I loved Carly and Jackson’s small town romance with a side of relationship avoidance. This is a heartwarming, funny and steamy romance. Carly and Jackson are portrayed as real, relatable people who have flaws, but are really trying to just do their best as messy humans living in a messy world. Jackson is a contractor in small town Pine Mountain. Due to his past, he thinks being single is the best choice for him. Carly is a well known chef from NYC. Escaping from her manipulative cheating husband and former business partner, she takes over as chef for the restaurant in the resort located in Pine Mountain. Their meet cute involves horrible singing, revealing clothing, and a construction estimate. There is instant and explosive chemistry and attraction between them but there is also lots of baggage and life circumstances holding each of them back. Despite neither one of them being interested in a relationship, each interaction nudges them closer and closer toward their HEA. The story was well written and included witty dialogue, three dimensional characters who grow, and an engaging storyline as told through sweet moments, steamy scenes, chuckles, supportive friends, messy families, painful pasts, secrets, surprises, big feels, and all the love. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

GIMME SOME SUGAR is the second full-length story in Kimberly Kincaid’s Pine Mountain series. Chef Carly di Matisse is the new resort chef, licking her figurative wounds and rebuilding her reputation after her can’t-be-soon-enough dishonorable ex-husband both broke her heart and dragged her name through the dirt. Jackson Carter is an excellent contractor who loves his family fiercely and guards his own heart just as carefully, not wanting to ever repeat the mistakes of his father, who did a real number on those he claimed to love. Carly and Jackson build a friendship that fairly quickly intensifies into much more, and though their lips keep saying, “we’re just friends,” the rest of them is writing those benefits checks like they’re going out of style. Kimberly Kincaid balances the emotional intensity and passionate expressions of it with the warmth of the comforting and sometimes agonizing familial relationships and friends who call us out and defend us in equal measure. Gimme Some Sugar is a terrific small-town romance!