“Nuts” Book Review

October 30, 2015 / 29 comments

Nuts by Alice Clayton
Series: Hudson Valley #1
Published by Gallery Books on October 20th 2015
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: ARC
Purchase @ AMAZON or BN
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Rating

After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner.

Once she's back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?

Liezel’s Thoughts:

Item: Nuts
Rating: 4
Author: liezelsb

Alice Clayton sure did a fabulous job kicking off her brand new “Hudson Valley Series.” I loved the fact that even if it was a different series she managed to maintain her writing style that is distinct to her alone.

“Nuts” is about Roxie Callahan who was a private chef for the rich and famous in Hollywood. Due to a trivial mishap she finds herself shunned from almost all of her clients’ kitchens. That and as a favor to her mother she returns to her hometown – Hudson Valley. It was always her dream growing up to get out of her small town and when she does she had no intention whatsoever of returning let alone staying.

What was great about the situation was witnessing Roxie’s entire “small town” perception change right before our very eyes. In the past, she barely acknowledged what was right in front of her and I thought it was great seeing how she slowly comes to appreciate its charm. That being said, it was remarkable how the author paid attention to every detail in describing how enchanting Hudson Valley truly is. That wasn’t the only thing enchanting about this story…No-oh-oh!

A certain “farmer boy” named Leo Maxwell definitely was the main dish. In all honesty, I never thought a farm boy could be that appealing but man oh man, Alice Clayton changed my perspective entirely! I’m not only talking about his physical beauty, but it was his overall demeanor that elevated him. I loved that he was caring, selfless and loyal. I admired how he always had his priorities straight. Without giving anything away, his “priority” was fascinating and was a delightful addition to the story.

It was difficult picturing Leo and Roxie at first since they had such different upbringings but as the story flowed my opinion changed quickly. Their current careers and lifestyles fit perfectly together. The chemistry between the couple was all around magnificent. And I can’t stress how grateful I was that the relationship developed in a slow, leisurely manner. They took their time but when it happened they never lost steam.

Just like Alice Clayton’s previous books, “Nuts” was entertaining and amusing. It possessed key elements that kept it light and uplifting. “Nuts” was certainly a fantastic debut to this new series – a series that I am looking forward to reading more of in the near future.

The Verdict:

My Review At A Glance
Writing Style
Story Flow and Pacing
Overall Impact
Character Development
Heat/ Sexual Tension
Overall:	4 / 5

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About Alice Clayton

Alice Clayton is a novelist with an unholy love for her KitchenAid mixer. Making her home in St Louis, she enjoys gardening but not weeding, baking but not cleaning up afterwards, and is trying desperately to get her long time boyfriend to make her an honest woman. Hi sweetie!!

After working for years in the cosmetics industry as a makeup artist, esthetician, and national educator for a major cosmetics company, Alice picked up a pen (read laptop) for the first time at 33 to begin a new career, writer. Combining her love of storytelling with a sense of silly, she was shocked and awed to be nominated for a Goodreads Author award in 2010 for her debut novels, The Redhead Series.

Alice has penned three novels, The Unidentified Redhead,The Redhead Revealed, and coming soon in November 2012, Wallbanger. She thinks you should purchase them immediately. She’s not kidding, not even a little bit. Everyone needs some comedic erotica in their lives. She is hard at work on the third book in The Redhead Series, set to release in Spring of 2013, continuing the saucy and sexual escapades of everyone’s favorite couple, Jack and Grace.

Additionally, Alice loves spending time with her besties on Not Your Mother’s Podcast, make sure you check them out at notyourmotherspodcast.com or over on iTunes. 3 women rushing towards their forties still acting like teenagers. A saucy little mix of sex, love, relationships, pop cultural, celebrity gossip and All Things Jake Ryan.

Alice enjoys pickles, Bloody Mary’s, 8 hours of sleep, and a good pounding.

Finally Alice would also like all her readers and listeners to help her convince Mt. Alice that the only other thing that would make her truly happy is finally bringing home a Bernese Mountain Dog. She is totally serious. And done talking about herself in the third person…

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