I really enjoyed this book from Brenda Novak, as I do all of her work! These characters were very relatable and the storyline felt like a good friend was telling me a story. Brenda knows how to weave together a story with just enough of everything a reader could want in a story.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Jane and Kurt. Jane owns a vintage store, she is thirty five years old. Kurt helps run his family’s ranch, he is thirty. Jane and Kurt are friends. Jane ask Kurt to help her get pregnant. He decides to help her. The next month, she is late. She is pregnant. They each have issues, but together they figure them out and fall in love.

Before Covid I had never read a book by Brenda Novak. I then read One Perfect Summer and found that I could finally sit down and enjoy a book. Since then, I have read a number of Ms. Novak’s novels. Each has good characters, enough plot to keep the pages turning and generally nice resolutions of the story. All of that is again true here.

In this novel readers meet the Jane of the title. Life has not been going exactly according to plan for her. She is not living where she wants to, she has responsibilities, she wants to be a mom but it hasn’t happened and so on. What will happen when she interacts with her sister’s ex? Will her life become less messy by the end of this story? Find out in this book.

Note that this is a title in a trilogy. So, if you enjoy spending time with Jane look for the other titles. They are Talulah’s Back in Town and The Talk of Coyote Canyon.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinons are my own.

The Messy Life of Jane Tanner by Brenda Novak is the third book in the contemporary romance Coyote Canyon series. The Coyote Canyon series is like a lot of romance series that changes the main characters within each new book with the setting being the tie between them. With the main characters changing each of these book can be enjoyed as a standalone but there are glimpses of previous characters for those that have followed the series from the beginning.

Jane Tanner has always longed for a life more adventurous than the one she’s leading but her dreams of heading to the big city were doused when she needed to care for her aging grandfather. Jane is excited to be opening her vintage gift shop if Coyote Canyon though giving her one thing of her own to enjoy in the small town as her friends are all settling into relationships and families.

Jane is pretty sure that prince charming isn’t going to march into her small town and sweep her off her feet at this point in her life. So with her store up and running and no husband in sight Jane thinks maybe she can skip that whole stage and just have a baby on her own. One night she tosses the idea out to Kurt Elway while drinking. Kurt is the last person Jane should look at for a sperm donor, her sister’s ex and younger than Jane but there isn’t many prospects in town so maybe Kurt would help Jane out.

Brenda Novak is one of those authors that I go to when I want to pick up a book that I know I’ll love even before I begin reading it. Where it’s her romance or suspense I haven’t found a story I didn’t like and the entire Coyote Canyon series was no exception to that. I loved that we have a main character strong enough to stand on her own if need be but vulnerable enough to accept a partner when the time was right. This was sort of a friends to lovers crossed with a second chance with previous feelings involved and I was all for it from start to finish and am now sad that I believe the Coyote Canyon series is ending.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I am a major Brenda Novak fan! This is my first book in the series and all I can say is, Brenda Novak knows how to write a messy storyline and handle it well. I was rooting for Jane and Kurt and now I have to go back and read the other books in the series.

First off the title really fits the story! Janes life is a mess she feels stuck and I can relate! Being a caretaker is not an easy job. She wants what her friends have love, she wants to see what it outside of the small town she lives in but she isn't willing to leave when her grandfather needs her. His health is declining she feels stuck.



Kurt is a great character and you can see that he cares for Jane more then she realizes. Jane wants a baby someone who is going to love her unconditionally but she has no man in her life and has no prospects so she tells Kurt what she thinking and he offers to help her. She doesn't see that he in love with her, that he is what she has been looking for and needing.

Mrs. Novak in her typical fashion pulls you in and makes you feel part of the story. I didn't care for Janes sister Kate for a lot of the story because she seemed selfish and was not seeing what was there between Jane and Kurt was real.

This was the best of the three in the series!
Jane was a great character, and I loved her story! For me the friendships between the three women was the best part, and I love series because I can revisit the characters.

