Head Over Hooves by Erin Nicholas

Drew Ryan is the quintessential "good guy;" he even gives off vibes. That's why he's come down to Louisiana. The Landrys are a family that rush in to do good things so all he has to do is deliver some reindeer for their petting zoo and then spend the rest of the week doing wicked things with some good-time girl. But the first woman he meets is Rory Robins. She is trying to put down roots in Autre and is trying to prove herself by putting together Santa's village by herself. But it's not going so well. 

Rory just wants to find a home. But her no-good father is in town and, conman that he is, is probably going to ruin her life once again. And he certainly tries by stealing the load of toys meant for the children of Autre. 

There is quite the short timeline from meeting to Twu Lurv but at least we have one, ONE story in my recent streak where the guy is willing to move. I didn't feel like we got to know Drew more than his surface and Rory even less than that but it was a sweet holiday story.

Three stars

This book came out November 16, 2021

Follows Sealed with a Kiss

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Crazy Rich Cajuns by Erin Nicholas

The romance between Kennedy and Bennett has been slowly building in the last two books of this series. She's the former beauty pageant girl turned goth and he's the wickedly smart son of a politician who also has his own money. He's besotted; she's mostly in denial. But then he gets her to agree to attend his father's retirement and all bets are off.
I didn't love all of the dynamics between the two as much as I had hoped. Bennett was just too much of a flip flop between a cinnamon role and an alpha. He did sort of let Kennedy
find her wings but it felt sort of begrudging; I just wish we had seen more of him supporting her.


Three stars
Follows Beauty and the Bayou 
Followed by Must Love Alligators
This book came out September 30th, 2019
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Beauty and the Bayou by Erin Nicholas

If there's one thing in life that Juliet Dawson doesn't want to have happen, it's to have her brother Chad turn out like her two entitled older brothers. So when he damages the dock at the Landry family air boat tour facility, instead of paying for repairs, she says that he will be rebuilding the dock. And she's going to help.
Sawyer Landry has been overly cautious since one of his partners was killed last year and his family is sick of him making sure that they are all safe ALL the time. He is very impressed by Juliet's overabundance of caution. So, while she's here building his dock, why not have a little fun?
Cute story. Not a lot of relationship building unfortunately and the last wrinkle to the HEA was a little much but at least it was cleared up quickly.

Three stars
Follows Sweet Home Louisiana
Followed by Crazy Rich Cajuns
This book came out August 13th, 2019
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Sweet Home Louisiana by Erin Nicholas

When they were teenagers, Madison "Maddie" Allain and Owen Landry got together and it ended in a fistfight and flames. Now, Maddie's brother has died and she's back in Autre for the first time in twelve years. And she doesn't want to be there. The heat, the humidity, and the memories all haunt her.
Owen doesn't want Maddie to come back either. But, according to the business charter of the shares she inherited from her brother, she has to spend 30 days helping out first. But Owen knows that if they get together at all, she will ruin him for all other women and he doesn't want that.
I didn't connect with Maddie or Owen as much as the first book. They were fine but there was so much emphasis on their original connection that the reason that they would work "today" sort of got lost.

Three stars
Follows My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding
Followed by Beauty and the Bayou
This book came out May 7th, 2019
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding by Erin Nicholas

It's been a year since Josh Landry and Victoria (Tori) Kramer hooked up at Mardi Gras. They had made a pact to meet again at the same bar. Josh is there but Tori... isn't. He goes back to Autre to work at his family's swamp tour business... where Tori shows up the next day. She had been at the bar but, when Josh didn't show up, she kissed the man that she thought was him. Only it was her best friend who is getting married this weekend. The same man whose fiancee hates Tori because she thinks Tori is trying to talk her best friend, Andrew out of the marriage. Which Tori totally is. But not because Tori is In Love with Andrew but because she thinks the fiancee is all wrong for him. So Tori invites Josh to the wedding. That way she can prove that she's trying to break up the wedding for all the right reasons. Plus, fun make out times with Josh.

