Taken with You by Shannon Stacey

Reading the Kowalski stories made me an instant Shannon Stacey fan. She does not disappoint with a book about Hailey (who's been introduced in other books), the Whitford librarian and Matt, the new game warden.
Matt's a scarred hero (because, what else?). One of his exes not only objected to his erratic hours and coming home muddy and smelling of animal urine, she absolutely tried to change him. I didn't really get where the deep scars were coming from just based on these descriptions, but then again, I live in Montana where stuff like this is the norm, so... It seemed more like he was being super-rigid about women having to appreciate him and his lifestyle and even went out of his way to try and scare subsequent girlfriends.
Hailey is looking for a man who will appreciate opera and five-star restaurants. When she meets a bewhiskered man who hasn't showered in several days while lost in the woods, she's not immediately attracted to him. But when he cleans up so nice and seems like a rational human being... he might actually might make a good companion. For awhile. But not forever, of course!
I did not like that Matt was being such a baby about the outdoors thing and I very much liked that Hailey was willing to be more compromising about how they spent their time. She was right to be pissed when he acted like a child in the French restaurant. I had to appreciate the end of the book when it looked like they were going to create a better balance of what they both loved. Just because they didn't have the exact same tastes didn't mean they couldn't be together.
I absolutely loved that there was a five year age gap (she's 40, he's 35) and there were no mentions of cougars, no argument over "she's too old", or any of the things that you might expect from an older female-younger male-type relationship. Instead, it's simply Matt and Hailey falling in love.

Kowalski Family #8

Four stars
Follows Love a Little Sideways
Followed by Falling for Max
This book came out March 25th, 2014
Listened to on Audible Escape
Opinions are my own

Reread as hard copy of mine March 2024