The Kowalksis by Shannon Stacey

Undeniably Yours (Kowalskis #2) by Shannon Stacey – B- I know, I know.  It’s the second book, why, you may ask, did I list it first?  Well, it’s because I read it first – I got confused which one was first and I went with the date it landed on my reader – which is actually quite different to publication date, as I got this from NetGalley (I bought it later also because I forgot I had it – but I don’t regret it which may tell you something).  Anywho, it didn’t really matter that I started in the middle.  The books are all stand alone and even though they feature some recurring characters, I don’t think I missed anything by reading book 2 first.  Anywho, this is Kevin’s book.  Burned by a cheating spouse, he’s nevertheless ready to settle down.  He meets Beth, who gets the idea he’s a player, but in spite of that, they have a one night stand anyway – too much chemistry.  Kevin would happily have explored a relationship but Beth rabbits.  Then, she finds out that she’s pregnant – condoms aren’t 100% effective and they hit the jackpot.  Refreshingly, she goes and tells Kevin straight away and they then set about working out what relationship they will have as the pregnancy progresses.  The conflict in this one is believable enough – does Kevin want to be with Beth because she’s pregnant with his child or because she’s Beth?  I liked this one quite a but but I found myself getting a little frustrated with Beth being a bit slow on the uptake and so the ending dragged a little for me. I really think I could have used one more love scene too.  The secondary romance between Paulie and her ex felt a little underdone to me.  Also, I kept seeing the King of Queens guy everytime I read Kevin, which kept me from relating to his actual level of hotness!! 🙂

Exclusively Yours (Kowalksis #1) by Shannon Stacey – B.  I think this is the pick of the bunch for me.  They are all very good but this one just edges out the other 2 IMO.  I enjoyed that the author clearly knew of what she spoke when it came to four wheeling and camping trips and the “tick checks” the adults required away from sensitive children’s eyes and ears.  I liked the secondary story with Evan and Terry and the third (thirdary?) story (which was only a little bit but just enough) with Mike and Lisa.  I really like that some of the Kowalskis were already paired up and that the book showed all sorts of relationships in various states of being.    Joe and Keri were not yoru average h/h as they were both “pushing 40” so that was a refreshing change too.  Overall, this was a very enjoyable way to spend a few hours.

Yours to Keep (Kowalskis #3) by Shannon Stacey – B/B-. This was a funny, sexy, if slightly improbable story – (fake fiance for a month to save grandma’s feelings) charting the romance between Sean, a Kowalski cousin (there are like 4 other single Kowalskis out there now people, so we may have more books in this series!!) and Emma Shaw, a good friend of Lisa Kowalski.  I would have liked a little more about how Evan and Terry were going – there was just a mention that they were continuing with the marriage counselling but that is a small niggle really.  I enjoyed the sweet secondary romance between Emma’s grandmother and an older gentleman from the neighbourhood.  So long as you can get past the set up which really, is a bit out there, it’s a fun enjoyable book, filled with cute post-it notes from Sean.

In summary:  If you like funny, sexy contemporary romance, you’ll probably like this series.  I certainly did!