Book 917: Lumber Jacked (Rainbow Cove #3) – Annabeth Albert

I snuck this one in on the flight home from Florida. I knew it would be a quick read, but I didn’t realize it was a novella even though it says it on the cover. FAIL.

Lumber Jacked features Johnny, the wood-providing lumberjack mentioned as a friend of Curtis in Tender with a Twist, and Cam, a makeup vlogger who returned to Rainbow Cove to help out his grandmother. Cam mistakes Johnny for a stripper his best friend might’ve sent after a bad day, and the story takes off from there.

The story takes place pretty quickly when they go from meeting to Johnny tying up Cam within a week, in a sex way, not a serial killer way. Albert did a great job describing these various scenes especially after giving a taste of this in Tender with a Twist, and the primary sex scene was really well done (as expected from Albert.

He looked like my lumberjack fantasies come to life again—blue plaid shirt that accentuated his eyes, sleeves rolled up to show off his meaty forearms, work boots and broken-in jeans. My gaze caught on that thick belt of his. Rope might be his deal, but I wouldn’t mind him lashing me to one of the wooden pillars in his great room with that strip of leather. (Loc. 592)

Where the novella fell short, and why I think Albert left it as a novella, was in character development. There wasn’t a lot about Cam and Johnny to absorb, their backstories, their plans for the future. They’re definitely mentioned and hinted at, but they just didn’t have the richness and depth that Albert’s characters and ultimately works usually have. I wonder if she started this one realized it wasn’t going to work, tied it up succinctly, and then put the series on hold for two years and then finished Hope on the Rocks.

Recommendation: This was an okay addition to Albert’s Rainbow Cove series. it’s not as strong as the first two books, and because it’s a novella didn’t have the depth and breadth of emotions her full-length works usually have. It didn’t detract from the series, but it also didn’t add much so it’s a take-it-or-leave-it for me. But another Albert book ticked off my list from her back catalog 😀

Opening Line: “Look. If Santa didn’t send me a lumberjack for Christmas—and I did ask—there simply aren’t any more single men who like cock left in Rainbow Cove.”

Closing Line: “Softly because I wasn’t about to ramp things up with his family feet away, but I tried to put as much love into it as he always did, tried to tell him that I too could see forever.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Lumber Jacked
“Despite my love of all things makeup, I didn’t identify as nonbinary, unlike Kess who had confidently rocked the they/them pronouns as long as we’d been friends. I also didn’t consider myself a drag queen—I knew plenty of those too and counted many of them as friends, but I didn’t have an inner queen as much as a deep love of color and transformation and everything femme and glam. However, this guy didn’t need to know all that.” (Loc. 87)

“I wanted to dismiss his words as sex talk, but the affection in his voice rang true, spoke to secret wishes deep inside me, places that had wanted something—someone—like him to cherish me. To be seen, really seen, for who I was and still wanted. It was almost too much to trust in, and as he followed through with untying me, I had to remind myself to breathe.” (Loc. 723)

“And I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I liked the way Cam crowded closer while I talked to Curtis. While not as social as me, he was generally friendly but could get a little shy in a crowd. And I liked that, liked that he saved all the sass for me, liked that there were parts of him that only I got to see. The public Cam on his makeup vlog was fun, but the private Cam was the one I loved. So, it was no hardship to wrap an arm around Cam and pull him close as Curtis told me about the cabin he and Logan were building.” (Loc. 995)