Thank you Net Galley and Victory editing for providing me with a copy of this book for a honest review.

If I had to describe this book it would be: Come as you are is a story about giving yourself a second chance. In this story we follow Ashley as she’s struggling to make ends meet at her family’s ski hill. She employed through her mom, Madigan a recovered addict and his men to help through the season. Through ski lessons will feelings bloom? And will Ashley and Madigan save the ski hill?

Ashley was quite a good main character, but Madigan stole the show for me. He was so caring and nice and so open about his feelings that he blew me away.


I loved also the growth of Sam in particular. And Kev, Davis, Maude Alice and Clay also stole the show for me, the whole cast was great to follow through and the banter they brought, especially Kev, was chef’s kiss.

I loved the setting as well, as a mountain lover this was perfect. It really made me long for winter in the middle of summer.

This was such a nice story of moving on, giving yourself a second chance and letting yourself love again.

I recommend this if you’re into found family, mature relationship, great banter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pinkity Publishing for providing the ARC.

This book had a really interesting premise and I was happy to see Gen X get represented in a romance, since I feel that most romance books are about people in their late 20s-early 30s. It was refreshing to get a side of romance not often seen.

That said, I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters, mostly due to their personalities. I thought Ashley was too uptight and when she did "let go" it wasn't believable. I thought Madigan was acting very naively for someone in his 50s. It just didn't sit well with me. Additionally there were some cringey dialogue choices that I really didn't jive with.

Overall, not a bad book, but also not my favorite.

I love that the characters of this book are ex cons and ex addicts, I have a lot of those in my life so it was nice to see that representation. I enjoyed the romance between Ashley and Madigan and in the background between other characters. It was fun to read about a ski resort, I’ve never been skiing so that was new to me. The sex scenes were steamy enough without being over the top. The characters were older than the typical books I read, in late 40s/early 50s, older than me in my early 30s, so that was interesting for me. I liked the characters a lot and would be open to reading more books about them, if the main characters were a different couple, that would make me more likely to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley for letting me read this arc. This story is incredible! It offers second chances and the character development was amazing throughout! It's a fast read and the spice didn't disappoint. There's representation for recovering addicts. I hope to see some other Blue Basin Romances in the future!

I flew through this book! OMG it was so romantic and cozy and it truly gave me all the feels! Matthew and Ashley had such great character development and amazing chemistry together! This book was great!

This book was really good. I really enjoyed the storyline it was done very well in my opinion. I liked the main characters however I feel like they could’ve had a little more depth to them. Sam was the main character to me and I want another book of him and Izzy please. Overall it was really good thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thanks to Netgalley and the author for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this unbiased review voluntarily.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Ashley and Madigan are the perfect combination with steamy scenes and plenty of chemistry.
But what I loved most about this book was the way it shows people's prejudices can make them miss out on some of the best opportunities and relationships in their lives.
I really also liked the way the author explored the mother/daughter relationship between Ashley and Maude Alice and how, once the parent you were close to is gone, how you maintain a good relationship with the one that is left.
It's an honest book, often funny and very entertaining. I'd love to read more from this author.

I love when I find new authors especially when I enjoy their book. This I found that I quite enjoyed and i seriously liked the characters being older seeing as we don't see that much in books. It was well written to have captivated me in the story. There was spice but it went great with the story. The characters were great and real in a sense, their growth was there. I enjoyed it.

A new author to me, Jess K Hardy knocked my socks off with this fresh new romance between two flawed, mature people. It has an original plot I haven’t seen before, centers around a ski mountain lodge and a group of recovering addicts in a realistic but positive way.

Ashley Scott is struggling to keep her family’s ski mountain lodge afloat when her mother hires Matthew Madigan and the residents of his sober living house to work during the ski season. Ashley’s narcissistic ex-husband is in the wings trying to buy out her mountain for cheap to impress his employers. Stir well and you have a recipe for disaster. It also was funny, sweet, and painful watching Ashley and Madigan navigate the rules of dating in today’s world while carrying lots of baggage from their old worlds.

This book wasn’t perfect, but it was smart and refreshing and this author will be on my radar going forward! Run, don’t walk to read this wonderful story! Many thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest opinion. I gave it four stars!

This was so good. I was hesitant because I hate the gen x romance tag line, but I love my hags. It was so great seeing them both open themselves up to love again. I also love the found family in this.

I received an arc through netgalley.

