Title: Nothing But Trouble

Author: Amy Andrews

eBook (though paperback is available)

Pages: 400 (however on my reading app the story ended on page 267 with an excerpt for another book included.)

Publisher: Entangled Publishing LLC 

ISBN: 9781640635388

Release Date: 4-30-2019

Book Details: I have the eBook, so I could customize my reading experience.

Where To Find It: I got my copy at Barnes and Noble

Time that the story takes place? Current

POV? Third person

What caught your eye? This was a free book from Barnes and Noble, one of those free weekend reads if you have a Nook account. After reading the sample chapter and seeing that wonderful four letter word: FREE, I downloaded it at once.

Did you enjoy it? I really did.

Was it predictable? It was but then it wasn’t. Which I liked, it kept me on my toes.

Was it sexy? Tame? It certainly wasn’t tame, but at the same time this wasn’t a sex fest either. The Sex is not center stage here, so don’t be expecting to learn any new tips and tricks with this one. There was, let’s say an “action” that I just don’t think is logistically possible, but I didn’t think was practical either. I even mentioned this “thing” to my husband and he just gave me that look—that squinty look of trying to figure out quantum physics when someone says something oddly stupid—and proclaimed that the “thing” even if possible, would probably be wildly uncomfortable and a hinderance. Even worse, there’s mention of another “thing” that while spoken about twice, we the reader never see what this “thing” is.

Did you find it funny? Entertaining? This is one of the few books I’ve read where I have actually laughed out loud and it was nice. CC’s inner monologue is hilarious.

Would you read it again? I think I would, actually.

Is this part of a series? It is, Credence Colorado. And holy cheese on a biscuit, I actually started with Book One! Alert the presses!!

Okay, cards on the table, I didn’t seek this book out. As stated above, it was free from Barnes and Noble during one of these free weekend things that they have from time to time. The premise was interesting, after reading the sample chapter to make certain it wasn’t in first person, I hit download. However, I honestly didn’t think I’d actually read this anytime soon for one simple reason.

I really don’t like football. And this is about a retired player from the Denver Broncos. I live in Kansas City (the suburbs) and our NFL team went to the Super Bowl twice in recent years and I didn’t watch either game. I literally only know the name of one guy on our team and half of the time, I’m pretty certain I mispronounce it, because I’m not 100% certain what his name is.

So this wasn’t like, “OMG a football book about a football player!!! Yay!”

Thankfully, there wasn’t much football I needed to know about to enjoy this book. As I said, our hero, Wade Carter, is retired. Our Leading Lady is Cecilia “CC” Morgan, Wade’s long suffering PA. She literally does everything for this man, on call 24/7/365. He needs toothpaste at midnight? She goes and gets it. Buying him his favorite candy, Nerds, at three in the morning? She’s on it. Letting down his flavor of the month? She’s your girl.

And she’s tired of it. She’s got six months left on her six year contract with Wade and she’s counting down the days. CC seriously cannot wait to get away from this man-child dude-bro.

At first glance, Wade isn’t that impressive. He’s coasted along on his celebrity and good looks for a good portion of his life. There’s nothing he can’t get or fix with money or his million dollar smile. And he relies on CC for everything, who can figure out anything, handle anything, and cope with just about anything. 

I won’t lie, in the first few chapters or so, I honestly didn’t think much of them as a couple. I didn’t even see the potential for a relationship. More than once at the start of this, I was on CC’s side, “Girl, just get the hell away from this guy.”

Don’t get me wrong, Wade is not a bad guy. He’s not cruel or callous, more spoiled and entitled, and the moment that he gets a call from his mother that his father has had an episode with his heart and will be having a pacemaker put in, our man is packing up to head out to the farm to help out. Fully expecting CC to come with him.

Wade is also suppose to be writing his memoir at the moment. He’s refused to use a ghost writer or even the aid of one. How is anyone suppose to tell his story that isn’t him. While I agree with that sentiment, dude, use a ghost writer.

