Lola Landry and Jedediah Dawson were nemeses in high school; he nicknamed her Coca-Cola Lola because of the thick glasses she wore, and she retaliated by calling him Jockstrap Jed because he was a star on the football team. Secretly, they had huge crushes on each other, though they graduated and went their separate ways without ever acting on their feelings. Ten years later, Lola has recently been laid off from her job as a marketing associate in New Orleans and moved back to their hometown of Green Valley, Tennessee, where she's living with her Aunt Polly and working as a waitress while she figures out her next career move. She's finally pursuing her dream of hosting a dating podcast with her best friend Marly, but other than that, the one thing she's certain of is that she doesn't want to stay in Green Valley. Jed, meanwhile, is happily settled as a Green Valley firefighter, living in the house across the street from his widowed father and spending time with his sisters, nieces, and nephew whenever possible. When he learns that Lola's back in town, he seizes the opportunity to finally ask her out. She agrees for the sake of the podcast, but is surprised to find that she wants to keep seeing Jed afterwards. Can Jed convince Lola to give him - and Green Valley - a real chance?
I adored this funny, sweet, and heartwarming story, which featured likeable, relatable characters and an engaging plot. The chemistry between Lola and Jed was fantastic from the moment they first saw each other again, and their teasing and banter was a ton of fun. Further, the challenges they faced seemed quite realistic; Jed's roots in Green Valley ran deep, while Lola was ready to leave again as soon as she found the right job. Finally, there were many aspects of the story that I found to be laugh-out-loud funny. My favorite scenes were when Jed caught Lola dancing to Flo Rida in the Piggly Wiggly and when she and Marly watched the fire safety demonstration. Poor Lola just couldn't seem to catch a break, embarrassing herself in front of Jed over and over again.
I highly recommend "Parks and Provocation" for all fans of contemporary romance and romantic comedy. It was the first book I've ever read by this author, but it won't be the last. (I'd love a future book about Lola's best friend Marly!)
*Review copy provided by Smartypants Romance. All opinions expressed are my own.
*Review copy provided by Smartypants Romance. All opinions expressed are my own.
About "Parks and Provocation"
"Parks and Provocation," an all new enemies-to-lovers small town romance from Juliette Cross, is available now in Kindle Unlimited!
Lola Landry stares through the window of her locked car with the keys in the ignition and the radio blaring Beck’s “Loser.” While standing there and sweltering in the soupy Tennessee humidity, she wonders how her orderly life had crashed and burned so badly. Then her high school nemesis saunters up in all of his tall, strapping, fireman-to-the-rescue glory, slapping her with the humiliating proof that it can always get worse.
When the uber-confident Jedediah Lawson requests a date in return for popping her lock, a lightbulb goes off. Revenge is sweet. He would make the perfect victim—guest, that is—for her next podcast episode on Kiss and Tell. What shocks her is the casual way he not only agrees to the post-date interview on air, but ends up hijacking her audience and wooing them with his swoony, southern charm. Not even a low score on the date-o-meter can dissuade the man or keep her fans from demanding more of the charismatic Jed.
What’s worse, she secretly wants a second date with this man who is so different from his teenage self. His unwavering patience and dimpled smile erodes her will, until she breaks the Kiss and Tell rules by agreeing to a second…and a third date. It’s a disaster. Not the date. They’re wonderful. The disaster is that she is falling for a man she once dubbed Jockstrap Jed.
"Parks and Provocation" is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #2 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Read an Excerpt from "Parks and Provocation"
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said when I finally reached him.
“Fancy that,” I sassed back.
I tried monumentally hard to force my eyes to behave, but they were currently mapping the extensive breadth of his chest without my permission. As a matter of fact, they’d found their newest obsession, tracking the descent of a drop of water that looped around his navel and froze midway down his happy trail.
“What brings you here, Cola?”
I jerked my gaze back to his mischievous grin, contemplating ways to torture my best friend.
I was also debating whether leaning forward and licking him would be inappropriate. “Um, learning fire safety?”
His bark of laughter and dimpled smile detonated somewhere inside my chest and melted my insides into warm goo. Which, of course, drew my attention to his beautiful mouth and the fact that he intended to kiss me with that mouth on our next date.
“Let me guess,” he finally said, amusement still prevalent in every word. “Marly?”
“So, I’ve been wondering if stretching her on a rack would be forgiven by local law enforcement. Do you think they’d give me a free pass, considering,” I waved my hand at him and the surrounding scene behind him, “all this?”
“By this, you mean dragging you to watch a dozen firemen strut around without their shirts on?”
“So y’all do know that half of Green Valley’s womenfolk are gawking at you from across the street, right? Only half of which are actual moms of the scouts? If that.”
He nodded and exhaled a sigh, but that wicked smile remained in place. “Chief McClure said it’s a local tradition, and the fine ladies of Green Valley also donate generously to our annual fundraiser, so we just do as we’re told.”
“Basically, this is a Magic Mike show, minus the actual lap dances, where you get your tips at a later time.”
He edged closer, my eyes betraying me once again to dip down along his beautiful body, realizing that delectable drop of water had slipped down into the holy land.
“I’ll give you a lap dance for free if you like, Lola.”
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