Review: A lovely feel-good jaunt
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 14, 2014
We met Willa Peet in ‘Protecting What’s His‘, the first book in Bailey’s Line of Duty series. That series came out under Entangled’s Brazen stable, however, and this book is an Entangled Embrace release, so expect content more in line with Embrace’s NA MO (less filth, basically). We learnt about Willa’s s****y childhood in ‘Protecting What’s His’, but here we get a broader view of its effect on her and her relationships.She’s decamped to Ireland from Chicago for a month to hone her skills as a photographer. It’s also an opportunity to get over a break-up with her perfecter-than-perfect boyfriend, Evan. Their break-up (and Willa’s reasons for instigating it) give us more of an insight into Willa than any lengthy exposition ever could.When she arrives in Dublin, she meets Shane the Ride. Shane the Ride, as luck would have it, owns the inn she’ll be staying at for the duration of her trip. They have some great back-and-forth and set the scene for some standard Bailey chemistry.This book is clearly NA when compared to the Line of Duty series (the focus is on Willa’s coming to terms with who she is, Shane’s difficulties with his family, his mother’s issues). We get less full-on dirt and more soul-searching than in Bailey’s previous books. But it’s done with a maturity and adult likability that so many NA books lack. The sex is hot (it’s Tessa Bailey, she’s incapable of writing unhot sex), the peripheral characters are interesting and the whole thing comes together as a lovely, feel-good jaunt. It’ll make you happy, which is rare and pretty great, no?