARC available on NetGalley I requested it.

So, Ethan Bishop is a former special forces soldier/Hollywood bodyguard who has returned home to the family B&B and horse sanctuary after a disastrous op to metaphorically lick his wounds.

Mia Thrush is an up and coming New York PR agent. Her latest and biggest client Jonathan Lake is running for mayor but he has a teeny weeny problem. His 19 year old daughter Chloe has been caught cheating at college and confessed to damaging her professor's car in retaliation, the judge in the case was unswayed by her father's upcoming position (and current position as DA) and sentenced her to community service at a local horse farm. Chloe's father wants a responsible adult to spend the summer with Chloe and ensure she doesn't get into any more trouble - and he's chosen Mia against all her objections. Mia hates the country, hates nature, hates horses, hates this assignment. Oh, and she's not very maternal either.

Ethan and Mia clash immediately. She thinks he's a member of staff and he thinks she's a hoity-toity city snob. But slowly they grow to like one another over the summer.

Good things. The slow burn of romance over the summer. The periods where days go by between interactions.

Bad things. Some of the writing just made me want to laugh (or cry). Take this gem <blockquote>His dick wept against the barrier of his jeans, and it took all his military training not to come right there like an inexperienced teen.</blockquote> Really? They teach that in the military? Also Jennifer Probst strikes me as an author who likes to throw the kitchen sink at a project. Hence Ethan is ex-special forces, ex-bodyguard AND a horse-whisperer. There are a group of OAPs staying at the B&B who are clearly there to add humour (like in a Shakespeare play) and a group of surly teens who are so clearly up to no good they could wear signs round their necks and it couldn't be more obvious. Partway through it started to feel like the book of a Hallmark afternoon film.

Pet peeves. Ethan did that whole "look at me, open your eyes" thing which I really HATE - what if she likes to have her eyes closed, huh? Also, he seemed to think that he deserved a "reward" which involved yanking her hair, pulling her backwards (by her hair) and behaving so that "a flicker of fear rose up". I know this seems to be the 'in thing' in novels at the moment but it just sounds abusive to me. Even the words used "shoved to the edge of climax", "ruthlessly", "slam of his hips", "she fought wildly for climax" sound like non-consensual sex.

Overall, I found most of the characters to be almost caricatures: the widowed politician who doesn't have time for his rebellious daughter; the city woman who learns to love the country; the traumatised soldier, the nosy locals, the interfering old people.

I liked it but I didn't love it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The Start of Something Good, Stay Book 1, Jennifer Probst

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:  General Fiction ( adult), Romance

I've read and enjoyed several of Jennifer's stories now, had one that didn't fit and sadly this one makes two. I just didn't like Mia right from the start. Her ideals are solid and to be admired but her nature, well, she came over as arrogant, obsessed over appearances, self important, impatient of others, a totally dislikeable, unsympathetic character and for me that's a huge problem. I got to 35% and ended skim reading the rest as I was just so cross with her.
The characters as a whole didn't feel real to me, very stereotypical, and false, from Ethan and his family to the people who stayed at the B&B. As for Chloe – she's 19 for heavens sake, why isn't she being made to take responsibility for her actions, why does she need Mia there as some kind of baby sitter. She's an adult but acted like she was 13 and was treated that way, and it really irritated me. At 19 I was married and had my first child, and no way would I have expected my parents to act as Chloe's dad did, I was treated as an adult and acted as one, that's how it should be.
Sadly those issues overrode the whole romance for me and made the book a fail.

Stars: Two, sadly a fail for me but of course others feel very differently. Subjective taste books...we'll never all agree.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

Really enjoyable read.
Mia runs her own PR firm in the city, and Ethan is back home on his family farm after an injury means he has to leave the special forces. On their first meeting they dislike each other instantly, but next time they meet their s chemistry between them.
Really looking forward to reading future books in this series.