Duet narration by Erin Mallon & Teddy Hamilton
Mountain Men Matchmaker, Book 2
From the publisher:
A Steamy Small-Town Rivals-to-Lovers Romance Filled with Witty Banter and Unlikely Romance at a Destination Wedding
Alone and Looking to Bone! Loudmouthed Mountain Man Seeks Fiery Woman to Grow Old With.
I might look like a tall, tattooed, bearded neanderthal…but like an onion, I have layers. Swipe right if you like a proud cat daddy who catches feelings after direct eye contact.
All I wanted was a casual plus-one to my brother’s destination wedding, but those idiots on my family tree hacked my dating profile and sabotaged my quest for the perfect weekend fling. Now I’m stuck on a tropical vacation with only my hand to keep me company.
Until I’m forced to share a room with the bane of my existence: my sister-in-law’s best friend.
Dakota has hated me for the past seven years. I wasn’t losing much sleep over her screaming rants because she was some other guy’s problem. Or she was, until she got divorced.
Being stuck in paradise with a woman who loathes your very existence doesn’t sound hot, but after an unexpected moment in our shared palapa, she starts screaming at me in a different way.
What happens in paradise stays in paradise. That is, until Dakota shows up on my mountain with a proposition: be her wingman to help her regain her pre-divorce confidence.
Suddenly, Dakota’s not just the person I love to fight with. She’s the woman I want everything with.
Perfect for fans of:
- Enemies to Lovers
- Small Town Romance / Vacation Romances
- Quirky Animals
- Meddling family
- Meghan Quinn and Tessa Bailey
After enjoying the first book in this series, Nine Month Contract, this sequel was a disappointment. While that book was a bit far-fetched, I was able to suspend my disbelief and get swept up in the story. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here.
Calder is the brother of the mountain man from the first book. Seven years ago, he met Dakota when he did renovations on her home—his first solo job, which didn’t go smoothly. Dakota was incredibly hostile toward him during the project, but since her best friend is now his sister-in-law, they’re forced to maintain contact. When his other brother plans a destination wedding in Mexico, circumstances force Calder and Dakota to share a palapa* with only one bed.
After a night of passionate sex, they return to ignoring each other. This arrangement works until they’re back home, where Dakota—fresh from a painful divorce—decides to visit a sex club to rebuild her confidence. When things go badly, Calder, who happens to be a member, comes to her rescue. From there, these two can’t keep their hands off each other until they eventually find their happy ending.
The problem is that this book felt like 80% sex scenes and only 20% actual plot development. I never got to know either character well enough to invest in their relationship, which for me, is a fatal flaw in a romance novel. Without that emotional connection, even the steamiest scenes fall flat.
The same narrators from the first book returned, and while I thought they did excellent work previously, I found their performance here deeply frustrating. I had to pause the audiobook multiple times before finally pushing through to the end. Mallon delivered a sing-songy reading that became increasingly irritating, while Hamilton sounded perpetually angry throughout the entire book. Their performances did nothing to elevate the weak material.
While this wasn’t my favorite, I’m still willing to give the next book in the series a chance. Sometimes authors hit rough patches, and I’m hoping the series will get better.
*Palapa was a new word for me, which came in handy while I was playing the NY Times Spelling Bee!
8/2025 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitchSEVEN YEAR ITCH by Amy Daws. Narrators: Erin Mallon & Teddy Hamilton. Harlequin Audio. June 17, 2025. Listening Length: 10 hours and 47 minutes.
Kindle
Paperback
Hardcover
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 