Gena Showalter’s Original Heartbreakers series is set in Strawberry Valley, Oklahoma. A small rural town, full of town gossip, busybodies, some transplanted bad boys and, of course, the constant scent of, you guessed it, strawberries! It seems like a no-brainer to highlight this series after binging on all things strawberry yesterday (and tomorrow and as long as I possibly can!). A series of six books and two novellas, some hit better than others, but all are worth the read. My personal favorite is the first book, The Closer You Come. The first Showalter contemporary I’d ever read, I devoured this book in one day and promptly flipped back to the beginning to start an immediate re-read…twice. In all my years of reading, I can count the number of times I’ve done that on one hand.
Jase Hollister is fresh out of prison, and his two best friends are determined to give him the opportunity for a second chance at life. Jase’s prison stint is predicated on a youthful event surrounded by a dark and twisted past. He was barely an adult, and he’s paid a hefty price. His friends, brothers by choice, Beck, and Lincoln, ended up putting their lives in order and making millions by using their brains, not brawn while Jase did his time. All three men are scarred by that horrific past event (no spoilers here) and welcome the distraction and comfort of small-town Strawberry Valley.
Brook Lynn Dillon is the responsible one in the family, a family that now consists of Brook Lynn and her wild-child sister, Jessie Kay. She does not have time for the distraction of a man like Jase. Keeping her life afloat and her sister out of trouble is more than enough on Brook Lynn’s plate. Brook Lynn is the epitome of “if she didn’t have bad luck she’d have no luck at all,” so even though the chemistry between these two is smoking hot, her resistance to his temptation is strong.
Jase, like his brothers by choice, has a lot of internal demons to slay. All that time in prison has left its mark on him, and acclimating to society has not been easy. A certain hot-blooded, albeit fun-deprived Southern beauty brings out all of his protective and possessive urges, now he just has to convince her that he’s worth the trouble that always seems to follow him.