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In honor of the second book in the Calamity, Montana series The Bluff being released next week, today I’m sharing my review of the first book, The Bribe. This was my second read of 2021 and I loved it!
Little Gold Book
The Bribe by Willa Nash
Genre: Romance
Date Started: January 9, 2021
Date Finished: January 9, 2021
Rating: 5/5 star
By Its Cover
Talk about a steamy cover! But don’t worry, this book isn’t all X-rated sex scenes. Although there are some, The Bribe centers on Lucy, a famous country music singer in hiding, and Duke, the sheriff of the small town in Montana that Lucy chose as her hiding spot. Chemistry burns between them instantly. As the romance between the two heats up, so does the mystery of what led Lucy to change her name and hide in Montana.
In My Book
The main characters, Duke and Lucy, start off with a meet-cute when Duke helps extricate Lucy and her BFF Everly from a herd of bison they encountered while hiking a trail in Montana. The spark between the two is instant and even though they depart without as much as a kiss, you know there’s going to be so much more between them. One of my favorite things about The Bribe is the chemistry between Duke and Lucy. It’s one thing to tell readers that the characters are attracted to one another; it’s a different thing entirely for a reader to be able to feel that connection leaping off the pages.
Pacing is something I often find off in romance books. It’s either too slow and drawn out or too fast and unrealistic. In this book, I thought the author Devney Perry did a great job of letting the relationship evolve between the main love interests. The lust was instant but the love was built on a strong foundation.
I enjoyed the conflicts in the story as well. There wasn’t just the main conflict of why Lucy was in hiding; there was also tension and disruption from Duke’s almost-stepson as well. This minor storyline kept the plot interesting as the major conflict developed, and the two intertwined for the climax of the book when Lucy came face-to-face with her stalker and would-be killer.
Perry laid out the foundation for a series set in Calamity, Montana quite nicely. By having the female lead be a newcomer to town, I got to explore the local attractions and meet the townsfolk through her eyes. I was introduced to the characters that would star in future books, but their presence didn’t take away from the story at hand – another complaint of mine for romance series!
To Close the Book
Instagram served me well by leading me to this book. Its sequel came up on my feed, as it’s the featured book in the February Bookish Box, who I follow on IG. As I pondered over whether to splurge on the box, I realized there was a first book of the series! Available on Kindle Unlimited, I downloaded The Bribe and read it in an afternoon. I loved it so much that I purchased a Kindle copy so I’d always have access. I’ve already pre-ordered the second book in the series!
One other thing to note – I haven’t talked about this yet because it just happened this month but I was (finally!) officially diagnosed with ADHD. I’m still wrapping my head around what that means for me, and I’ll be sure to share more about it in some personal essays in the future. What’s relevant here is that the day I read this book was my first time ever taking Adderall, which may have contributed to my ability to read a whole book in a day! I’m hoping this medication can help me focus on reading better – something I have struggled with a lot in recent years.
Check out my other reviews here.
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From one Wordo to another, thanks for tuning in! See you next time!
This post contains affiliate links. I may earn compensation should you choose to purchase through these links, at no cost to you.