Hard Pressed

Kate Canterbary — 2018

Dear Jackson, I'm leaving you this note because I know you're very busy and I don't want to waste the town sheriff's time. Lord knows I've already wasted enough of it. Thank you for taking me home last night and...everything else. I made you a basket of wild blueberry muffins for your trouble. That seemed like the appropriate baked good for getting naked in your living room. I wasn't myself last night. I didn't mean to kiss you or fondle your backside or ask all those intimate questions. Thank you for pretending to enjoy it. It was very noble of you to sleep on the couch while I was starfished on your bed. I couldn't help but notice it's quite large. The bed, that is. I swear, I didn't notice anything else when I let myself out this morning. As you know, Talbott's Cove is a ridiculously small town and there's no chance we can avoid each other. Not that I'd want to avoid you, of course, but I'm not sure I can look at you without thinking of the forty different ways I made a fool of myself. Instead of avoidance, let's try to be friends. We'll forget all about last night…if that's what you want. Please burn this note after you read it— Annette p.s. I whipped up some cinnamon buns, too. Please enjoy them. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't get buns out of my mind today.

Reviews

b.andherbooks@bandherbooks

Oct 9, 2021

I listened to this story on audio book sometime this year but forgot to log it. During the listen I noted the problematic biracial rep for the hero (half-Asian, blonde-haired blue eyed, no specific reason for the hero to be biracial, problematic language). I just finished a re-read, and it seems the KU title has been edited and the hero is now described as having "dark eyes" and is not otherwise identified in any way besides having "bronzed skin" and "blonde-hair." The Sheriff's name is still Jackson Lau and his mother is also not described in any way that would make me as a white person think they were anything but white people. So, I get the knee jerk reaction to fix problems but if something so fundamental about a person can be easily edited out without otherwise impacting the story, please think about that first before you write it. So, looking at the story itself, I enjoyed my time reading about the huge sheriff fall for the town sweetheart, the baking references, and the sexy banging.