Nuts (Hudson Valley #1) by Alice Clayton

I don’t know, I’m in two minds about this one. It was kind of delightful, all the talk of food and the deep dive into sustainable farming and organic farming was fun and interesting. There were parts of Roxie and Leo’s relationship development that I really enjoyed and then there were parts that annoyed me so much I wanted to DNF.

Roxie has a way of coming across as not at all nice. In fact, she is a bit of a brat. The way she treats her mother just doesn’t make any sense to me. Listen, I’m all for boundary setting and Roxie’s feelings about her mother’s behaviour when she was a kid are totally valid. What doesn’t make sense is her not enforcing clearer boundaries and/or talking to her mother about her trauma. Instead she is just passive aggressive and uses everything as an excuse to be a bit of an asshole.

The thing is, when she wasn’t being a passive aggressive asshole she was actually likable. Most of that time was when she was either cooking or making out/sexing Leo, both were a lot of fun. It was all the other times she was insufferable!

There were also more than a few plot holes and missed opportunities in terms of bringing the story forward. Like more background on Leo and his family would have been nice, we got his entire backstory in about two pages, but countless pages on Roxie’s thoughts about Leo’s lips and beard scruff. I also found the surprise child a bit eyerolley. I think it’s fair to say that about half of this book was good and the other half felt thrown together.

This is my second Alice Clayton book, my first was Wallbanger and I really did not like it, and had no interest in continuing that series. I didn’t love Nuts but I’m intrigued enough to read at least the next book in the series. I do like a taciturn broody MMC and Oscar seems to fit that title very well. There is also cheese and well, like Natalie, cheese is my weakness!

Synopsis:

Roxie Callahan is a private chef to some of Hollywood’s wealthiest, and nastiest, calorie-counting wives. After a dairy disaster implodes her carefully crafted career in one fell ploop, she finds herself back home in upstate New York, bailing out her hippie mother and running the family diner.

When gorgeous local farmer Leo Maxwell delivers her a lovely bunch of organic walnuts, Roxie wonders if a summer back home isn’t such a bad idea after all. Leo is heavily involved in the sustainable slow food movement, and he likes to take his time. In all things. Roxie is determined to head back to the west coast as soon as summer ends, but will the pull of lazy fireflies and her very own Almanzo Wilder be enough to keep her home for good?

Salty. Spicy. Sweet. Nuts. Go on, grab a handful.