Hey, Whiskey by Kaylee Ryan was a good read. Not great but good. I did go back and forth a bit on a few topics and struggled with placing my review between a 3 or 4 star review and I will get to why later in this review. In the matter of a few hours, Saylor losses everything she thought she wanted…and her childhood home. Having to decide where her life will take her is a tough and grueling lesson that she will face without a support system to tell her everything will all be ok in the end. This contemporary romance was sweet and slightly sizzling – although not nearly as much as it could have been. Kaylee Ryan wrote a love story worthy of your time and certainly worthy of a review expressing the plot issues I liked or didn’t like.
This new adult contemporary romance was sweet, and honestly, an easy read. I was entertained and loved the banter between Rhett and Saylor. The way the relationship started and was built upon slowly, layer by layer, allowing time for Saylor character to begin anew (so to speak) was sweet, and made the story slightly more believable. I loved Rhett’s character immediately. He was sweet and sexy, a true family man who wants deep roots. I saw several men I know personally at various times in the book which humanized him for me. With Saylor, not so much. Maybe because I had a hard time relating to her as the heroine in this story? I’m not really sure. I liked her, but I had issues with her constant belief that she had no one and nothing…that she never would. I understand that she didn’t have many people in her life as a result of her upbringing, but I have known too many foster kids to know that you make your family…that its not always about our blood relations. And while Kaylee Ryan brings Saylor around to this way of thinking by the end of the book…I’d argue that its years too late for the character…
The book was enjoyable, I do not want to be the person that rips down an author’s brainchild. The story had a beautiful simplicity to me about it. It didn’t rip out my heart strings throughout most of the book, although I will say the circumstances surrounding the immense grief and loss Saylor feels over the loss of Elaine were painful as I have been there with loved ones…although not a parent.
I loved the secondary characters Jake and Molly and can not help but find their love story interests me greatly. I am extremely intrigued and plan to look into Ryan’s previous work to see if possibly their story has been told. But at times, I felt like this book was maybe a glimpse for readers to see more of them…an extended epilogue of a previous book written by Kaylee Ryan possibly? I don’t know. And I ABSOLUTELY never mind this in author’s who write their characters into additional works. I love the glimpse into a future for characters you know and love…
My two biggest difficulties in this book relate to the manner that Pete and Saylor find themselves broken up and the outcome of the trip to Vegas. As for Pete, we were absolutely not meant to like him, and I didn’t. I just didn’t find the break up as probable? realistic? Again, I don’t know… there was something that set wrong for me with using this as the catalyst for Saylor to be single again. Then she has only been single for two months when her relationship with Rhett changes up. As a woman, I think it would be harder for Saylor to move on, to open herself up again with such a closed off character as Kaylee Ryan made her…the two just don’t meet in the middle, you know? And don’t get me wrong, the trip to Vegas was hot, and not unwelcome…the build up to this point is more then half the book…closer to 60%. Yet, this seems like the opposite of what the character’s are proclaiming to themselves by this point. I don’t want to put spoilers in this review, so I am being extremely vague, which may make this harder to understand…read the book and tell me what you think? I am curious as to what other readers make of the situation
Overall, I felt like the book was at least a 3.5 star book. I gave it a 4 star though. Because this book was well written, and will appeal greatly to the masses. Because the sweetness factor makes the book hard to put down, and the banter between the characters of Rhett and Saylor initially make this almost a frienemies to lovers romance. Both are extremely well liked by the public – me included. I just let the thought of putting 3.5 stars on this book stew after I read it and I decided that it wasn’t enough. The book IS one you should give a chance, and not because a review convinces you its worthy or not, but because the concept and execution of the contemporary romance Hey, Whiskey seriously worked in spite of the things that I wasn’t 100% on board with
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