Name: Parks and Provocation
Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
ISBN: 9781949202854

Juliette Cross

Parks and Provocation

Lola Landry has come back home after being fired for making a mistake on the job.  There is no more auto service, so when she locks her keys in the car, she has no choice but to call her best friend, Marley, for help.  Marley calls a local fireman, Jedediah Lawson, knowing that Lola and Jed had issues in high school.  His arrival makes Lola both angry and curious when, after opening her car, Jed asks her out on a date.  At first, Lola resists, but when she realizes that a date with Jed might make a good episode for her @kiss-n-tell podcast, she agrees. Once their first date is a mild failure, Jed asks Lola for a second chance, making Lola question her policy for no second dates.

Parks and Provocation is filled with humor and a second chance romance about two people who missed an opportunity for happiness during their youth due to miscommunication.  Most of the story proceeds without conflict except for Lola's internal struggle as she believes she can only find happiness pursuing her goal of a big time advertising career with a large salary.  The fact that Lola mislead men into taking her on dates and then telling them afterward that their time together was just fodder for her podcast made her a bit unlikable at the beginning of the story, but she did finally redeem herself by the end.  Overall, Parks and Provocation is a cute and fun romance that doesn't really live up to all the hype that it has gotten.

Lynn Braden

Lola Landry has come back home after being fired for making a mistake on the job.  There is no more auto service, so when she locks her keys in the car, she has no choice but to call her best friend, Marley, for help.  Marley calls a local fireman, Jedediah Lawson, knowing that Lola and Jed had issues in high school.  His arrival makes Lola both angry and curious when, after opening her car, Jed asks her out on a date.  At first, Lola resists, but when she realizes that a date with Jed might make a good episode for her @kiss-n-tell podcast, she agrees. Once their first date is a mild failure, Jed asks Lola for a second chance, making Lola question her policy for no second dates.

Parks and Provocation is filled with humor and a second chance romance about two people who missed an opportunity for happiness during their youth due to miscommunication.  Most of the story proceeds without conflict except for Lola's internal struggle as she believes she can only find happiness pursuing her goal of a big time advertising career with a large salary.  The fact that Lola mislead men into taking her on dates and then telling them afterward that their time together was just fodder for her podcast made her a bit unlikable at the beginning of the story, but she did finally redeem herself by the end.  Overall, Parks and Provocation is a cute and fun romance that doesn't really live up to all the hype that it has gotten.

Sven Test

First time reading a book by Juliette Cross, and I totally get the hype! This is a page-turner that is quirky and funny, steamy with amazing dirty talk, while also being vulnerable and reflective. The storytelling definitely kept me on my toes and eager to keep reading!

IF YOU LIKE:
- high school frenemies
- family dynamics
- fake dating
- dating podcast shenanigans
- sex nachos
- Dyslexia representation

Smartypants Romance

Lola Landry stares through the window of her locked car with the keys in the ignition and the radio blaring Beck’s “Loser.” While standing there and sweltering in the soupy Tennessee humidity, she wonders how her orderly life had crashed and burned so badly. Then her high school nemesis saunters up in all of his tall, strapping, fireman-to-the-rescue glory, slapping her with the humiliating proof that it can always get worse.

When the uber-confident Jedediah Lawson requests a date in return for popping her lock, a lightbulb goes off. Revenge is sweet. He would make the perfect victim—guest, that is—for her next podcast episode on Kiss and Tell. What shocks her is the casual way he not only agrees to the post-date interview on air, but ends up hijacking her audience and wooing them with his swoony, southern charm. Not even a low score on the date-o-meter can dissuade the man or keep her fans from demanding more of the charismatic Jed.

What’s worse, she secretly wants a second date with this man who is so different from his teenage self. His unwavering patience and dimpled smile erodes her will, until she breaks the Kiss and Tell rules by agreeing to a second…and a third date. It’s a disaster. Not the date. They’re wonderful. The disaster is that she is falling for a man she once dubbed Jockstrap Jed.

'Parks and Provocation' is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #2 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.

An Enemies to Lovers Small Town Romance (Green Valley Heroes #2)

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

Sarah Ortiz

I loved this book. Lola and Jed were a fun couple to watch conquer their insecurities and find home in each other.  I do think Lola was a bit TOO prideful, but it did make their ending that much sweeter.  Also 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Allie Garza

📚ARC Review📚

Parks and Provocation🚒
Out Now✨

5/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We're back in Green Valley, TN❤️
I'm still having Jed withdrawals and I still can't deal with my emotions. 🙃

Boy, was this book AMAZING!😍
This is my first Juliette Cross book and I can't wait to add her other titles to my TBR!
I can't say enough good things about this book! I absolutely loved it!❤️

You had the banter, the charm, the angst and woah it definitely had the heat!🔥

Lola was an interesting character. I liked her character development. She was so guarded and had her mind set on one thing the entire time and it was great for us as readers to see what took her so long to realize at the end. 😁

Jed, oh my God Jedediah Lawson has my heart! He's just too swoony! I mean I can't.
He had so many wonderful heartfelt moments! 🔥🥰

I loved the supporting characters here's no matter the size of their involvement in the story. It was nice to go back to Green Valley and read about characters we know and love. 💞

Overall, Parks and Provocation is an amazing addition to the series! I loved every bit of it. I fell in love with Cross's writing style it so relatable and addictive! I was trying to get some reading done at work because I just needed the story to continue! I can't wait for the audiobook so I can experience it all over again! ❤️

Thank-you to Smartypants Romance for the chance to review this ARC!

Nicola Sarah Brooks

Flaming fireballs!  Lola and Jed were gonna light you up with their chemistry.  Strapping fireman, in touch with his emotions and is ready to grab onto the girl of his dream with both hands.  Down on her luck marketing exec who needs to show everyone, including herself, what a great success she is.  Add in a dating podcast, awesome besties and a town that is in on the big romance-that-never-was!

These two had some luggage that they were carting around: miscommunication, hiding difficulties, quick to insult but slow to think!  I loved learning all the intricacies of their coulda been romance whilst they finally got their collective acts together.  Who knew that under that colossus frame was a cinnamon roll centred firefighter with a core of naughty!  These two have some EPIC dates I'll tell ya.

Fun and family, cute but smexy dates, and some bodacious besties.  Everyone needs a Marley in their life!! 

Leah | @LeahsLittlePleasures

Oof I loved this! A LOT. Every minute. It was so good.

A small town, second chance romance with steam, a hunky fireman and fake dating podcaster with history that's so, so fun and also serious and heartfelt!

Juliette has a way of creating intense chemistry and the best banter so effortlessly, it makes it hard to put the book down. You’ll just want to devour every word nonstop. Her fast paced storytelling not only keeps you hooked but feels raw, genuine, and true from start to finish.

And I can't wait for everyone to meet Jed and Lola! ❤️

READ THIS FOR / IF YOU LIKE:
— first person, dual POV
— fake dating x dating podcast
— cozy, small towns
— romance series that can be read as standalones
— second chances
— high school frenemies
—"the one that got away" trope
— dyslexia rep/awareness
— steamy romance x HEA

Thank you Juliette and Smarty Pants Romance for my early e-copy!

Parks and Provocation

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