Things We Never Got Over
(Knockemout #1)
By: Lucy Score
Pubilsher: Self-Published
Publication date: January 13, 2022
Genre: Romance
Rating:
Bearded, bad-boy barber Knox prefers to live his life the way he takes his coffee: Alone. Unless you count his basset hound, Waylon. Knox doesn’t tolerate drama, even when it comes in the form of a stranded runaway bride.
Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding. She was riding to the rescue of her estranged twin to Knockemout, Virginia, a rough-around-the-edges town where disputes are settled the old-fashioned way…with fists and beer. Usually in that order.
Too bad for Naomi her evil twin hasn’t changed at all. After helping herself to Naomi’s car and cash, Tina leaves her with something unexpected. The niece Naomi didn’t know she had. Now she’s stuck in town with no car, no job, no plan, and no home with an 11-year-old going on thirty to take care of.
There’s a reason Knox doesn’t do complications or high-maintenance women, especially not the romantic ones. But since Naomi’s life imploded right in front of him, the least he can do is help her out of her jam. And just as soon as she stops getting into new trouble he can leave her alone and get back to his peaceful, solitary life.
At least, that’s the plan until the trouble turns to real danger.
When Naomi blows into a small town, wearing a wedding dress, she is not prepared to be met with such hostility. However, knowing her identical twin sister, who just so happened to call her needing help, it stands to reason that a lot of people are not a big fan of her sister Tina. And, since they are identical twins, everyone assumes she’s Tina. When Naomi finally figures out what’s going on, she is completely blindsided at the fact that not only is her sister not in trouble, but she skipped town and left behind an 11yr old daughter that Naomi didn’t even know she had. With no money, no job, and wanting a fresh new start, Naomi decides to stay in the small town, get to know her niece, and make a new life for the two of them. However, it’s clear that Tina is still stirring up trouble, and it’s affecting Naomi.
This is a cute romantic story. Naomi catches the eye of the small town millionaire who keeps everyone at a distance. To say that their relationship is a slow burn would be an understatement. You know that they are attracted to each other, but Knox is so hell-bent on not letting anyone close to him, that it takes him a long time to start to soften towards Naomi. Which, I was okay with since it gave us time to really feel out the characters and get to know some of the secondary characters as well. You really got the sense of the small town vibe and the background characters each had their own voice in this story.
However, with that being said, this story is SUPER LONG. I found myself getting bored a lot because I just felt like we were getting too much day to day stuff to build everyone up. I just wanted to get to the good stuff. I wanted Knox to let down his guard. I wanted the other shoe to fall so we could see what Tina was up to. I felt like I good chunk of this story could have been scratched from the book and no one would miss it.
Was I entertained by the story? Yes. Did it take me a long time to read it? Yes. Did I find myself easily distracted while reading? Sometimes. I just think that the story was too long and had too much drawn out to keep the reader fully invested. There wasn’t a lot of turnover scenes. It just felt like I literally read their every day musings for a months period.
I have heard similiar things about this one and I am sorry to hear that the pacing was such a struggle at times. That can be a real struggle. Lovely review!