GARNET FLATS

By Devney Perry

I think it is a sin to light a book on fire - this book would be my exception.

The Ugly Truth:

Not mad... simply disappointed.

Indigo Ridge was one of my favorite books of 2022- With mystery AND romance, my happiness levels were off the chart. Juniper Hill was exactly what I expected... classic "sunshine-grump" trope with a baby in the mix, cute and satisfying.

Garnet Flats though.... well....

This. Was. Ridiculous.

For starters, Talia Eden acts as though she is tough as nails and claims for the first four chapters of the book that she would never, COULD NEVER, again fall for her past love. Readers... It takes her .2 seconds to strip down and forget those vows.

Look, I get first loves are hard to get over, but really babe? You met in college, and it was a year-long relationship (something we, the readers, are reminded of constantly, which feels like even Perry was hinting that a year is nothing after a while); move on. Couple this with the fact that when her panties finally come off, she reveals she has not slept with anyone else in the eight years that have gone by. Congrats Mother Mary. I am not saying sleep with everyone, but I did find that just a little hard to believe.

So, I am out on our girl, but she looks like a freakin gold-plated Goddess warrior compared to our sorry sack of shit male lead. The number of times I personally would have run Foster over is absurd.

First (and SPOILERS ahead), who in their right mind thinks that - after marrying your ex-lover's best friend, raising a child with her, and not speaking to your ex-lover for nearly a decade - it is then appropriate to move to the town that your ex-lover basically owns??? The kind of messed up mentality to need to do that and not even consider her emotions is beyond me.

Now, to address the other issues, the whole marrying her bff did not go over well for me because, IMO there was simply no reason this had to happen. A) Her friend is fake as hell and should have solved her own pregnancy problem herself, or at the very least worked to explain the situation to her bestfriend- there is no amount of pleading or apologies that could make me forgive a friend for that and no doubt in my mind she schemed with her dad to make this happen. Also... she clearly wanted Foster if that was her ONLY OPTION?? There are other guys at the gym, make it work. B) There was simply no reason for Foster to go into this deal. I get trying to save your career etc, but if you sat down for literally .2 seconds and thought things through, you may have come up with another solution and not been stuck with some incredibly obnoxious human for eight years. C) The cherry on top is the kid, because first, why? what? ew, and then secondly the fact that Foster then raised this kid and treats her like she is his own when he simply is not the father would irk me to no end- I love stepfathers and men that fill the role of dads, but this guy was not the dad that stepped up. Additionally, Foster did not mention this supposed star of his entire life ONCE in the full two months he was in town before she-who-shall-not-be-named arrived with the literal child and shoved it in Talia's face.

Overall, these people irked me to no end and should not have been together. Maybe I am just a mean person, but seriously... no.