Hushed by Britni Hill
Sometimes I forget my coffee at home and post reviews on the wrong book. Oopsie!
I happened to win a copy of Revealed, the second book in this series, via a Facebook contest. So, of course I had to read Hushed first and I am glad that I did. Not only does Britni Hill create a great atmosphere, her settings made me feel right at home. Like I was sitting there having a beer with the characters. I would say my biggest frustration is that I never really connected with Tess as a character. Tess seemed intent on avoiding the "bad boys" because her ex-boyfriend treated her poorly, but ends up dating a jerk (Jason) anyway. Nothing from there on out surprised me.
From the very beginning of the novel, I loved the tension between Tess and Blake. Their first kiss was swoon-worthy, so it kind of bothered me that we immediately jump to Tess dating/breaking up with Jason. When you have that kind of instant spark with someone it seems silly to brush it off, and even more strange to date the stepbrother. While I was glad we didn't have to read a lot about the Jason/Tess relationship, I did like Blake's character a lot which is what saved this book for me. The tension that builds over spring break due to their interesting sleeping arrangements was a lot of fun to read. As with most romance, there is always that fatal flaw in the relationship that needs to get resolved and the author does a good job with that without it being overly dramatic.
All in all, I enjoyed the start of the Western Palm series and will definitely read the next installment if only to learn more about the other characters in the series.
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