Title: Neat
Author: Kandi Steiner
Genre: Romance
Edition/Pages: Ebook 316 pages
Goodreads page

I received and arc copy from the author via Social Butterfly PR in exchange for an honest review

Summary

Logan wants nothing to do with training the newest tour guide, Mallory Scooter. Mallory is the daughter of the owner and his family’s rival since the mysterious death of his father.

But Mallory isn’t at all like what he thought. She’s rebellious and wants nothing to do with her family’s legacy.

But falling in love is the last thing their families, or the town, will let them do.

“Do you think there’s a universe that exists where you could be mine?”

“Let’s make one.”

Overview

There were parts of this I absolutely adored! But there were also some things that deterred me from being able to fall in love with this story..

➸ POV – This is told in 1st person in alternating chapters from Logan and Mallory’s POV

➸ Logan Becker – 26, Senior Tour Guide at Scooter Whiskey, Becker brother and therefore troublemaker, Neat-freak

➸ Mallory Scooter – 26, Artist, Rebel, Newest tour guide and daughter of Scooter Whiskey

Content Warnings: Death of a parent, Sexism, Homophobia, Sexual Assault (underage)

What I Liked

➸ I still LOVE the Becker family. I feel like they are such an amazing example of a strong family unit and support system. I love the bond between all the brother’s and their bonds with their parents – especially their mother!

➸ While the mystery hasn’t exactly been surprising yet, I think it’s a fun addition to this series! I like that each of these can read as a standalone but still has an overarching story arc for readers who read the entire thing. Plus I’m a sucker for anything mystery-esque!

➸ Logan – adored him as a love interest!! He was such a unique male main character. I love that he was the soft one in the relationship. He never felt overly stereotypically-masculine but still read like a strong character. And who doesn’t love when main characters are avid readers?!

What I Didn’t Like

➸ I feel like the central conflict in this was apparent from the get-go and it was frustrating as a reader watching the main characters ignore and let it happen.

➸ But my biggest gripe with this, was the multiple occurrence of women-bashing. This is something I can’t stand in a book and unfortunately it occurred more than once (or even twice) from both the male and female character. I even highlighted some example because it just kept happening…

Logan:

“…showed me there were gems out there, women who were different, unique, fascinating… women I could talk to about something other than town gossip”

Mallory:

“I snorted, …there wasn’t a single girl in Stratford who I got along with.”

And my personal “favorite”….

“I’ll do a special event where basic bitches can paint a set [of champagne glasses] to take home for when they host brunch”

I just can’t get behind this kind of language toward an entire gender. It felt shallow to belittle all other women just push the fact that Mallory was so “different” and “edgy”. I get that this takes place in a small town and that their lifestyle may be different, but it still felt unnecessary to refer to women as “basic bitches”.

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Overall I love Kandi Steiner’s writing and her angst-filled romances! She knows how to pull on my heart-strings and have me swoon-ing by the end of the story. Unfortunately this wasn’t my favorite book of hers. I absolutely plan to continue this series though because I need more of the Becker brothers in my life.

♥♥♥♥