Review: Asking for Trouble

Asking for Trouble by Amy Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I very much enjoyed "Asking for Trouble" by Amy Andrews, an emotional and heartfelt story featuring endearing, sympathetic characters. The female lead character, Della, endured a terrible ordeal with her ex-husband but came through on the other side a stronger, braver, more independent woman, and I admired her tremendously. I loved watching her reclaim her life and desires and realize that she was free to create whatever future she wanted for herself.

The male lead, bartender Tucker, was also pretty great. While it was sometimes difficult for him to balance his growing romantic relationship with Della and his longtime friendship with her older brother, Arlo, he worked hard to be a good friend to both of them, and he always came across as very caring and supportive. The slow burn of Della and Tucker's relationship growth was well crafted, and I really appreciated that Tucker was so conscientious about respecting Della's boundaries and making sure that he didn't push her for too much, too fast.

"Asking for Trouble" is the third book in the Credence, Colorado series, and it mostly works as a standalone. I have read the previous two books, but I have to admit to feeling like I missed something due to the way Della and Arlo's past was presented in this book, almost as if what happened with their father and when Arlo met Della was supposed to be common knowledge. It didn't quite make sense to me for so many people to be intimately familiar with the details of what had to be a very painful part of Della's past.

Her ex-husband took a plea deal so his case never went to trial, which means there was no public record of Della's testimony, plus her identity as a victim of sexual assault should have been protected anyway.

I understand that Credence is a small town that thrives on gossip, but I find it difficult to believe that Arlo or Della would share the story with someone who would then gossip about it. Besides, as a police officer, Arlo must be able to keep information confidential or he wouldn't be able to do his job! There's no reason for Della to be ashamed of her past, and she should certainly be able to talk about it whenever and with whomever she feels comfortable, but IMO it should be her choice to do so. She shouldn't have to relive the experience just because some busybody in Credence decides to start asking nosy questions!

At any rate, in the grand scheme of things that was a relatively minor annoyance for me, and hopefully more of the story about Arlo and Della's father will be revealed in a future book (possibly starring Arlo and Della's friend Winona, whose sometimes tense relationship seems like it would be interesting to explore). I hope Tucker and Arlo's friend Drew will be getting a book of his own, too. He was just as much fun here as he was in the earlier books of the series. I always enjoy his efforts to come up with less off-putting names for the funeral business.

Overall, I would recommend "Asking for Trouble" for fans of contemporary romance and look forward to the next book in this series.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

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