Come As You Are
by Jess K Hardy
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Nov 01 2022 | Archive Date Jul 13 2024
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Description
“I’ve gotta admit, it’s pretty strange to finally meet the woman you wrote a love song about thirty years after you wrote it.”
46-year-old Ashley Cooke will do just about anything to save her struggling ski hill. When she hires the men from a local sober living home for the season to cut costs, even she thinks she’s gone too far. With her credit cards maxed, her cheating ex-husband intent on buying the mountain out from under her, and record-breaking snow in the forecast, she can’t afford to be distracted by the six-foot-tall bearded and tattooed sober living home owner moving onto her mountain.
53-year-old recovering addict and ex-grunge rocker Matthew Madigan has devoted every minute of the last decade to the men residing at his sober living home. When he meets tightly wound and adorably flustered Ashley, desires he’s put on the back burner for years start to simmer. Immune to his infamous, albeit rusty charm, Ashley presents a challenge he can’t resist. When she offers to give him skiing lessons in exchange for his help training her St. Bernard rescue dog, he jumps at the chance to ride next to her on the chairlift despite his debilitating fear of heights.
During bunny hill shenanigans, chairlift confessions, and steamy cabin serenades, Madigan teaches Ashley that a person’s past doesn’t define them, and Ashley shows Madigan that the men he helps aren’t the only people who deserve a second chance. When sabotage threatens both the men and the mountain, Ashley and Madigan will have to decide if they’re only having a winter fling, or if the mountain isn’t the only thing worth fighting for.
Perfect for fans of L.B. Dunbar and Kate Canterbary, Come As You Are is a later in life, small town, rockstar romance with lots of heat and even more heart!
Content notes: Addiction, divorce, mourning the loss of a parent
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9798988516323 |
| PRICE | $4.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 322 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 1453589
Another great romcom to add to my summer reading journal. I can’t believe that I had not heard of this book! It was great!
Jessica W, Reviewer
Yes! It is SO REFRESHING to read a romance between a 46 and 53 year old with all the life experience, fears, and misgivings about starting a relationship, and with ALL the intimacy. I loved this book. The premise is so original and gave me all the feel good vibes. Ashley reluctantly hires men from a sober living facility to help work at her flailing Montana ski resort. She’s a mother, has an awful patronizing ex, and an oddball mother who is a bit flighty and impulsive. Ashley isn’t looking for romance, in fact it’s probably the last thing in her mind with her to-do list a million miles long. But when Matthew Madigan, a recovering addict himself and hot former lead guitarist for a famous band, moves in with his men to the ski lodge’s boarding house, it doesn’t take much to turn Ashley’s head.
I loved the playfulness between Madigan and Ashley and the thoughtfulness they gave each other. These are two people who have been out of the love game for quite awhile, but just because it’s been a minute, doesn’t mean they forget what it’s like to be attracted to someone. I honestly believed the chemistry between Madigan and Ashley and this for me always makes the sex scenes so much more emotionally charged. They felt like real people with real lives too. Imagine having a fight with someone and actually listening to the other person and making concessions to them because you care. Groundbreaking! Or maybe, this is just what two mature people do…No miscommunication trope here!
The setting for this book was the perfect mix of small-town romance and forced proximity. I cannot think of any other romance I’ve read set at a ski lodge and I loved the work ethic and trust that Ashley establishes with the sober-living men. Jess K. Hardy says she writes romance, aged up, and this is EXACTLY what this Xennial didn’t know she needed. It’s the perfect blend of great storytelling with a close knit cast of characters, steamy scenes that just made me want to pump my fist, and all the fun 90’s music references (The Lemonheads! How did I forget about Evan Dando?) a girl could want. Just because you aren’t a co-ed, doesn’t mean you can’t get it, and Madigan and Ashley deserve an HEA just like anyone else. You can believe I’ll definitely be picking up Hardy’s next book in the same universe. Big thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for my e-copy. All opinions are my own.
(Posted to IG today, Sunday June 23, 2024)
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