BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE by Jenn McKinlay

Publisher:     Berkley

Published:     September 26, 2017

ISBN:        978-0399584749

Genre:      Contemporary Romance

Format:     Print

Obtained via:  Publisher

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  myreviewbooks@aol.com

FOUR-1/2 HEARTS   

Carly DeCusati is happy with her life.  She does what she wants, when she wants, how she wants and who she wants.  Yes, who she wants.  Well, at least she was happy with her life.  With the loss of her job she has to move back to her home town of Bluff Point, at least for the near future.  And that’s not exactly happy news.  She arrives just as her parents are leaving for Florida for the foreseeable future and she’s left living with her younger sister, Gina.  Her relationship with Gina takes sibling rivalry to a whole new level and it’s not pretty.   Oh, and just before her move back to Bluff Point her elderly neighbour in Brooklyn died and left her her parrot, Ike and elderly lab, Saul.  For someone who is just not into commitment the dog and the bird are so not what she wants in her life.  At least she’s still foot loose and fancy free, right?  But that’s about to change.

James Sinclair has loved one woman for just about his whole life.  He saw her once 11 years ago and it was love at first site.  When he sees her again he knows that this time he can’t let her get away.  The thing is, the woman he can’t live without has no interest in a happily ever after.  And to make matters worse, he has secrets, secrets that will send her running as fast as she can from Bluff Point.

I was thrilled when I saw that Jenn McKinlay was starting to write romance and enjoyed the first book in her Bluff Point series, ABOUT A DOG.  ABOUT A DOG was a cute story, more chik litish than contemporary romance and the characters seemed to be a bit juvenile.  McKinlay not only hit her stride in her most recent book in this series, BARKING UP THHE WRONG TREE, she surpassed herself.  She definitely proves the old adage about the spicy woman beneath the stern librarian’s demeanour!  While reading more than one scene I had an image of McKinlay whipping off a pair of practical glasses, shaking out a bun and letting loose.  She writes a toe curling love scene.

There are hints of Angie and Mel from McKinlay’s cupcake series in the personalities of the Maine Crew, but they are definitely their own characters.  Carly goes though some nice and believable changes in the story.  As her history comes out the reader can see how and why she made the choices she did. 

James is intense in his feelings for Carly, but is in no way an alpha male which was nice for a change of pace.  I liked Pops and the Sinclair family.  They were a hoot.  There is some nice catching up with Mac and Gavin. 

Most of all I loved Ike and Saul.  Ike was just a really fun character and added some awesome humor to the story.

The books are stand alones and can be read out of order because McKinlay gives enough back story to catch you up. 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

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