Review: Buns by Alice Clayton

4 stars

****

This was a good book! This is Clara and Archie's story. Clara is in the hospitality industry. She lives her for her job, traveling around to different hotels consulting on ways they can improve their facilities and business. Clara's newest project is the Bryant Mountain House in Bailey Falls, NY. Her two best friends, Natalie and Roxie, both have recently fallen in love with the town, and their boyfriends who live there, and moved to Bailey Falls. Clara begins work on the Bryant Mountain House resort, where she meets Archie Bryant, the son of the hotel's owner, who runs it. Archie is very resistant to the changes Clara wants to make and does everything he can to halt her progress, but he gradually begins to see that the changes are good ideas. And he gradually, begins to fall for the fun and outgoing Clara. She is cautious about getting involved with him, knowing that when her project is over her job will take her elsewhere. She also is afraid to get too comfortable in her feelings for him because she was raised in the foster care system, where she learned that all homes and relationships are temporary. But Archie is pretty convincing and Clara has to decide to take a chance on love and finding a new, permanent home with Archie.

This book was actually a really cute, sweet romance. There was very little angst and pushing away in the book. There are a few things that surprised me in this book, but I can't share without spoiling the story. Suffice to say, this book has a trope that doesn't always work for me, but did in this case. The couple did start off as enemies and became lovers. But they had chemistry right away. I liked Clara and Archie a lot. They were really good together. I did wish for more resolution and a farther into the future epilogue. It seems Ms. Clayton likes to leave her readers to make their own conclusions about how the relationship goes in the future. 

I loved the glimpses of the other couples in the series and I LOVED that Caroline from Wallbanger (one of my fave books) had a part in the story too. . I liked the hotel setting and the characters who worked there. The story was different and interesting. The writing was good as always. Overall, I really enjoyed Clara and Archie's story! I think this is my favorite of the three books in the series. I will definitely look forward to more from Ms. Clayton in the future!

Buy link:

https://www.amazon.com/Buns-Hudson-Valley-Book-3-ebook/dp/B01MPZNNVO/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=ninapolitan-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=e2ffd3efd12b6134fcf6bf26071802c2&creativeASIN=B01MPZNNVO