Book 953: Stronger Than Passion (Chesapeake Days #2) – Katherine McIntyre

Coming off Stronger Than Hope, I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to read the next one in the series. There were just enough little annoyances in it that I wasn’t convinced. However, when this landed in my inbox I thought why not give McIntyre another chance, see if the same issues showed up again.*

I called Nico being one of the protagonists of this book but had no clue who the second would be. We find ourselves with a classic enemies-to-lovers trope. Nico Shah, the owner and proprietor of the local town bar who is a one-night-stand only kind of guy, is forced to work with Hudson West, the pretty boy with a presumed-trust fund who runs the high-end classy restaurant of the town. They don’t get on because of numerous misunderstandings, but they slowly fall for each other as they work together.

This one was better but I’m not sure how much better, as there was no Beckett to carry this one forward 😀 I noticed that there was a copy editor and publisher listed on this one (small independent) and was like WHOA maybe McIntyre did try for a better read this time, but when I went back to Stronger Than Hope I found out that she had used them previously before . . . whomp whomp. I will say this one felt more polished and didn’t have an annoyingly repeated phrase and had far fewer errors for the most part. It felt like the proofreader/copy editor gave out toward the end of the story and more errors started to appear more regularly, but again this was not a final proof.

The romance in this one was good but could’ve been better. Most of the book is spent building a simmering heat between Nico and Hudson, but as soon as it explodes with a damn sexy make-out scene it started to plateau for me. Don’t get me wrong there were still a few good spikes of intensity and swoon-worthiness but it just didn’t keep building.

The sex scenes were well written with verse characters walking the walk and McIntyre did a great job writing from the two different perspectives throughout, but within the sex scenes, although looking back I think both were written from Hudson’s point of view so maybe not. A really good author will have you experience the same position from a different point of view and that gives you a lot of perspective.

The most swoon-worthy moment for me was after their final big fight and Nico running away yet again, which was the gift he gave Hudson. I’m not going to tell you what it is, but it was just so freakin’ adorable, and the way he presented it “look at it dumbass” perfectly summed up the sarcasm and joy and wit in their relationship. I really hope we get to see more of Nico and his mom in the next book because I 100% called the protagonists (Nico’s little brother Taran and his old player friend Silas), but I hope we don’t see Hudson’s family because they were all dicks, except his sister.

Recommendation: This was a definite improvement over Stronger Than Hope. It felt more polished and didn’t have as many things that irked me. Nico and Hudson were great characters and McIntyre took us through all the emotions in many scenes because of their contentious yet loving relationship. I hope we see more of them in the next (final?) novel in the series Stronger Than Longing which comes out later this year.

*I received a copy of Stronger Than Passion via Gay Romance Reviews in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “With the way this week had started out, Nico was two steps away from dousing the town in turpentine and tossing the match.”

Closing Line: “If he was lucky, maybe he’d get a lifetime.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)