Book: What It takes: A Kowalski Reunion Novel
#10
Author: Shannon Stacey
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Carina Press
Blurb via Goodreads:
Revisit all of your Kowalski favorites while
falling in love with a brand-new romance in this reunion novel from New York
Times bestselling author Shannon Stacey
Laney Caswell is looking for a change. A
decade's worth of less-than-happy matrimony behind her, she wants peace—movies,
books and, best of all, a new job at the Northern Star Lodge in Whitford,
Maine. Spending the summer living in a camper is her chance to rediscover what
makes her happy, and a perfect transition to her new life.
Being a paramedic in Whitford is nothing like
Ben Rivers's city life, but when Josh Kowalski offers him the job, the lure of
his hometown is too much to resist. Also too much to resist: Laney Caswell. Ben
always thought he'd have a wife and kids, a happy family like the Kowalskis
have all built, but he never made time in his life. Now he's found a woman who
draws him like no other and helps him dream again—and the last thing she wants
is a husband.
When the annual Kowalski family camping trip is
moved to the Northern Star, both Ben and Laney are surrounded by the kind of
happiness they've always wanted but never had. It just might be theirs—if they
can put aside the past and reach for it together.
My Review:
I have read
all the books in the Kowalski series and of the ten, I still love the first
five the most.
Technically,
the protagonist in this story is no Kowalski, so this is not so much a Kowalski
story as it is that of the neighbor and close friend of the family. However, the Kowalskis are still
prominently represented as the setting of the romance takes place in the family
owned Northern Star Lodge.
Ben has moved
back to Whitford where he grew up to serve as a much needed paramedic. He often goes to the lodge to visit and
help around, especially after he meets Laney, the newly hired extra hand. Laney has been through one hell of a
divorce from a husband who loved being in control of everything and
everyone. She had lost herself and
is now in the process of finding who she once was and who she wants to be
again. Falling in love wasn’t part
of the plan, but then again, it never is.
The plot is
something we have all read a lot I’m sure and with books like this, it’s really
all about the execution. Stacey’s
storytelling is good, however for some reason, I didn’t feel connected to the
characters as much as I expected to be.
Maybe because I was overwhelmed by the number of characters in the book
that I was sometimes confused. But
then again that’s WHY it’s called a Kowalski reunion. All the main characters in the previous books are here plus
their offsprings…. That’s a lot of names and stories to look back on.
It did thrill
me to, in a way, reconnect with those whose stories I fell in love with before,
but it also distracted me from the love story of Ben and Laney. And at some points, it felt like I was
being hurried through the book, as if Stacey just wanted to get it over and
done with. Despite this, I did
like the book and would still recommend it especially to those who have missed
the crazy family that is the Kowalskis.
