Her Halloween Treat by Tiffany Reisz (Men at Work #1)
Released: September 20, 2016 (paperback)
Contemporary Romance
Harlequin
Reviewed by Mandi
Favorite Quote: “I meant ‘plant a seed so she’ll think of moving back to Oregon.’ I didn’t mean plant a seed in…you know. Her…her lady garden.”
Short review: Super sexy and cute with great banter. Highly rec.
When Jolene, (who goes by Joey) knocks on the door of her boyfriend’s house to surprise him, she is the one surprised when his wife answers. Joey, who lives in Hawaii, had no idea her L.A. boyfriend was married. Extremely angry and devastated, Joey leaves. Her brother is getting married back home in Portland, Oregon, so she decides to go back a day early. Her family owns a run-down cabin not far from where her brother is tying the knot, so she heads straight there.
But when she gets there she can’t believe her eyes. The cabin has been restored – redecorated, furnished, and just made really nice. And then she hears boots moving upstairs. But it’s not a serial murderer, just the carpenter/handy-man who restored the cabin and who also happens to be a childhood friend.
Chris crushed on Joey hard during high school. His best friend was Joey’s brother, and he always tried to woo Joey, but it never worked. But they hung out a lot and although they kind of lost touch, he can’t believe she is standing in the cabin. He was just putting the finishing touches on it when she came in. They start to chat, and reminisce and with some pushing from her BFF Kira, Joey decides some rebound sex might be fun. Chris is up for it too and they start having some epic sex. Joey is set on returning to Hawaii after the wedding to work and regroup her life..but Chris falls hard for her and hopes he can change her mind.
I think the best thing about this book is the banter. It starts with banter between Joey and her best friend Kira that had me giggling. Kira does her best to give Joey a pep-talk and to try to cheer her up after she finds out her boyfriend is a big butt. Kira really, realllllllly thinks Joey just needs to go out and find a hot guy to bang. The problem is, she is in a cabin in the middle of nowhere.
“I’m in the middle of the woods. The next cabin is half a mile west.”
“Then start walking. Bigfoot’s probably out there. He’s probably well-hung.”
“And hairy.”
After Joey hears footsteps in the upstairs part of the cabin, and before she realizes it is Chris, she keeps Kira on the line in case it’s bad guy:
“Okay… I’m going up. If my phone dies and/or you hear the sound of me screaming, hang up and call the cops.”
“What if he’s not murdering you, but you’re screaming because it’s such good sex? Do I still call the cops?”
And after she has sex with Chris, Joey still feels sad about what her ex-boyfriend did. She doesn’t say goodbye to Chris that well:
“You had mind-blowing sex with a hot handyman with a beard and you said, ‘Too bad it didn’t work’ after? Do you know there are over one million words in the English language? There are more words in English than there are in French and German combined. And any of those one million words would have been better than those words. You could have said, ‘I like baconpowered ghost boat parades,’ and it would have been a better sentence than that sentence you laid at the feet of that beautiful man and his majestic cock.”
I adored Chris. First, he wears flannel and has a beard. And he works with his hands. Just let me swoon for a minute. He has loved Joey for years, and his mind is blown that he actually gets to have sex with her, and hang out with her. Although Joey has more walls up and doesn’t want a commitment, they are super cute together. Even with falling in love in only a week – it worked for me.
It’s set during Halloween – Joey’s brother is getting married on Halloween and is having a Halloween-themed wedding – demanding people come in 80’s inspired costumes. I won’t say what Chris and Joey come as, but it made me smile so much.
Highly recommend this! I can’t wait for the next two – Her Naughty Holiday and One Hot December coming soon.
Grade: B+
Note: Paperback is out now, Kindle version releases 10/1.
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