Owing to a significant gap writing CBR reviews, I had discovered and embraced many new authors by the time I started participating again, including Kate Canterbary. As is my way, I discovered her from an Emmalita review of The Worst Guy which is, so far, Canterbary’s best book. I have since consumed most of her output with consistently good to sometimes excellent results. Canterbary is great at steam and even greater at clever. Despite plowing through her back catalogue, Shucked (The Loew Brothers) is the first book I’ve read that falls into the 2024 bucket for a CBR review and I had to reread it to get there.
From Amazon: No one ever accused Beckett Loew of being the nice Loew brother, especially not Sunny Du Jardin. Stuck back home in the quirky town of Friendship, Rhode Island, Beckett is scrambling to save his family’s oyster bar and take care of his teenage brother. He doesn’t have time to deal with the beautiful, sunshine-y owner of the new vegan cafe next door too.His best friend’s little sister may be all grown up, but Sunny’s still a distracting pain in his side. No one expects much from Sunny Du Jardin, especially not Beckett Loew. She’s not worried about her older brother’s tall, dark, and broody best friend or the battles he insists on waging with her every day. She’s not the same kid he teased years ago. Now, she composts his type for breakfast. They’re all wrong for each other. Bitter rivals. Complete opposites. Off limits. Except they can’t keep their hands off each other. They tell themselves it’s nothing more than a steamy summer fling until secrets spill and real trouble comes their way.
We’ve been hearing a lot about grumpy/sunshine in romancelandia and I am here for it! Beckett is grumpy, but by god is it justifiable, and Sunny isn’t sunshine (!) so much as she is pragmatic and calm. The stumbling blocks to their relationship are the impact of his youthful hijinks on her, commitments elsewhere, and a rather catastrophic family situation for Beckett. Somehow they manage. It’s a delight.
The writing is heartfelt and the characters sincere without ever losing the lightly heightened sense of reality I look for in these books. Everything speeds along well and my only complaint is also kind of a compliment. The book suffers from what I think of as Julia Quinn syndrome. It trips along lightly, so lightly in fact that when very, very distressing and potentially disastrous complications and traumatic events arise, they don’t quite fit. The main characters have some Big Stuff to wade through and it would leave a mark.
The next book in this series is a second chance romance which is so not my trope, but I will buy it for Canterbary encouragement purposes.
Kate Canterbary Reading List – I have read all but six of her books:
Standalone
In a Jam – Noah/Shay, meh with a fun plot moppet
The Walsh Family – Large family with a traumatic past and in the architectural restoration business together
Underneath it All – Matthew/Lauren
The Space Between – Patrick/Andy
Necessary Restorations – Sam/Tiel – recommended
The Cornerstone – Will/Shannon
Restored – Sam/Tiel again, so I guess I wasn’t the only one who really liked them
The Spire – Nick/Erin + Vital Signs prequel
Preservation – Riley/Alexandra + Vital Signs prequel
Thresholds – Christmas novella with everyone + Vital Signs crossover
Foundations – Matt/Lauren novella, six years later
Vital Signs – Includes Overlap with the Walsh Family
Before Girl – Cal/Stella
The Worst Guy – THE BEST ONE, ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! Plus, there is an extended epilogue available – Sebastian/Sara
Change of Heart – Henry/Whitney
And I really want Bay O’Rourke’s book, but only if someone makes fun of his name.
Santillian Triplets
The Magnolia Chronicles – Rob/Magnolia
Boss in the Bedsheets – Ash/Zelda
The Belle and the Beard – Linden/Jasper-Anne
Benchmarks – Walsh Family Crossvoer
Professional Development – Drew/Tara
Orientation – Max/Jory
Haven’t read these …yet:
Coastal Elite
Missing in Action – Walsh family crossover
Talbott’s Cove –
Fresh Catch
Hard Pressed
Far Cry
Rough Sketch