Moonlight & Whiskey

Wow!!! This book. I needed to read this book. I was drawn from the very first page. The passion and the steam Avery Barrows and Declan McGinn have jumps right off every page. You cannot deny the chemistry that these two have. Avery is a plus size, career woman, with a strong sense of self. Though she hides who she really is and wants to be in her male dominated field of work, Declan, the notorious playboy who doesn’t do the “relationship thing” falls head over heels for Avery. And Avery isn’t far behind him. He encourages her to be who she truly is, both in the bedroom and in everyday life. Overall it is well written and very enjoyable to read. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars!! Thank you for this book. I’m excited to read more from Tricia Lynne and see what she has in store for future books.

I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting from this book, but turns out it wasn’t what it actually was. I liked both the MCs to an extent. I could really relate to Avery’s insecurities because of her curves which are only compounded here due to her trying so hard to make it in a man’s profession. I applauded her trying to be more confident in her skin and believe that she is sexy and worthy. Declan is the usual broody bad boy we all love in our romance novels and I liked the way he treated her. However, both of them have too many walls in place so that they never get hurt again with short tempers to go along, which leads to quite a few misunderstandings. I might have liked the angst and the eventual resolution in another book but I couldn’t enjoy it here because every time one of them felt threatened, they decided to humiliate each other with words and I really hated it. The writing is very easy to read and I finished it fairly quickly. The author also brings New Orleans to life with her words and I was mesmerized by the descriptions of the city - I just want to visit it once now. I also really liked the side characters here, both of their friends are great and supportive and brought some light moments to this very intense love story. I might even be interested in reading their individual stories next. This had all the elements of a romance I usually like - chemistry, passion, intensity and the whole soulmates thing - but I just couldn’t warm up to the main characters enough. However, this might still be the right one for you and you should take my review with a grain of salt.

Moonlight & Whiskey is a book I've wanted to read since I read the sypnosis and read that the main character is a curvy woman. Not many romance books have a plus sized main characters, so this was really interesting to see. Besides that, this story sounded like it was going to be amazing! Avery has made it career wise (well, it would be completely true if she still wasn't doing more work than she should be doing) and knows that she's smart. After not having the best childhood, Avery has built up some walls. She knows she's beautiful and she loves her curves, but society (especially at work) still makes her feel like she needs to be someone she's not! Declan is the mysterious bad boy and it's clear there is more to him than meets the eye. He doesn't do relationships. Not after the way his mother treated his father and how that left him in pieces. Declan is a smart man though, owns his own business, plays in a rock band. His world just happens to get turned upside down when he meets Avery on vacation. Avery and Declan are only supposed to be together while she is on vacation in NOLA, but it's clear they've got a connection that isn't going to let it go that easily. I loved seeing them connect and the chemistry was there from the start. There are quite a lot of steamy moments in this book, that romance lovers will definitely enjoy! I think my favorite part of their relationship is the fact that they start making the other feel safe. The need for the walls slowly starts to fade. On top of that, Declan loves her for the way she is. He embraces her curves and makes sure she realizes she should too! They both become a lot stronger in this book and fight for what they want. While I loved a lot about this book, for some reason it took a long time for it to really grab me. I normally fly through books this size, but it felt like I just wasn't getting any further. I've been trying to put my finger on what it could be, but while I loved these characters, I was missing something. I'm wondering if maybe the "will they, won't they" took too long, or maybe things were described too much? In the beginning, we read about the mystery of NOLA. After their first date in the restaurant with the whiskey, I kind of missed that through the rest of the book. It would've been interesting to have that play a bigger part. Moonlight & Whiskey is mostly told from Avery's POV. We eventually get to read how Declan thinks, but I think maybe this book would've grabbed me more if that had started sooner. Don't get me wrong, I definitely enjoyed this story, there were just a few things that felt off. All in all, if you're looking for a steamy romance, a character who is comfortable in her own skin, great friends, tons of music references and even a couple of concerst and that has people who learn to love, Moonlight & Whiskey is the book for you!