So here’s the deal: Wade is going out to the farm for the summer to help out with the chores and such and then in the off time, he’ll work on his book as there are zero distractions in Credence Colorado.

That’s the main story. Simple and clean cut.

The secondary story is that Wade’s mother is on the town committee to find a way to bring people—specifically women—to their town. It’s dying. There is literally nothing to do in this town. No place to get your hair done, your computer fixed, or a place to get a decent cup of coffee. They haven’t really seen children in this town for years. And since there’s nothing and no one to do, people are packing up and heading to civilization. 

Therefore there’s been a movement, a campaign if you will, of how to attract more women to their town. At the town meeting, Wade gets all pissy as he likes coming back home to Credence as no one knows who he is. No paparazzi and reporters poking around. He even tries to sway the older townsfolk to his side by telling them how horrible this will be once the media gets a hold of this story. He gets zero support as his high school friends are like, “Dude, we have to travel 200 miles away for a date, we haven’t been laid for years!” The older folk are jazzed as they don’t want to see their town die and it gives them all a new lease on life.

As it soon becomes obvious, much to Wade’s shock (as he believes busloads of women will be coming to get a gander at the great Wade Carter) there’s really only one or two women that even know who he is and even then, they aren’t all that awash in celebrity hero worship.

CC is vital and instrumental in assisting the committee in their efforts. Much to Wade’s chagrin, he even tells CC that she’s suppose to be on “his side” when it comes to his views and concerns over this movement. But then, this is where the real love story between them begins to gel. With them being so confined together, he begins to see the other sides of her that he didn’t know she had. As he writes his book, when he gets to the CC Years of his story, we even get to see what a remarkable woman CC is. And by that turn, CC also gets to see what kind of man Wade is when he’s not in Denver being Wade Carter of the Broncos.

Not to get all sappy on you, gentle reader, but this was one of those books that kind of hit you in the feels and I wasn’t expecting that. There was so much that was relatable and so much that you as the reader could empathize with that this felt like a lot more than what it was advertised as. I can’t even say this was a straight and true romance novel, there’s so much more going on in this that I can’t even begin to do this book justice. A cop out line, I know, but it’s true. But I’ve barely scratched the surface of what was in this book. 

I mean, I haven’t even told you the stuff CC is dealing with, spoilers for that here.

There are so many nuanced moments, little touches of real life mixed in that you feel you’re watching several stories at once, almost like a really good television series. Which I liked. Nothing was a cookie cutter, formula trope. I mean, sure, we have the boss/employee trope, which is always awesome. You’ve got a small town that’s trying to keep from dying. There are oddly rich characters that you don’t think are going to have much of an impact, but then they do. This isn’t just Wade and CC’s story, this is the story of an entire town trying to find love and even a new lease on life.

The other thing is, this book is dense. As in there, is just a lot of stuff crammed into this novel. Which is great, I actually really dug having lots of different stories and characters interacting, and while Wade and CC are the leads in this book, they aren’t the only stars of the show. 

Wade’s older brother Wyatt was probably my favorite character in this whole story. I was actually sorry we didn’t get more. I won’t ruin things for you, but I gotta say, the sweet love story that develops between Jenny and Wyatt was easily one of my favorite things in this whole book. 

The secondary characters don’t really feel like secondary characters. Again this reads like a television series, your supporting characters are just as interesting as the main ones and you find yourself cheering for them when you see the hint of sparks with particular characters. 

My complaints, if you can call them that, was that at times the interactions between the men felt too . . . I don’t know what you’d call it. Just a lot of, “Bro,” being tossed around. The F-word is liberally used throughout the book, however, as it fit with the characters using and saying it, it wasn’t that much of a turn off. After doing a bit of research on the author, I do see she’s from Australia, so perhaps a few ways of saying things in Australia dripped into the characters. However, snaps for her capturing the feel of Colorado. Having spent some time there myself, I could see what she was putting down on paper and it all felt familiar. 

So, the lesson here today is, be Cautiously Optimistic about that free book being offered, it might just be unexpectantly fantastic!