Josh is all in. Tori is his woman. Yes, the folks back in Iowa think she's a little nuts but she fits right in with the Landry family. He's determined to take this weekend to prove to Tori that he is the one for her. 

This book was a fun twist on some familiar tropes. There was no fake relationship (there could have been) and the best friends didn't fall in love. I hope that Andrew gets his own book as well as Josh's siblings, the surly Sawyer and goth-ish Kennedy.

Four stars
Followed by Sweet Home Louisiana

This book came out April 9th, 2019

Got this as an exchange from Paperback Swap and exchanged it again

Opinions are my own

My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding by Erin Nicholas

It's been a year since Josh Landry and Victoria (Tori) Kramer hooked up at Mardi Gras. They had made a pact to meet again at the same bar. Josh is there but Tori... isn't. He goes back to Autre to work at his family's swamp tour business... where Tori shows up the next day. She had been at the bar but, when Josh didn't show up, she kissed the man that she thought was him. Only it was her best friend who is getting married this weekend. The same man whose fiancee hates Tori because she thinks Tori is trying to talk her best friend, Andrew out of the marriage. Which Tori totally is. But not because Tori is In Love with Andrew but because she thinks the fiancee is all wrong for him. So Tori invites Josh to the wedding. That way she can prove that she's trying to break up the wedding for all the right reasons. Plus, fun make out times with Josh.
Josh is all in. Tori is his woman. Yes, the folks back in Iowa think she's a little nuts but she fits right in with the Landry family. He's determined to take this weekend to prove to Tori that he is the one for her.
This book was a fun twist on some familiar tropes. There was no fake relationship (there could have been) and the best friends didn't fall in love. I hope that Andrew gets his own book as well as Josh's siblings, the surly Sawyer and goth-ish Kennedy.

April 9th, 2019
Four stars
Hard copy I didn't keep
Opinions are my own

Going Down Easy by Erin Nicholas

Gabe and Addison have been conducting a series of one-and two-night stands. She's in New York and he's in New Orleans, there's never going to be a real relationship. Until Gabe finds out that Addison is now living in New Orleans. And when he finds out that she's a single-mom, his single-dad heart just falls a little deeper. The story follows their relationship as it progresses into being an Actual Relationship.
I did not connect with Gabe in any way. He was pretty manipulative and pushy. Addison had her reasons for not wanting to be in a relationship and he just trampled them. He was a little redeemed at the end but not really enough for me to like him any better.

Two and a half stars
This book came out August 28
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Totally His by Erin NIcholas

Sophie Birch grew up with a father who was a con man (what is the deal with romance heroine's named Sophie always having con men fathers?). Obviously, this has made her fairly wary of relationships in her adult life, even with her roommates (the heroines of the first two books in this series). Except... it's different with Angela. Sophie sees her as a sort of surrogate mother. And that's the reason she tries to run back into her burning theater; to save the only copy of Angela's play. Too bad some dude keeps trying to rescue her.
Finn Kelly is trying to keep a crazy lady from running into a building but can still take the time to appreciate how hot she looks in the lingerie she's wearing. He can tell she's not the sort of woman who's going to fit into his life but he is drawn to her anyway. Even after meeting her father (this cop can tell when he's being played), he wants to know more and more about her.
This was a typical Nicholas book that I think regular readers will enjoy. I got SO annoyed with both Sophie and Finn though. Finn seemed to have a hero complex that was unwarranted and Sophie was so wishy-washy.

Three stars
This book comes out October 31
Kindly provided as an ARC by NetGalley

Turned Up by Erin Nicholas

Since grade school, Dillon Alexander and Kit Derby have been at odds, each fighting with the other, pushing to be the best. But since the big tornado trapped them together in a closet, the emergency room doctor and the psychiatrist have been letting those sparks work for them in a different way. Especially now that another storm has hit, a snowstorm that traps them alone at her grandmother's house resulting in a sexy game of Chutes and Ladders. Eventually it leads them to testing out the possibility of having a real relationship.
And that's where the book starts to fall apart for me a little bit. The road blocks to Twu Lurv seemed artificial and somewhat put up. Then they're resolved ridiculously easily. I don't say this often but this book might have been better as a novella.