But I am not going to lie, the storyline between Jane and Kurt was great, and I love when unrequited love happens. Also, this was a very original twist to the pregnancy troupe. I like it, and couldn't wait to find out what happened next!

~~~ I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ~~~

The Messy Life of Jane Tanner is Novak's final book (so far- hoping for more) in the Coyote Canyon series. Obviously this book follows the story of Jane Tanner, a woman facing eternal singlehood and her biological clock. In this book, Jane does some pretty crazy things to get what she wants, not considering anyone else's feelings... and it all creates a big mess! But... her new found sorta-relationship with Kurt just might be the real deal that can offer her all she wants, if she will just overcome her trust issues. The Messy Life of Jane Tanner is a great continuation of the Coyote Series and we get to see more of the characters from the first two books. This would be a great light-hearted vacation read. I highly recommend the books in the Coyote Canyon series and Brenda Novak!

I would recommend Brenda Novak's new book, The Messy Life of Jane Tanner. She is one of my favorite authors. Wonderful story for everyone to enjoy. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy reading!

This book was so fun to read and I was dying to know what was going to happen in the end, but I was kind of sad it happened at the very end. I don’t want to give away spoilers, so I don’t think I can say much else.

Jane Tanner’s life is messy because she is 35, living in a small town with no promising romance and wants to start having a family before it’s too late. This book has a lot of the characters from the first two books, and I would recommend reading both first so you know some of the situations that are discussed in this one.

But what I LOVED:
-This was SUCH a fun series. Enjoyed the small town of Coyote Canyon. Kind of sad it’s the end of the series.

-the friendship stories. The first two books had very complicated female friendship issues. It was lovely to see how all of these friends worked through some issues in this one. For the last book in the series - this made me very happy!

-Jane is such a good character. She has complicated relationships with so much of her family, but she is a caretaker and wants to help everyone. Loved how she took care of Papa.

“Why would I passively accept what life gives me when I have the power to change things?” P32

This is Brenda Novak’s 3rd and final book in her Coyote Canyon Trilogy. Jane Tanner felt like she’s been left behind amongst her friends. She has been wanting a baby for many years now. So one night in their local bar she propositioned to a long time friend from years past to become her baby’s father. She didn’t want to go the conventional way. She wanted to know the baby’s Daddy. She owned her own vintage shop in town, watched over her grandfather and now trying to be a mother. Could she do all this? There are many twist and turns along the way. There are some endearing moments with her Grandfather who was suffering from dementia. This brought a feel of real life introduced into the story. Brought all kinds of emotions too. So touching! Brenda brings back the past characters from the previous books in the trilogy but this can be read as a stand alone. It was a most enjoyable read! Looking forward to her next book.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers in letting me read this book and allowing me to leave an honest review.

This is book #3 in the Coyote Canyon series and revolves around Jane and Kurt.
It was fun returning to Coyote Canyon to catch up on everyone's life.
As the title states……Jane’s life is quite messy. At the moment, her life is on hold—she can’t do much while caring for her grandfather who has dementia.
This is a friend’s to lovers romance with a twist that I enjoyed reading.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Jane Tanner does not do things the expected and usual way. She wants to have a baby before her biological clock stops ticking and sets out to make it happen by pursuing a likely candidate as the father. Kurt Elway is a hard working rancher and has been attracted to Jane for years, but he cannot believe that Jane wants him to impregnate her and then walk away. What an unique plot with all of the characters reacting and interacting in different and very realistic ways! I enjoyed the fast-moving plot, all of the drama that such a situation evoked and the well-developed characters. I liked how old friendships were restored and new ones begun. I think my favorite part of the book was Jane’s caring concern for her beloved grandfather. Those scenes were so touching that they brought tears to my eyes. Reading a book that made me think, laugh, and cry was a perfect use of my reading time. I enjoyed everything about the book and appreciated that sometimes hard choices have to made for the good of everyone. I’m just glad that Jane was the one making those decisions and not me! This is fiction at its best, to be enjoyed, discussed and remembered.

It has taken me forever to sit down to write this review. I have so many conflicting feelings about this book. There are things I love about the story and things that really didn’t work for me at all. I don’t know if my expectations were too high after the first two books in the series, which were fabulous. One thing I do know is that there were too many secrets! I hate secrets. At least the kind that end up getting either too convoluted or drag on too long, and this book had both kinds.

When it comes to the main couple, Jane and Kurt are amazing people. Jane is kind and loyal; she’ll bend over backward for her friends and family even if they sometimes don’t deserve it. But she also tends to have tunnel vision and focus on the wrong things. There were so many times I just wanted her to look around her to see what was happening in her world, not what she thought was happening in her world. Kurt made some questionable decisions at times, but he is a completely lovable guy. I still got frustrated with him for not speaking his truth when it came to Jane.

