Red Hot + Blue Reads: 5 Stars for Pretty as a Peach (Sex & Sweet Tea #4) by Juliette Poe

Pretty as a Peach (Sex & Sweet Tea, Book #4) Juliette Poe Release Date: March 15, 2018

Synopsis:

Mainer Farms is steeped in family history, but it’s also deep in debt from the effects of the ever-changing farming industry. Not about to let his family’s legacy go under, Colt Mancinkus is willing to do anything he can to save the farm.

Darby Culhane is the new farmer in Whynot, North Carolina, and she’s proving to be quite the forbidden temptation for Colt. Darby isn’t looking for anything but a fresh start, and she’s got it all figured out. Get settled in? Check. Apply for the rural county grant? Check. Confrontation with the steaming mad, smoking hot local farmer? Well, that wasn’t on the agenda.

As pretty as she is sweet, Colt can’t help but be drawn to Darby’s…peaches. No really, she’s a peach farmer. Get that mind out of the gutter, and get on down to the farm to see what happens when circumstances force Colt and Darby to team up. They may just find that the peach trees aren’t the only things in bloom.

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Excerpt

I’ve never been to a state fair before. We have them in Illinois and I’d venture to say they’re just as big, if not bigger, given how important agriculture is to that state. But the spectacle all around us as we walk over the massive fairgrounds tells me that the state of North Carolina takes this fair business very seriously.

I’ve mostly enjoyed watching Linnie look around with wide eyes filled with excitement and enthusiasm I just haven’t seen from her in a long time.

Even though I wore my best running shoes complete with personalized arch supports, my feet are absolutely killing me from all the walking we did. Not only did we traverse the midway at least ten times so Linnie could ride the same rides over and over again, but we had to try all the various foods being sold.

Crazy food.

Not only do they have the standard fair fare, like funnel cakes and candied apples, but they have foods that are particular to the state. I had a little bit of Eastern North Carolina barbecue—the kind with the vinegar-based sauce—as well as calabash-style fried seafood.

Then came the really crazy food—much of it deep-fried. There were fried Twinkies, fried Oreos, and even deep-fried butter balls. That’s right… Frozen balls of butter that were then coated in batter and deep-fried.

There were pickle popsicles, chocolate-covered bacon, Krispy Kreme hamburgers, and even one vendor truck that boasted chocolate-covered bugs. We avoided that one.

It’s late afternoon, and we’re all dragging. Colt is gallantly carrying our loot. This includes a bag of gummy bears for Linnie, cotton candy he promised his mama, a goldfish Linnie won tossing Ping-Pong balls into fishbowls, and a huge pink stuffed bear Colt won popping balloons with darts.

“Look… the line for the Ferris wheel isn’t long at all,” Linnie says with excitement as she points that way.

It’s been the one ride she hasn’t been on yet but was on her list to try. I silently groan at the thought of waiting for her to ride it. I’m not into the rides at all. No offense to the carnies, but they don’t look like the most reliable workers in the world. My luck, I would end up on the ride where an important bolt was misplaced, and I’d be facing imminent death.

I wanted to hold to this philosophy with my daughter and forbid her from going on any of the rides, but I couldn’t face her disappointment. So I relented and prayed the entire time she and Colt rode one.

“Okay,” I say tiredly. I hold my arms out for Colt to transfer all the stuff to me. “I’ll just wait over here.”

“You should come on this one with us,” Colt says.

I’m shaking my head before the words come out. “No way. Terrified of heights.”

And you know, this thing is probably not built very solidly.

“Come on, Mom,” Linnie pleads. “Just go on one ride with us. This one is really slow, and I’m sure it’s super safe.”

There’s no way that thing is safe.

But I also see something in Linnie’s eyes I used to see a lot but has been a rarity of late. She truly wants to spend quality time with me.

“I have an even better idea,” Colt says as he nods to the Ferris wheel. “You two ladies go ride that, and I’m going to sit here and hold on to everything.”

“Awesome,” Linnie exclaims without even waiting for my agreement that I’d be a willing participant. She grabs my hand and starts pulling me toward the end of the Ferris wheel line. I look over my shoulder helplessly at Colt, who grins at me. He doesn’t even look the slightest bit worried I might be marching off to my death.

My stomach rolls the entire time we are waiting, and Linnie just chatters on excitedly about the farm animals we had seen in one of the buildings. She’s trying to talk me into some cows and chickens and has promised she will take care of them.

It’s not that I doubt her sincerity, but she is only seven and isn’t the best on follow through. Still, it might not hurt to get a few chickens. Carlos can easily build us a coop. It would be nice to have fresh eggs each day.

It happens all too quick, but we are now at the front of the line and being ushered into one of the carts. A thin-looking bar is placed over our laps, and Linnie starts rocking the cart back and forth.

“Stop doing that,” I say, clutching onto the bar for dear life. We’re currently suspended two feet off the ground, yet my pulse has gone through the roof.

Linnie laughs, but she stops the rocking motion. “Sorry, Mom.”

She doesn’t sound sorry at all.

“I can get off right now, and Colt can get on,” I suggest. “He’d be glad to let you rock this back and forth.”

“No way,” she says. She peels one of my hands off the bar and holds it tightly with hers. “I won’t do that anymore. I want to ride this one with you.”

That was all I needed to hear from my sweet little girl. A burst of confidence and bravery wells up within me, and I give her hand a squeeze back. Besides, if I’m going to fall to my death, at least it will be doing something that makes my daughter extremely happy.

I gasp when the Ferris wheel goes into motion and we shoot forward and upward a few feet before coming to a stop again, so the next people can be loaded into the cart behind us. I refuse to look down and resolve to look straight out at the horizon.

In order to take my mind off my residual fears, I ask Linnie, “Did you have a good time today, honey?”

Linnie nods. Lifting my arm, she scoots under it, prompting me to cuddle her into my side. “I really did.”

What I thought about Pretty as a Peach

Darby and daughter Linnie are new residents to the crazy and cute town of Whynot, NC. She's left a bad marriage and with Farrington Farms as her new home, she's planning on completing her education while establishing a peach orchard there. She's also in competition for grant money with Colt Mancinkus. He wants to keep his long time family farm operating with the grant money. These two aren't exactly friends when this story starts.

When Colt finally meets Darby, everything changes for him, and for Darby too. There's an instant spark between them that has them looking at each other quite differently. I adored how their relationship developed in Pretty as a Peach. Colt is just a good man with a good heart and I loved his sensitivity toward Darby and her daughter. He's not a pushover either.

They do have some complications in their relationship that I don't want to spoil for you, but they add some definite conflict to the story. It could easily go the wrong way -- but this is Whynot! I love this world that Juliette Poe has created in this little town. The Mancinkus family is a great centerpiece to it and the books in this series just make me feel good about love and life.

I definitely recommend this series if you are looking for a sweet contemporary romance centered around small town life. It's sexy without being explicit, with main characters that will get your attention. I just love the series and Pretty as a Peach might be might favorite.

An ARC was provided for review.

About the Author

Juliette Poe is the sweet and swoony alter ego of New York Times Best Selling author, Sawyer Bennett.

A fun-loving southern girl, Juliette knows the allure of sweet tea, small towns, and long summer nights, that some of the best dates end sitting on the front porch swing, and that family is top priority. She brings love in the south to life in her debut series, Sex & Sweet Tea.

When Juliette isn’t delivering the sweetest kind of romance, she’s teaching her southern belle daughter the fine art of fishing, the importance of wearing Chucks, and the endless possibilities of a vivid imagination.

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