Three stars
This book comes out August 29

Forever Mine by Erin Nicholas

Maya Goodwin rushes into life headfirst. No matter what she does, she does it with all her heart. It has gotten her in trouble including one where she got trapped inside a burning car. It was that incident that sent her to desk duty. Now she runs a center teaching martial arts through the lens of superheros. It's that center that sends Dr. Alex Nolan to Zoe.
Alex has only just discovered that he fathered a child almost ten years ago during a drunken one-night stand. He might never have found out except that Charli (his daughter) is a hemophiliac and that happens to be Alex's specialty. So he's trying to find a way to connect and wants to do it through her favorite, very geeky, TV show.
This is a lovely story where both characters show some growth and we get to seem them help each other. For the most part, they were adult about the whole thing and while there was a misunderstanding at the end, it didn't seem like a Big Misunderstanding. I didn't love everything about their relationship but Nicholas creates a nice story of two people coming together and I can't wait to hear more about costume designer, Sophie. Possibly with Maya's sparring partner Ben but I would also be okay with him getting his own book. A tough guy sidelined from his favorite activities? I hope that there is more to that story than just as a plot point for an Alex breakthrough.

Four stars
This book comes out March 28

Tangled Up by Erin Nicholas

Max has loved Bree for almost all of the twenty-five years that he's known her. But he knows that they can never be anything more than friends. She's made that abundantly clear. Literally, she's told him that she just wants to be friends. And, practically, he knows that she changes her mind about things all the time, moving from job to job. She can't even keep a favorite ice cream. So no, they're better just being friends. Even if a near-miss with a tornado made for some adrenaline-pumping moments where they hooked up. Well, mostly.
For her part, Bree isn't sure where these feelings are coming from. She loves adrenaline and getting the feeling of a nice rush. So why is Max so against it? Yes, her feelings for Max are sort of out of the blue but why not have some fun?

Three stars
This book come out January 17

Completely Yours by Erin Nicholas

Zach and Kiera would appear to be opposites. She's a certified nerd, a designer for a popular MMOPG called Leokin, and would prefer to spend her days and nights holed up working on the game.
Zach, on the other hand, is a hero. An EMT who is working not only to save the lives of others, but to try and keep his family together after the loss of his sister. His mother's alcoholism has gotten worse and all his youngest sister does is mope around playing online. He knows that can't be healthy.
But Zach and Kiera meet when her friends drag her out (they promise anywhere she wants to go so she chooses the local gaming Con) and the ceiling of the roof collapses. When Zach sees Kiera, she's literally sparkling from gold paint. And then... it gets a bit ooky. He's described as wanting to be "in the center" where all the action is (this is a real EMT feeling, especially for those who go in because they want to "save lives" rather than help people and fits in with Zach's personality) but then he gets distracted  from his job, his job to save hurt people, by Kiera. Yes, I get that EMTs can't be laser focused the whole time, but most of the ones I've worked with are. At least the good ones and that's what I think Zach is supposed to be set up as.
Don't get me wrong. I liked that he was flawed. And I liked that even though he was trying to save his sister, he was doing it in a wrong way that he didn't see. I also liked that she was trying to save him right back. But the whole way that Zach and Kiera's relationship started was... not good. And I liked that Nicholas included the notion that not always being online is bad because you can form real relationships with people. But Oh. My. God. It was repeated over and over and over again. A lighter touch might have made the message more powerful.
Overall, I really did like this story and appreciated what Nicholas was trying to do. I'm looking forward to reading about Kiera's roommates.

Three stars
This book comes out December 20