I felt the way the author redeemed Averil blindsided me. I truly thought she was not redeemable so kept waiting for the other shoe to drop when it came to her part of the story. And while Averil and Jane’s other friends were great side characters in this book, Jane’s sister Kate was the new bad guy in my eyes. I could not stand how proprietory she was about Kurt and can we please quit making a big deal about a 5-year age difference when the characters are in their 30s? I know it was just because the woman was older and it got annoying, especially when her sister brought it up. There is more in her sister’s story that just sent me over the edge. I believe the author was trying to make a point about domestic violence and I was trying to look at it that way, for its realism, but it was hard.

There were pockets in this book where Jane and Kurt would relax with each other and those were the times I could see their chemistry and it would make me root for them. Yet there is something about Jane’s quest for a baby and the way single motherhood and IVF were treated by some characters that gave me an icky feeling. As much as I love Kurt, there is a part where he’s thinking about “how babies are supposed to be made” that just…ugh! No. Not in 2024 dude.

Overall, this book was okay. Not up to my expectations when it came to this series, but it still kept me engaged. Plus, I’m still hoping for more. Maybe Averil can find her HEA, or one of Kurt’s brothers. I’d love to see more of these characters and this town…without all the secrets.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley! I Love Brenda Novak's books, but this one was hard for me to get into. I look forward to reading her next one.

I really liked many of Brenda Novak's books, but this one was a little slow and I had a hard time finishing it. That said, it could be that this story of a small town, friends, and finding love was just not appealing to me at this time. As an older woman, too much cat and mouse in their relationships, too much insecurity and not being brave enough to put their feelings out there. Loved the small town vibe, Jane's small business and the fact that the 3 books in the series followed the main characters. Looking forward to Brenda Novak's next book and glad I had the chance to read this series.

I've been reading Brenda Novak for many years and her books are usually a hit for me. This one, however, while it had some positives, was more of a miss. The positives first. I enjoyed Jane's relationship with her grandfather and appreciated the delicate, while realistic, touch used when dealing with her grandfather's dementia. The female friendships also felt authentic, complete with the ups and downs of real life relationships, including fights, mending fences and crossing privacy lines.

I also liked the growth of secondary character - and estranged friend - Averil. To me, it felt like she had the most significant character development in the book. Kurt was another positive for me and my heart hurt for him for almost the entire book. Unrequited love is no joke, especially in light of what Jane asked him to do.

What didn't work? As hard as I tried, I was not able to connect with Jane and Kurt as a couple. Jane's behavior and dismissive treatment kept me from buying into their relationship, even with the "awakening" near the end of the book. I wanted much earlier realization and development of their romance. Also, I was very disappointed in the way Jane's sister's romantic storyline was presented. Perhaps she's destined for a book of her own and that's why it was left as it was but I found it disturbing.

Others will no doubt not have the same issues (based on the number of 5-star reviews) but this one just didn't work for me. However, I am still a Brenda Novak fan and will assuredly be buying the next book she publishes.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.0

*ARC received via NetGalley
Fair and unbiased review

I have really enjoyed this series! I think this was the best one! I just couldn't put it down and yet I didn't want it to end. It's a stand-alone but I so enjoy visiting with characters from previous books. Can't wait to see what Brenda has in store for us next! Such a talented writer.

Solid Series Continuation. This is one of those books where you thought the author was doing a trilogy... and yet with the story herein, perhaps the author plans to continue coming back to this rural small western town. Both female leads from the first two books, as well as the male lead from the first book, play prominent roles in this tale as we learn of the mess one of their friends has truly gotten herself in. The ending is perhaps a bit rushed and maybe even, arguably, "tacked on" feeling, as though perhaps Novak had a page target, realized she still needed to wrap up the tale, and squeezed into that target. Still, the tale to that point is solid, and even the mad dash to wrap up the book mostly works within the story told here. Note that for those wishing to avoid all versions of pregnancy tales, this is absolutely one of those - and it absolutely works for the character as portrayed within this tale. Overall a solid tale of its type, but absolutely read the first two books in this series first. Then speculate along with me whether Novak plans to continue this series or not. Very much recommended.

The Messy Life of Jane Tanner was an unconventional approach to a romance novel. This was the third book in the trilogy. I would recommend reading the first two books in the series prior to this book in order to better understand the relationships. I loved the small town setting and the characters were well written. I enjoyed this story and will now read the first two books in this trilogy. I would rate 3.5 stars if I could. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the privilege of reading this ARC.