Review: "The Buy-In" by Emma St. Clair

The Buy-In by Emma St. Clair
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Patrick Graham is worried that his father, Tank, may have gone off the deep end when he suddenly announces that he bought an entire town in Texas. He's even more worried when he realizes that it's the small town of Sheet Cake, home to Lindy Darcy, the only girl Pat's ever loved. Their relationship ended when Pat went into the pro football draft and Lindy headed to Europe to start her dream job as a travel writer - or so he thought. When he arrives in Sheet Cake, Pat learns that Lindy moved home instead after her drug-addicted younger sister abandoned her baby daughter. For the past five years, Lindy has been raising her niece, Jo, and caring for her mother, who has since been diagnosed with early onset dementia. As soon as he sees Lindy, Pat realizes that he's still in love with her and resolves to do whatever it takes to win her back. Lindy still has feelings for Pat too, but he broke her heart five years ago, and she refuses to give him the power to hurt her again. However, her sister has recently resurfaced and filed for custody of Jo, and Lindy will do anything in her power to keep her niece, even accept Pat's offer of a marriage of convenience. Can Pat tempt Lindy into giving their marriage a real chance?

I know that I'm really enjoying a book when I forget to take notes and just read, and that's exactly what happened with "The Buy-In." The story, its characters, and their world drew me in so completely that I lost track of what was going on around me. The town of Sheet Cake and its inhabitants were so vividly depicted that I felt as if I were watching the events of the story unfold in front of me. I loved Pat and Lindy together, and IMO their relationship was a fantastic demonstration of the fact that you don't always need open door love scenes to create smoking hot chemistry between main characters. Pat and Lindy had PLENTY of chemistry! (Don't get me wrong, I love smut as much as the next girl, but sometimes it's nice to have a change of pace. Besides, my imagination works just fine to fill in the blanks!)

I completely adored "The Buy-In" and highly recommend it for all fans of sweet contemporary romance and romantic comedy. It's one of my favorite books of 2022 so far! I can't wait to get my hands on the next book of the series.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

View all my reviews