RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
NEVER SAY I LOVE YOU (Never Say #1) by Amy Pennza is the first contemporary romance in a new series by a new to me author.
Ashley Ann Scobel is an out of work actress. For two years, she has made ends meet by refurbishing antiques, but she decides she needs to return to her small Texas hometown of Prattsville and try to pull herself and her finances together. But Prattsville has no fond memories for Ashley. She hopes to use her grandmother’s old furniture in her family home attic to finance a return to California. When she gets home, she finds her mother gone and the house sold to the next door neighbor named Smith. Hopefully he won’t mind if she stays for just a few weeks.
Chief of Police Smith Salvatierra likes everything orderly and predictable. He and his canine partner, Deuce appreciate the boring and quiet small town over the crowds and frantic pace of the larger San Antonio. He likes his privacy and his partner never asks about his past. When Smith finds Ashley in the house he bought next door, they come to an arrangement. Ashley can stay for eight weeks.
Smith’s new tenant is messy, unpredictable and beautiful. Ashley finds Smith to be by-the-book tall, dark and handsome and is not sure what to make of her landlord’s hot and cold attitude. Can the two of them find what they need in each other?
I was very happy I tried this new to me author. This contemporary romance had an interesting twist with Smith dealing with a tragedy in his past that colors all of his decisions in the present. His rigid adherence to predictability is challenged by Ashley and he begins to see an opportunity for change. I love dogs in books and I loved Deuce. He is a great example of an emotional support dog. The sex scenes in this book are explicit but not gratuitous. My only problem with this story was I felt the ending was too abrupt. I would have preferred that some of the secondary issues had been locked down instead of still up in the air. Hopefully this H/h will be revisited in future books in the series and I will find some of the answers I am looking for in a complete HEA. Overall, a good start to this new series.
Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.
