Travis

This one surprised me. Archer’s Voice will always be one of my favorite books and this one honestly doesn’t come close to how it made me feel. But this one was pretty good still. I won’t lie this plot did remind me of the second book in the Knockemout series with the basic step up but this one did come out first something I needed to remember as well too. The characters were good. The ultimate thing people wanted to see was Travis’s redemption and I think it tackled a lot of that I liked a lot that it did. You can see his growth and how he will continue to grow too. I think I would have liked to see more between Travis and Archer that’s one thing I would have made it so much better too. Ultimately it surprised me and actually made me want to read more books by Mia Sheridan.

Pelion, Maine Police Chief Travis Hale catches his girlfriend in bed with Easton Torres, ending a relationship that he thought would result in marriage. Instead he meets Easton's sister, Haven as she is driving recklessly due to an over-abundance of plants in her car. The two are immediately attracted to one another, but Haven only plans to stay in town through the summer, so a relationship seems ill-advised, especially since she has set her sights on a fling with rich bachelor, Gage Buchanan. Deciding to become friends seems like the only alternative for Travis and Haven, but things change when they add benefits to their friendship.

Travis is a sequel to Archer's Voice, bringing the characters from that book 8 years into the future. While the story is a nice trip back to the town and characters from the first book, it doesn't contain much substance. Most of the conflict is internal involving introspection by the protagonists about their lives and past mistakes. There are some cute, fun moments in the plot that add some depth but don't really move the story forward in any real way. Overall, Travis is an easy-going sequel mostly for fans of the original story that want more.

"You tricked me, Travis Hale." No, you tricked me."

I listened to Archer's Voice in 2015, so it's safe to say I don't remember much, except that I loved that book so much! While Travis doesn't hold a candle to its predecessor, it is still a beautiful story of continued redemption for Travis Hale.

Second best. Second best. You're nothing but second best. And second best didn't even deserve a goodbye.

Travis has been holding on to this grudge and resentment for years from when his father left and chose Archer. It made him bully Archer and made a whole town ignore Archer's existence. After the ending of Archer's Voice, Travis is in better terms with his brother, his wife, and their kids. He's even thinking of settling down with his girlfriend, until he finds her with Easton. Leaving with the thought of revenge, he encounters Haven Torres, a curly-haired woman from California who's temporarily in Pelion Lake, and Easton's sister. The pair start a friendship and they agree to help Easton sweat it out a little, as well as Travis becoming Haven's wingman. But the more they spend time together, Travis realizes he wants Haven for himself.

"I was thinking that I'm glad we're friends."
He smiled. "Me too."

Travis' pain really tugged my heartstrings. Everything he did isn't excused at all, but his background helps understand so much why he did what he did. His growth was tremendous and it was so nice to read his journey from who he used to be to the kind of man anyone would be proud of.

"Your heart is made of gold, even if it is a bit tarnished."

Haven Torres is a fantastic woman. I loved her character and everything she brought to the story. While I understand this story is focused on Travis' journey, I would have loved to get to know more of Haven. Nonetheless, I loved her quirky personality and her immense love of plants!

I loved so much getting the interactions between Bree and Travis. She started off still being hesitant towards Travis, but their relationship bloomed through the story. And it was great to see him being an uncle to Bree and Archer's kids! Let me tell you, those kids are a hoot! They had me laughing so hard!

"You are wanted. You are so wanted by me."

Overall, Travis is a heart-warming redemption story combined with a love story that will bring you happiness, hope, while also tugging your heartstrings.

Travis is a revised version of the original "Travis" that was originally published in 2021. I was highly intrigued by this one, especially as I recently read "Archer's Voice" for the first time earlier this year, so the events of that books and especially in how Travis treated Archer was still very fresh in my mind but I also knew he had a redemption story.

In this story, we have our hero, who is the sheriff of the small town in Maine. A duo of strangers come to town just passing through. Travis and Haven have an instant attraction, but they are really opposites from each other, and for Haven she is more drawn to Gage, because he is more put together but as Haven and Travis bond and become friends with benefits, much more depths builds in their relationship, and Haven will need to decide if her love for Travis is stronger than her need to roam the world and take a risk on Travis and this quaint town which has become a home for herself and her brother...

Travis is such a great redemption story but we don't see the redemption for quite some time. I actually really loved how the redemption was built throughout the story though. I was so intrigued by this pairing here. I am not a fan of flings though and to be honest I wasn't a big fan of the heroine. I didn't understand why she was drawn so much more to Gage, over Travis. She and Travis were more together and she only had like one date with Gage throughout the whole book so it was strange and didn't quite fit with the story to be honest. I think I was much more in seeing Travis redeem himself, and find his own HEA than what was really happening with the heroine and Gage. I just feel like it was just used as a plot device with not much substantial to it. Although I want GAGE's book, and I wonder if his parents might have a story? I will have to look haha

I will say that if you are wanting to see Travis redeem himself especially in how he treated Archer, you will GET it! Its such a great moment, and honestly it had me crying buckets, it just had so much deep heartfelt emotion in that moment and the way his family reacts to it was just beautiful, the brothers closer than ever!!! LOVED it so dearly. And we do get to see some fun moments with Archer and his wife and their precious babies. Definitely worth reading if you are a fan of Archer's Voice.

Overall this story captivated me and I can't wait to read more from this author. Although I can't decided if I love this cover more of the one where he is dripping wet!! LMAO.

First off, for anyone interested you definitely need to read Archer’s Voice first (which is not a knock for this at all, I just want any potential reader to get the full experience). I definitely enjoyed this one, of course it has the challenge of being a companion to Archer’s story. I think in some ways this was a simplistic story that went by very quickly, maybe too quickly. I think this couple could have benefited from some time jumps and got to grow their relationship throughout a summer vs a week for example.

There were certain plot points that were dwelled on for too long in my opinion. I was absolutely ready to redeem and forgive Travis and there was character growth, but some things felt a bit overstated. Namely how Haven isn’t his type and how fixated he was on his “revenge” plot line. I needed just a bit more from him at the start with this being 6 or so years from Archer’s Voice.

That being said I actually did not mind the other man/other woman drama in this!! Other authors could take note. It was handled very well in my opinion and I was living for the angst.

This stayed at 3.8ish stars for me. It reminds me of early Samantha Young. Overall worth the read but I don’t think I’ll be gravitating to rereads like I have with Archer’s. Thank you so much to NetGalley and bloom books for the ARC!

Oh my god, I feel like this book is so much more heart-felt and better told than Archer’s Voice. If I had to choose, I’d guiltily go with Travis. First off, I feel like the story telling here was way better than Archer’s book, this might obviously be because the time frame between the writing of these two books is of 7 years so imagine how much gathered experience the author has. (Don’t know if i’m explaining myself correctly) Archer’s Voice gave us the cruel and hateful past of Travis, this book shows us how much he has changed for the better. Talk about character development. And it’s not only “yeah I grew up”, it goes way deeper and it actually addresses his past. Love it. Yeah, my main focus here is Travis, shameless.

~ 3,5 stars. i liked travis and it was nice to see his redemption. the romance was okay, but it felt like something was missing. i loved archer and bree’s crumbs.