The
town is worth saving, as long as conspiracy theorists, serial killers, and
Vincent Barone all stay out of Xavier’s way.
Xavier swore he’d never move back to the flyspeck of a town he’d grown up in
and he kept that promise for over twenty years. Now he's back for good.
Vincent never left. After earning his teaching certificate, he stayed in town
to be close to his elderly parents. These days he’s the single dad of a
fifteen-year-old daughter and working two jobs to make ends meet. He's
perfectly happy with his life.
Xavier's mission is to save Cooper Springs. But his efforts are being hindered
by his stodgy, straight-laced, rule-following neighbor, Vincent Barone.
Dark-eyed, broad-shouldered, and muscly Vincent, who Xav stealthily ogles when
he toils in his yard sans shirt. For a high school shop teacher, Vincent is too
sexy. And he has a kid. And he infuriates Xavier. And anyway, love is for
suckers.
Vincent doesn't have time to date. And he certainly wouldn’t date his flashy,
arrogant, neighbor who he absolutely did not have a crush on in high school.
Who did Xavier think he was, moving back to town and throwing his weight
around, causing butterflies in Vincent's stomach, and making his stupid heart
beat faster every time he saw him?
Cooper Springs has changed since they were kids, and maybe two guys can move
from hate to love. But are they ready? Will Vincent bend a few of his rules?
Will Xavier reign in his chaotic tendencies? Is love in the air?
Then there’s the matter of the grisly discovery in the woods, murder is bad
for business.
Welcome to Cooper Springs, home to UFO chasers, Sasquatch believers, conspiracy
theorists, chainsaw artists, and regular folk just trying to make a living.
And, quite possibly, a killer.
Adverse Conditions is the first in the Reclaimed Hearts series, set in
the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State, it is an
opposites-attract, older lovers, silver fox, enemies-to-lovers, small-town
romance, with a little murder. HEA guaranteed.
Book
1
Buy Links
Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon Au ~ Amazon Ca
Paperback (US)
~ Also Available with KindleUnlimited ~
Xavier glanced out the window again. Across the street, Liam Wright’s most recent chainsaw sculpture was proudly displayed in his front yard. He couldn’t quite tell what it was supposed to be, he’d have to ask Liam when he saw him.
“Yeah—” Movement in the yard next to Liam’s caught Xav’s attention. He leaned closer to the windowpane for a better view of his hunky, muscly neighbor as he stomped out into the street. The man carried a long-handled yard tool slung over his shoulder like some character out of a Monty Python movie and was dragging a clean green bin behind him.
Halting at the corner, he hefted the cast iron grating off in one swift movement and began aggressively raking the leaves and other debris out of and away from the drain. Even though he was bundled up in a yellow rain slicker, Xavier would have recognized the Samaritan anywhere. “And also, you don’t have to deal with Vincent Barone.”
Vincent Barone. His nemesis.
All Xavier wanted to do was sell property and help Cooper Springs grow. But Vincent Barone had decided to get himself certified as a real estate appraiser and stymie Xavier at every fucking turn. Every damn i and every damn t that possibly needed dotting or crossing—and many that didn’t—were mentioned in every single one of Barone’s reports. Didn’t Barone understand that there needed to be room for negotiation? Maybe Mrs. Nelson’s estate didn’t want to fix the roof and would instead reduce the sale price for a potential buyer.
“It’s his literal job, Xavier,” Daisy reminded him with a laugh. Probably hoping to stop the rant she’d spotted from over a hundred miles away. “He is supposed to find things the seller should fix. No one wants the surprise of the AC failing the day after move-in.”
“He won’t listen to reason, Daisy,” Xavier grumbled. “He is literally the most aggravating person in all of Cooper Springs. There’s a guy coming all the way from Seattle today to look at the cabins and I know Vinny-boy is going to screw it up—if it gets as far as an offer.”
Barone was extremely thorough. Which was great when building bridges or, in Vincent’s case, teaching shop at the high school and needing to make sure the bored teenagers didn’t cut their extremities off. But Vincent’s part-time second job was home appraisal, and Xavier was tired of being surprised by what Barone wrote up in his official reports. At least give a guy a heads-up that the sump pump had backed up into the garage and caused water damage. Even if Barone had noted that the damage “appeared to be years old,” banks hated comments like that. Banks wanted to hear about new roofs and perfect sewer lines, not repairs that could reduce the value of their investment. And Xavier liked to be prepared with the bad news before he talked to his clients, not in the middle of meeting with them.
How fucking hard was that?
“Have you actually tried talking to him? Or do you just stand at your window and shoot dagger glares through the plate glass?”
Xavier moved away from the window so he wouldn’t be lying when he said, “No.”
Veronica
– ☆☆☆☆
Adverse Conditions is the first book in Elle Keaton’s newest series,
Reclaimed Hearts. Xavier, a real estate agent, has returned to his hometown of
Cooper Springs and is living across the street from single dad and high school
teacher Vincent, and the men do not get along. This is an enemies-to-lovers
story I was intrigued with because I couldn’t see how they were going to end up
lovers. Not only because they didn’t get along, but because Xavier was not
interested in any serious relationship. I loved the unpredictability, and I
liked that time was taken to build the heat and romance.
Adverse Conditions doesn’t just focus on the romance between Vincent and
Xavier. We get to meet various interesting members of the Cooper Springs
community – from the bar owner, a local artist, and a sheriff that I’m looking
forward to learning more about. To add some mystery, remains are found that may
or may not be those of a missing teenager.
I really enjoyed Vincent and Xavier’s romance and I’m sure we will see more of
the men in future books. I think Adverse Conditions is a really good
introduction to Cooper Spring and I’m looking forward to the next book in the
series.
Ruthie
– ☆☆☆
This is the first book in a new series – and whilst I enjoyed the main story,
and some of the world building, the murder element didn't really seem to fit. I
am looking forward to finding out more in future installments.
Xavier is back in his small hometown after a nasty breakup. He is a successful
real estate agent and plans on restoring some glory to his childhood home – and
his neighbour and one time school mate, Vincent, looks to be a blocker in his
quest. Vincent stayed home, teaches at the local school, brings up his daughter,
and does house appraisals in his spare time – and does them far too well, would
be the contention of many in the area.
This is not exactly the expected start of a great romance, but the author does
a good job of giving us some humour, thanks in the main to Xavier's mother, and
some reality checks, mainly from Vincent's teenage daughter. Their approval of
this chance at love for them both helps them act on the unsettling feelings
they have for each other.
Intriguing start to a series, will be good to find out what happens next.
ELLE
KEATON writes M/M romantic
suspense set in the Pacific Northwest with some contemporary romance thrown in.
She's passionate about writing inclusive romances with complex characters and a
unique sense of place. Her characters start out broken, and maybe they’re still
banged up by the end, but they find the other half of their hearts and ALWAYS
get their happily ever after.
In 2017 Elle hit the publish button for the first time and hasn't looked back.
Being an author is the best job Elle has ever had and now she has over thirty
books available for you to read or listen to!
She loves cats and dogs, Star Wars and Star Trek, pineapple on
pizza, and has a cribbage habit her husband encourages.
Love always wins, thank you
for supporting this indie author!
Connect with Elle
Keaton
Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Website ~ Goodreads
Facebook
Group: The Highway to Elle
Hosted by
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided
a free copy of Adverse Conditions (Reclaimed Hearts #1) by Elle Keaton to read
and review.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are reviewed by a blog admin before being published. We thank you for visiting our blog & leaving a comment.