What could an opinionated single mom, who had recently taken over the helm at her family’s ski resort, have in common with a sexy silver fox, mountain of a man who runs a sober living home? More than you could possibly imagine! “Come As You Are” is a charming story about the importance of family, trusting your heart to love again, and giving everyone a chance at a brighter future. I love Ashley and Madigan’s story of second chances, falling in love and coming together to create a magical place where dreams are made. Small town romances are always full of sweet and tender moments, special first dates and quiet nights by the fire.

Ashley has her work cut out for her as she desperately tries to run her family business in a way that would have made her late father proud. He was the heart and soul of the ski resort and she wished she could ask his advice just one more time. Her mother’s spur of the moment decision to hire men under Madigan’s care was way over the top, and if it wasn’t for her desperate need for employees, she wouldn’t have even considered it. Perhaps it was Madigan’s mesmerizing blue eyes and kind nature that sealed the deal for her. He was all man from his sexy grin, to the love he showed her dog Murphy, to the passion he has for the men he was helping. Madigan sounds like the perfect man for Ashley but she didn’t make it easy for him to win her heart.

.

I started this book at 3:00PM and I finished it at 10:15PM of the same day. I had it in my hand while I was making supper. While I folded laundry. I used text-to-speech so I could listen while I was driving and taking my dog for a walk. I was HOOKED.

Maybe it was the age of the characters. Maybe it was the mountains and the ski hill. Maybe it was the humanizing of addicts and ex-criminals. Maybe it was the mixtape. Maybe it was the St. Bernard. But there was *something* about this book that had me hooked and kicking my feet by page 22 (I literally made a note at page 22 that this was a highly potential 5-star read).

I will recommend this book to everyone that is looking for a light and captivating romance. Is there spice? Yes. But this is one of the few books that I can say the spice truly added to the story. There is character growth that happens within those scenes, they aren't just spice for spice's sake.

I really enjoyed this one! I haven't read any of Jess K Hardy's other books but I will definitely be checking them out after this one. Seeing the cover showing "Generation X Romance" intrigued me - that's my generation, and having characters around my own age and not early 20's (as most are these days), was more up my alley than everything else I've been reading.

I loved having the characters that were just a few years older than me instead of basically teeny boppers, who've experienced life and lived before internet, before so much technology - and darn it, who loved mixtapes! I also loved the ski hill aspect. My family had a cabin (sort of time-share aspect, but not totally, at Whistler Blackcomb) when I was a little kid, so going back to that locale brought me even further back to my childhood. I loved that main character Ashley was able to take her mother's advice and give the guys from the sober living home a chance and give them all jobs at the ski hill for the season, and that she enjoyed having them all around... and fell for the father of the home, sober former rockstar of the 80's, (Matt) Madigan. They were such an adorable pair! He helped her deal with her ex husband who was trying to be a bully.

It's just a great story overall, with so many feel-good moments. I definitely recommend it, especially to other Gen-X'ers like myself! There aren't really that many other romances with characters in the late 40's and 50's out there, but this one is fantastic. A solid 4-star read (potentially with a second read, I might bump it up higher than 4, but a solid 4 with a first read through).

I received an advance copy from Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op (Pinkity Publishing), and this is my honest feedback.

4.5/ stars

I recommend this book for anyone looking for a heartfelt read. This book had me totally invested in the main characters. This story is a second chance at new love but also on believing in yourself to make a choice regardless of the past you had doubting yourself. I loved the ski resort setting and the the thought the author put into all the characters.

It was a good light read!

wow! I absolutely loved this one from start to finish! Ashley & Madigan are so into each other right from the start, but have to try to remember to keep it professional. both of them have been through so much in their lives, and now they’re in a place where they can actually be happy… It was such a beautiful story to read.

Ashley is trying so hard to keep her family ski mountain afloat while battling an energetic, big spirited mother, and her rude, condescending, borderline evil ex-husband from trying to acquire it. And Madigan spent his life, helping recovering attics get back on their feet, becoming not only functioning members of society, but loved, welcomed, included people. I especially loved reading of the men of little timber, such kind, funny, big hearted people who are truly doing their best to rehabilitate themselves. Sam, especially broke my heart, I can’t even understand what him and his family have been through, but I shed many tears for that sweet boy.

Ashley & Madigan are such kind, sweet, loyal, devoted people who made the perfect better halves to each other. Well, they have some ups and downs in their story, they were very communicative with each other, and always tried to do what was right.

This story had me so emotional — I cried, laughed, cried – laughed the whole way through. I absolutely loved it, and I can’t wait for the authors next story.

