Juniper Hill: (The Edens #2) Paperback – 23 Nov. 2023

Woooo Weeee this series is just getting better and better.Knox Eden - what can I say - chef, owner of a beautiful property, caring, hard-working and just overall sexy.He rents out his loft to Memphis, a mother of a 8 week old baby who is working in his family inn after being hired by his sister Eloise.They don’t get on at first and he is not keen on her being near him at work at outside of work, meanwhile, she is running from her family and is in this small town because she is unknown and they are unlikely to find her.He helps with her son, swoon, and cooks for her, and I loved the attraction between the two of them as they fell in love.There is a crime in this book also and when her family come to visit, the relationship between Knox and Memphis is strong and her family has much less of an impact on her life.I loved Knox, what a man - a perfect book boyfriend and the perfect balance between romance and tension.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I've heard so many good things about this book so I'm glad to say that I definitely get the hype! This is for those who love small-town romances and the single parent trope, oh, and a good dose of angsty back and forth! Although this does have a lot of drama and suspense, there is no third-act breakup, which is great cos there was already enough drama surrounding Memphis from the start.This was my first book in The Edens series and I enjoyed the small-town and close-knit family vibes. Quincy seems like an idyllic and picturesque town that's far away from big city life and it wasn't hard to picture the sprawling fields and rolling mountains surrounding it. In Quincy, The Edens are like royalty and they're basically known everywhere and by everyone and it was fun getting to know all of them. I think if there's anything that I wished we got more of, it'd be the closeness between the siblings. We're told they all have a good relationship and I enjoyed the loud and messy family moments but this aspect felt more "tell" than "show". I was really missing more of the sibling/family banter and conversations which I usually love in these romances and I was bummed we didn't get more of that here.Memphis and Knox were a great couple and I thought they made a great team. Memphis is a single mother and former Park Avenue Princess who has been disowned by her heartless snobby family in New York. She comes to Quincy looking for a fresh start and ends up staying in Knox's loft with her baby boy, Drake, and she basically tries to survive from one day to the next. Although at times I felt her storyline became a bit too dramatic and mopey, especially as she kept crying, it wasn't hard to empathise with Memphis. She's led a spoiled and sheltered life but she also knows it and she's willing to do anything to give her son a better life without the control and restraints put on her own. She's tenacious, hard-working and has quite the fighting spirit but it was also heartwarming to see her receive the love and care she never got from her own family through Knox and the Edens. Knox was your typical grumpy MMC with a hurtful past that drove him to live a solitary life in Juniper Hill. He's the big muscled, tatted-up chef at Knuckles, the restaurant at The Eloise Inn owned by his family and I gotta tell ya, it's a combo that really worked for him. 😂 I love how supportive Knox was of Memphis and how he basically worshipped at her altar. Every time he'd cook for her and take care of her and Drake it'd make me melt a little more inside. If you love a simp hero, Knox is your man!The tension between them built up beautifully but it was pretty taut from the beginning. You could've sliced through the sexual tension with a knife and oof, the angst of them trying to stay away while continuously orbiting each other was intense! Did I think their romance moved quickly? Honestly, it felt a little 'instalove' because I don't know how quickly time passed for them to get so close and develop such strong feelings. But there was something about their relationship that just felt right and (as corny as it sounds) meant to be. Their steamy scenes were also a lot of fun and a surprise because I've read one book by this author which was fade-to-black and reviews for the first book in this series said it's closed-door too, so I assumed this'd be the same. It's not (if that makes a difference to you) and with their intense chemistry, it was really no wonder that when they finally got together it'd be fire hot! 🥵Overall, this was a great single-parent romance and I've already picked up the next book in the series because after that cliffhanger in the epilogue, I can't wait to read Talia's story! 😍

When I truly enjoy a book, I get the feeling I could read it hundreds of times and still love it, still laugh at the same parts, and cry at the same parts. I really don’t feel this often, and when I do it is usually with a book that doesn’t really tap into my emotions much. (other than feelings of happiness, amusement etc). It is very rare that I find a book that can make me cry, laugh, cry again and still be an experience I want to repeat, therefore I selfishly decide that this book is amazing, and something to be treasured by all. It is the best in the series so far (so sorry, but there is no contest). Knox is the perfect love interest, the perfect father and perfect character to love the female mc. The book is fast paced, but not at a rate that it seems horrifically unrealistic, just enough to keep you riding the (cliched expression coming sorry) emotional rollercoaster at full speed. Perhaps I read the book a bit too fast, however (three hours or something), so take this pace comment with a pinch of salt. The only thing I didn’t enjoy as much was the ending. The ending was a bit confusing to me, as (spoilers ahead!!!) they added a whole new villain, which made it difficult to hate/ feel anything towards her, as we had no idea who she was. If the original villain of the book that we had known all along was behind the kidnapping, I think that the story would have been a bit more consistent, and (on the other hand) perhaps a little too predictable, therefore this book was perfect and I will accept no complaints.

Very good writing kept up my interest all the way through

Filled with all the emotions I loved that story. A perfect small town romance with a great family of charactersLove how realistic Memphis was as a first time mother going through all the feelings. What a great read 5⭐️