Parks and Provocation by Juliette Cross – Review & Excerpt Tour
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Description:
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.
Barb’s Review:
Parks and Provocation by Juliette Cross is the 2nd book in her Green Valley Heroes series. Lola Landry, our heroine, return home to Green Valley, after losing her job. Lola is working at a restaurant and doing a Podcast (Kiss N Tell) with her bff, Marley. When she was filling up her gas tank and realized she locked herself out; someone from her past comes to her rescue. Jed Lawson, our hero, is a firefighter and when he comes to her rescue, they are both in shock, when they recognize each other. Lola and Jed were nemesis to each other back in the school days, but everything is about to change. Especially when Jed asks Lola out on a date, for payback after getting her car open.
Lola agrees to go out with Jed, if he will agree to be on her Podcast and discuss first dates. I really did enjoy the podcast, and thought her friend Marley was a riot. It was a lot of fun, especially after a few more dates, the chemistry between them is scorching hot. I loved seeing how Jed would take her different places, and the banter between them was so much fun. Jed was a hunk, but so sweet and swoon worthy, and I loved him from the start, and his determination to win Lola permanently. Lola was a wonderful heroine, as she was sweet and fun, who found herself falling hard for Jed; but despite their steamy relationship, Lola was bent on leaving Green Valley and getting a good job.
What follows is a wonderful sweet romance, in a small town, with a fantastic couple that was destined to be together, as well the wonderful secondary characters. We did root hard for them, despite some glitches along the way. Parks and Provocation was a quick read that was well written by Juliette Cross. I suggest you read this book, as it was a joy to read.
Sandy’s Review:
PARKS AND PROVOCATION by Juliette Cross is the second instalment in the contemporary, adult, multi-authored GREEN VALLEY HEROES erotic, romance series set in Penny Reid’s WINSTON BROTHERS world in Green Valley Tennessee. This is firefighter Jedediah Lawson, and marketing and communications director/ podcaster Lola Landry’s story line. PARKS AND PROVOCATION can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous instalment is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual first person perspectives (Lola and Jed) PARKS AND PROVOCATION follows the building romance and relationship between former high school frenemies firefighter Jedediah Lawson, and marketing and communications director/ podcaster Lola Landry. Ten years earlier Lola Landry left Green Valley Tennessee for bigger and better things but a disastrous PR campaign, and a company downsizing found Lola Landry crawling back to Green Valley, where she was currently working as a café waitress. Locking her keys in the car, Lola calls her best friend and fellow podcaster Marly for help, only to come face to face with her high school crush, and the boy that broke her heart and destroyed her self esteem. Enter fire fighter Jedediah Lawson, the man with whom Lola will fall in love. What ensues is the building romance and relationship between Lola and Jedediah, and the potential fall-out as Lola’s time in Green Valley comes to a close.
Jedediah Lawson has been in love with Lola Landry for as long as he can remember but something happened in high school, something Jed knew nothing about. A prom rejection, and a good bye hug left Jed feeling alone for close to ten years but with Lola’s return to Green Valley, Jed saw his opening for a second chance, a second chance that apparently came with an expiry date and another good bye. Lola Landry’s return to Green Valley was never in the plans but with her proverbial tail tucked between her legs, Lola accepted work at the local café while co-hosting a podcast about her attempts to reenter the world of dating. Reconnecting with Jedediah was completely unexpected, having no idea that Jedediah was now working and living in their mutual hometown.
The relationship between Lola and Jed is one of frenemies to lovers, a second chance of sorts, for two people who relationship never began due to misunderstanding, miscommunication, hurt feelings and low self esteem. Lola hopes she is only in town for a limited time, Jed is hoping for a happily ever after with the woman who ran away. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
We are introduced to Lola’s best friend Marly; her parents Frank and Ellen, and Aunt Polly, as well as Jed’s father John Lawson, and Jed’s large extended family of siblings and kids.
PARKS AND PROVOCATION is a story of second chances; miscommunication and misunderstanding; family and friendships, relationships and love. The fast paced premise is engaging, entertaining and inviting; the romance is seductive and impassioned; the characters are spirited, sassy and energetic
Copies supplied for review
“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.”
Juliette calls lush, moss-laden Louisiana home where the landscape curls into her imagination, creating mystical settings for her stories. She has a B.A. in creative writing from Louisiana State University, a M.Ed. in gifted education, and was privileged to study under the award-winning author Ernest J. Gaines in grad school. Her love of mythology, legends, and art serve as constant inspiration for her works. From the moment she read JANE EYRE as a teenager, she fell in love with the Gothic romance–brooding characters, mysterious settings, persevering heroines, and dark, sexy heroes. Even then, she not only longed to read more novels set in Gothic worlds, she wanted to create her own.
Juliette is a multi-published author, including her Nightwing series with Kensington Publishing and The Vessel Trilogy with Samhain Publishing.
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