Thank you for the ARC!!!

A sweet and spicy ski resort romance between a pair who have very much been through the ringer before. It’s a slow burn but it’s totally worth it. This pair dance around each other a lot but eventually, Ashley and Madigan fight past their own baggage to begin something together, whilst simultaneously changing the lives of the ex-cons and recovering addicts that Madigan has made it his life’s work to help. The characters are delightful, there’s loads of great banter between the men but also a lot of tenderness and sincerity. This book faces the difficulties of addiction and the road to putting your life back together, and the importance of communication and opening up between men. On the flip side is Ashley’s residual trauma from an abusive relationship that whittled down who she was until she was a shell of herself. This book was a beautiful exploration of having second chances in all their forms and overcoming obstacles in life and I adored it.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

This was a story about accepting people where they are and letting go of the bad stuff that people make us believe. Starting life over is possible at any age if we’re willing to try. Love is always just down the hill.

3 Stars! The cozy setting and swoony chemistry make for a good story but this book just wasn't my cup of tea.

I don't know what it was other than the fact that I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable except Tex. Tex was my favorite.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I didn't think it was "bad", but I also didn't think it was the best thing I've ever read before.

That being said, Ashley and Madigan each irritated me in their own ways. They are in their late forties/early fifties and...they just didn't read that way to me? I found some of their conversations and arguments childish and immature. I respect that they each had their own traumas to deal with (Ashley with the cheating ex-husband and Madigan with past addiction and prison time), but they didn't read as mature adults to me. (It reminded me of reading a book where the MC is like 25ish and reads like a 12 year old and that gives me the ick in that situation).

Another relationship I didn't find the best is the one between Ashley and her mother. They were each super shitty towards one another, but I could never figure out who was at fault and it kept going back and forth. For instance, the mother would say something off the wall to Ashley and then look to Madigan with a grimace. It just didn't make sense to me, gave me a little bit of whiplash.

What I did like--
The setting/location. The cozy, snowy mountains is the perfect location for a cozy romance. And that's what this was. I loved the setting and the idea of a ski resort (if that's the right word).
I found the premise to be a little.. off?-- having ex-cons be workers at a place that needs to pay people less (it was a weird premise imo). Then Ashley taking money from her ex-husband right towards the end when she knew the concert was coming up? Just felt so off.

My absolute favorite character in this book was the dog! He seemed like a lost cause at first, according to Ashley's mother, but in the end, he was one who saved her sorry ass after snow burying her! I felt so proud of him in that moment! It was the best scene in the book in my opinion.

There was a third act breakup in this book, which was fine with me. More miscommunication between characters who should be old enough to have a conversation. But I digress because they worked it out and it ended up being a HEA. I hope there is another book about Ashley's daughter, Davis, and the ex-con, Kev. I would read that in a heartbeat.

Ashley Cooke is struggling, in life and in love. She will do just about anything to save the struggling ski hill she grew up on. The same one she owns and is trying to bring back to life. The same one her cheating ex-husband is trying to acquire. Enter Max Madigan and the men from Timber Hills Sober Living Home. What starts as a way to cut cost for Ashley and bring meaningful work to the men for Madigan, turns into something neither one could see coming.

I read this book in a 24 hour period. Really, it’s that good. The ski resort setting, the unique and diverse cast of characters, a lovable dog…what more could you want. Drama, pining, intrigue, hope, and love all wrapped up in this wonderful little book. And spice. Did I mention the spice? Because it was SPICY in the best way.

I loved Ashley and Madigan equally. Usually I love the FMC or the MMC a little more than the other, but that wasn’t the case here. The amount of growth they both had to go through to be with each other, Ashley learning to let go, Madigan learning to trust, was so poignant. My heart is full. And the fact that they both thought they weren’t worthy of the other person? I loved how they could both put the other person back together and just love them for who they are.

I loved all the side characters as well and learning all the things they had to go through to become better for the people they loved. This book handled becoming sober/clean in the best way possible and its hard to do with a tough topic like that.

My three big things to leave you with:

1. It was so freaking refreshing to read a romance book with MCs in their 40’s and 50’s. I love my romance books, but also sometimes I just don’t want to read about the cute 21 year old, you know?
2. The spice was perfect. Chef’s kiss.
3. I’m going to need a Kev and Davis story STAT.

Thanks to Net Galley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op, and Pinkity Publishing LLC for the chance to read it!