“Mine to keep. Mine to hold. Mine to love.”

Hard No by Lilian Monroe

Why This Rating?

I received an ARC in exchange for a free and honest review

Alright, this one caught my attention real fast. Who else can say that the main characters are hostile (I’d call it flirting but whatever) but it is expressed by throwing donuts at his head? Yeah, that’s a first for me too and I loved it! The fact that Knox just stands there, eats it, while keeping full eye contact, makes it so so much better.

Our characters are Caroline. Who is a baker with one hell of a past and has the drive to protect her family to the end. She has had to do and give up so much over the years, that at this point she struggles to let people in to help. Or at least struggles to comprehend how much people just want to help her because they want to. This will make you want to tell her to snap out of it but remember you aren’t with her very long and she’s trying to be better. My girl here deserves to be able to rest and relax in this little town. I love that she finds a man that would do anything for her and take some of the burden off of her shoulders. Also, let it be known, that I would LOVE a chance to learn from her at the bakery! And our love interest is Knox. Who is a knockout, sex-on-a-stick, with the perfect balance of “protecting what’s Mine” and “I’m going to be infuriating because your cute when angry”. We get a few really short POVs from his side of the story, but they seemed to be used more as a here’s short taste into his thoughts, rather than considered big POV moments. Some critique towards him though. I don’t think his family’s security firm is very good. Considering the number of things that happen AFTER the big install happens, who’s watching the cameras? Where are the cops? How did people get into her place with a skunk and no one know about it well before the animal got pissed off?

My only moment of struggle I had in this was with the villains. Enzo showing up the first time and last time, perfect if a bit short. The middle with him and the crony, ehh alright. More humorous in the incredulity of it. The lone cohort, heck yeah! The tension! The donuts! But I almost felt like the rest of the tense situation was always kept on the back burner and we went full romance mode. Which was so good and very sexy and exactly what the book promised! I don’t have nor could even suggest a way to adjust this, because the story was great how it is now. I simply had a small bounce off of this plot drive. OR maybe Knox was doing such a great job I was content letting the big hunk of protective man take care of the worries… Yeah, that might have some of it.

Pacing was FAST. Everything happens within a week and there are a ton of things going on. While the characters would say everything has been building for 4 years and 8 months, they were only on talking and then talking with benefits for 6 days. The writing keeps up well with the pace though. Yes, you feel the pages turning quick. But you don’t even realize how quickly time is happening which is big compliments to the author – *applause for Monroe*. The scenes, interactions, conversations, all of them were really good! I was never pulled out of the story and had constant chuckles for things happening. And while the world isn’t large, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything from the landscape or town. This is an author confident in her writing, and we get to have a fun story for it.

TLDR: I enjoyed this one! It will be a great read to any romance reader out there! A part of me always wants more once a story in finished, but the length and epilogue was good. Plus, being a part of a series means we are at least getting a few glimpses into their lives again regardless of who’s story it will be. Don’t worry, it is a stand-alone read for the series! The pacing for this one was fast and kept us engaged in the storyline – which I thought was great! It was maybe a bit much for everything to happen in a week. However, that might be my suspense and dark romance girly peeking through the blinds on that one. Bring out the looking over your shoulder while out and about. Second guess the shadows! Have the protector find her and SAVE HER! *cough* and that is why I needed some sunshine in the reads and took a pause on that genre – HA! The small-town romance ones are Halmark levels of romance, so it kept to the standard well enough. Caroline and Knox’s romance is cute! The two of them might need some therapy, but their interactions are funny, snarky, and steamy. This ending was a solid HEA.

A takeaway from the book: You can express love by throwing donuts at his face – gotcha! Also, the S in HTTPS means security. While this factoid shocked me, my husband said “yes. Duh”. My response? A pillow tossed at him because there were no donuts on hand. Eh, we all express love one way or another.

Time to get lost in the next story!