Lainey Davis

What a fantastic start to the multi-author Farm 2 Forking series set on Bedd Fellows Farm.
Since You’ve Bean Gone is full of fun and puns that make you wince and cringe, but also with a serious thread running throughout. Family, finances, foreclosure, fitness – and the future. Ethan is the oldest Bedd sibling and the serious one. Grandad died and left the family soybean farm in a very precarious position, and he left Ethan fully in charge of it. Grandad didn’t take advice or suggestions well, so no one knew just how dire their financial straits were. So Ethan is scrambling. Gran has just lost her husband; Ethan can’t bear being the one responsible for also taking away her home – and her spoiled sheep Baa-bara.

The bank is only willing to work with Ethan if he agrees to have a consultant, an advisor, an interloper come and review things and make suggestions, suggestions he may have no choice but to follow. As if things aren’t already bad enough, the financial advisor is none other than Lia Thorne, the woman who years ago took off for the big city and took his broken heart with her.

Don’t worry that all this drama and doom make Since You’ve Bean Gone a depressing read. Just the opposite. Author Lainey Davis expertly weaves humor and heat into Ethan’s predicament and his reaction to Lia’s sudden appearance back in his life.

As for Lia, she had her reasons for leaving and still has them, but it sure does feel good in some ways to be back, even if Ethan wants to run every time he sees her. She never meant to break his heart. From the first glimpse of them back together we know there is something still there and can’t help but hope it will take root and grow. Lia has suggestions for saving the farm that involve what seem like pretty radical changes, but Ethan has to agree that Grandad’s stick-in-the-mud-set-in-his-ways approach didn’t exactly work out. He’s game to try new things, but it’s tough – and often hilarious.

Since You’ve Bean Gone is sweet and tender, heartfelt and sincere, with so many puns and outlandish predicaments you can’t keep count, and with loyalty and dedication and determination everywhere. And heat, don’t forget the steamy side. Bring a handkerchief to fan your face.

Thanks to Home Cooked Books and author Lainey Davis for providing an advance copy of Since You’ve Been Gone. I thoroughly enjoyed it, so much so that I sought out other books by this terrific author. And I can’t wait to return to Bedd Fellows Farm and Fork Lick, New York to see what the other four authors in this five-book series have in store for us. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.… (mehr)

I won’t say author Karen Grey has done it again, because she always does it. Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes is a story you must read (as well as the entire Resolve Anthology of course). It’s current and topical but will stand the test of time, it’s got the kind of engaging, enduring, endearing characters we’ve come to love in this author’s books, and it gives you some good steamy scenes. Who can resist all that?

Dee and Sam are drawn to each other from the moment they meet on December 31, 2005. Sam feels like the rest of his life has been decided as soon as he lays eyes on her and brings her that first cup of coffee. And what a life it turns out to be. Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes is a story about two very different people, committed to each other but also dedicated to their beliefs and ideals and to putting those beliefs into action. Those beliefs and ideals don’t always quite match up; they don’t always think alike or agree on that course of action, but they are good people who want to make an impact and they have a very strong bond, a bond that gets tested over the course of eight very-special-to-them December thirty-firsts we get to witness beginning with that first meeting in 2005 and ending about 6 months after December 31, 2022.

Mixed in with the humor and the heat and the huge decisions it seems are always being thrust upon Dee and Sam, author Grey unflinchingly addresses the always controversial topic of reproductive choice. She does it without being judgmental or preachy and takes us on a journey with two people who are dedicated to the cause in their own ways but who are thrown some very real-life curves to test that theory of blending staying true to the cause with forever love and happy ever after. It’s a story that makes you think, makes you agree with both Sam and Dee and want to help them figure things out and not lose that special, special, sweet, spicy, ooh relationship they have.

I am always delighted when Karen Grey gives us an in-betweener – a novella that bridges two of her books or elaborates on an event involving major characters, or dishes on characters that we didn’t get quite enough of. Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes is a flash-forward side-tweener or something and it’s as delightful as ever. The serious bits are balanced out by silly humor and sizzle. And I have to admit I got a little ‘aha!’ thrill when I realized who Dee is and her connection to my absolute favorite book and couple from this author’s Boston Classics series. Imagining them as grandparents, though – whoa!

I was sent a free book and am voluntarily leaving this honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes without hesitation, and as always I encourage you to go back to the beginning and read The Boston Classics, move on to The Carolina Classics and pick up every in-betweener and side-tweener there is. You won’t be sorry. All opinions are my own.… (mehr)