I enjoyed this book. I did however have some issues with the wishy washy hot and cold heroine. She changed her mind often and hurt the hero in the process again and again. I don't know why he stuck with her. I would have liked more time in his POV. I really liked him and would have liked a bit more insight into why he liked her in the first place. It seemed to come out of the blue. Also the book started oddly. He wasn't in it for the longest time. It seemed like Joe was going to be the hero instead. Very odd author choice there.

Still I love this series and can't wait for the next book as I'm all caught up with Whiskey Creek now. :-( ( )

Make sure you have a box of tissue near you for the ending. This book was intense and emotionally satisfying. The book is Cheyenne's story. What a heartbreaking story! The ending nearly killed me even though I saw it coming. I love how the author showed that two children raised together could take very different paths. I believe the difference for them was twofold; Cheyenne had a dream, Presley had a secret. Each weighed heavy on them and contributed to what drove them on. I have spent a lot of time thinking about that while reading this, (and most likely will continue to). I love books that make me examine the characters long after I close the book. This one is one of those for me. I hope the author explores it a bit more with a novella on Presley at some point in the future. I'm not sure a full book would be necessary as much is covered in this book. I absolutely love the Whiskey Creek series. Each book draws you in with enough reality that you could forget it is fantasy. At the same time there is enough fantasy to let you float away from reality. The characters are well written so you get to know them and love them. The characters become friends. As each story unfolds you discover so much about them, much as it does in life. You could read the books as stand alones but I would recommend the entire series. I am reading them out of order so I sometimes know how is with who. Normally that might be a problem but in this book, (and so far, the series), the complete story is so rich my knowledge takes very little away. If you like the angst of not knowing, then read them in the order written. ( )

I'll keep it brief, I really really liked this book. It blended romance and suspense and relationships with friends and difficult family relationships beautifully. There were a few things though that I didn't like and feel need to be mentioned. One, Dylan needed to be introduced way sooner than he was and I feel the way he was introduced was not fluid and a bit of a weird jolt. Two, it is not as easy as the end of the book made it seem to "get over/ recover" from drug abuse. It is not likely that the day after Prestley returned to Cheyenne and her home that she wouldn't have any symptoms of withdraw after such hard use (I emphasize again, the next day!). And lastly, I feel as if all of the "friends" should have been cut or maybe just one close friend selected because honestly they didn't offer much to the book and they aren't really the greatest of friends. ( )

Cheyenne's mother is dying, her sister is a drugged out mess and she has a memory of a blond woman in her childhood. Then her best friend wants to start a relationship with Joe, the guy that Cheyenne always wanted for herself. Except when her friends go on a cruise and give her the blessing to persue Joe, she finds he doesn't produce the sparks that bad boy Dylan Amos does. ( )

While I maintain that I really love this series I have to admit this is my least favorite book so far.

What Worked: Oh darn, for the life of me I can't think of anything that worked in this book yet despite the issues I had with it I still enjoyed reading it. It could be Novak's way of writing. She is my new go-to comfort read author. Her style is non-taxing and very enjoyable for me. The group of friends that make up our Whiskey Creek experience is an interesting dynamic and I'm now pretty attached to them so I need to read all of their happily ever afters.

What Didn't Work: Oh darn, where do I start? Let's start with the inconsistencies of Cheyenne herself. For one, I have issues with a 31 year old virgin (Um really?) who is saving herself for someone special but has sex with a stranger for no better reason than...well, I don't even know why....because he propositioned her, I suppose. (Disclaimer: Cheyenne knew OF said stranger but didn't really KNOW said stranger.) Throughout the book, her character's virtues are shoved down our throats yet she A) does naughty things with a man she doesn't really know, B) when it becomes apparent the stranger has feelings for her and has for a long time (from afar) she uses him for sex and then basically tells him he isn't good enough for her (repeatedly) and C) covers up a potential murder. So, this girl who is supposed to be so much better than her part time prostituting mother and drug addicted sister has just as many issues as they do.

What else didn't work? The fact that Cheyenne wanted to date her friend's older brother forever and the book spends 100 pages pursuing this train of thought only to have it change course abruptly with the introduction of the hot bad boy (that Cheyenne does naughty things with).

Oh yeah, this also didn't work....The group of friends that I truly enjoy reading about has a nasty habit of exhibiting intolerance and very judgmental attitudes. In the novella, When We Touch, Gail tells Kyle he is making the biggest mistake of his life by marrying Noelle (yes it was founded but go with me on this journey anyway). In When Lightning Strikes, Callie tells Gail she is making the biggest mistake of her life (not founded since Callie had yet to meet or get to know Gail's husband). In this book it was Eve who informed Cheyenne that she was making the biggest mistake of her life (before getting to know the hot bad boy). Even Cheyenne says "Can't you just...support me even if I'm wrong?" The group of friends were even planning an intervention to stop Cheyenne from dating sexy bad boy.....With. Out. Getting. To. Know. Him. ARG!!!! (oh and by the way, I've read half of the next book and this same thing happens....again.)

One more thing that didn't work and then I'll wrap it up....Those nasty things that Cheyenne does with hot sexy bad boy that no one likes? We didn't witness any of them. Oh sure Cheyenne and her sex toy talked about the passion they had but we readers only see the old time movie "Fade to Black" scenes when they start getting busy. I'm not saying a romance has to have hot monkey sex in every book but a series really needs to be consistent. Since the first book and the novella do have sex scenes Novak really made an error to not include them in this one. It makes this book feel out of place within the series.

Ok I lied. This didn't work either....There were several different plot threads interwoven throughout this book with multiple different view points. This muddled the story quiet a bit because we were expecting Cheyenne's story to be primary, yet one of her plot threads was dangling through the whole book only to have it wrap up virtually 'off camera' while we focused on her hot mess of a sister.

In a Nutshell: Oh boy, sounds like a horrible book, doesn't it? It truly wasn't awful. However, it is a weak link in the series and I can only recommend that fans of the series read it because you can't read all the other books and leave this one unread. I ended up giving it 3.5 stars only because I actually did like hot sexy boy toy Dylan. BUT, if you are a Novak newbie steer clear of this one it will only disappoint you, which will only lead to too many Oreos and the government shutting down. ( )