Riley Walsh has spent a lifetime flying under the radar.
One woman -- and a wild weekend -- is about to change everything.
One woman -- and a wild weekend -- is about to change everything.
PRESERVATION
The Walshes #7
Kate Canterbary
Released June 13, 2017
Vesper Press
Two lonely hearts.
Just once, she'd like
to be someone's first choice.
She's strong-willed
and spunky, but she's left picking up the pieces from her ex's lies and
manipulations, and daydreaming about taking a scalpel to his scrotum.
Flying under the radar
is what he does best.
He's laid-back and
loyal, but he wants the most off-limits woman in his world, and nothing will
ever make that a reality.
An arrangement of
mutual benefit.
Two months, four
dates.
Five, if things go
well.
Five at the most.
But possibly six.
Definitely no more
than six dates.
Only the appearance of
a romantic relationship is required, and they expect nothing more from their
time together. There will be none of those
benefits involved.
One wild weekend.
After waking up in bed
together—very naked and even more hungover—the terms and conditions of their
arrangement no longer apply. Now they're faced with something riskier than
exposing their fake relationship:
letting go of the past and zipping up the future.
Some things have to
fall apart before they can be put back together.
PRESERVATION
excerpt – © 2017, Kate Canterbary
Riley
pointed at the plate between us. "These are my favorite pretzel
bites in the city. Try some."
I
shot him a sharp look. "Are you just trying to get me in a good
mood?" I asked. "I did
eat lunch today."
"Oh
yeah?" he asked, dipping two pretzels in the accompanying sauce.
"What did you have? Based on you yelling at me about noticing
your shoes, I'd say it was an iced venti skinny latte."
"Almonds,"
I replied. And an iced venti skinny latte but I wasn't copping to
that just yet.
Riley
tried to fight a laugh, and failed. "Almonds?" he repeated.
"Chocolate
covered almonds, yes." I folded my arms across my chest. "It
was an appropriate amount of calories, fat, protein, and carbs."
He
shook his head and ate another pretzel. "I don't want to live in
a world where a few almonds—chocolate or otherwise—are lunch."
He pointed to the plate and pushed his beer toward me. "Eat.
Drink. Please."
I
glared at the pilsner and pretzels. I hated being told what to do.
Just fucking hated it. But then my stomach growled—goddamn
it—and Riley shot me a pointed glance.
"People
think that a rumbling stomach is the sign of hunger," I said,
reaching for his glass. I drained the beer and then selected a
pretzel for dipping. "It is not."
Riley
gazed at me, his expression flat. It gave me a moment to study him
while choosing another pretzel. He was wearing jeans, a tailored
shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his elbows, and a pinstriped vest,
and his hair was a wreck. It looked like he'd been tugging the dark
strands in every conceivable direction. His eyes were rimmed with a
bit of red and his lids heavy, as if he'd been rubbing them or hadn't
gotten much sleep. Perhaps both. There was a small notebook beside
his phone, and a mechanical pencil tucked into the spiral binding.
And
he was still more attractive than I knew how to handle. Even tired
and irritable, and ordering me to eat his pretzels and drink his
beer, he was hot as fuck. I bit into another pretzel and offered him
a small smile.
"Would
you say the chip on your shoulder is massive or epic?" he asked.
There was no hint of amusement in his tone, and he was staring at me
with more ice than I'd believed he could muster. It didn't feel like
we were sniping at each other anymore. "It might be semantics to
you but I'm trying to get a feel for what I'm dealing with here."
But
then one of his big hands found my leg under the table. He squeezed
and rubbed his thumb along the hollow of my knee, and I started to
believe I'd been all wrong about this man. There was the player and
there was the overgrown kid, but there was so much more than that.
5 Stars
Preservation is the seventh title in The Walshes series, and features the second youngest sibling Riley in his search to find love. I really didn't think Riley's story would top the previous books in this series, as I have loved each and every one, but I was wrong and Kate Canterbary knocked it out of the ball park.
Riley otherwise known as RISD, is clumsy, a bit of a klutz, at times he's socially awkward, accident prone, often with food adorning his clothes and has a tendency to have his fly unzipped. He's also loyal, caring, loving and quite brilliant in his role in the family architectural firm.
The lady that captures Riley's heart is strong, intelligent, impressive and very intense.
This pairing of characters are complex, unique, endearing and completely intriguing. They both are quite vulnerable, and have perceived deficiencies, that cause them to struggle to live up to not only the expectations others place on them, but the ones they place on themselves. They are perfect for each other, although in some ways they are quite opposite, in others they have are incredibly similar and complement each other beautifully.
I adored the banter that this pair share throughout the story line. Whether it was in person, or their favored form of communication,text messages, that had me continually laughing out loud.
If you are a fan of this series, you will be invested in this family and thoroughly enjoy seeing them all appear throughout the story line. I loved that Riley and his lady love's story is told from a dual perspective and we once again, have the opportunity to understand their thought processes.
Preservation is a heartfelt romance full of emotion and humor, a story of friendship and family and above all love. This story had me both in laughter and tears, and I cannot recommend this title and this series enough to anyone who loves contemporary romance, and in particular a series of titles that are interconnected and continue with each additional title. The Walshes have put Kate Canterbary up their as one of my all time favorite authors, and I will be eagerly anticipating her next title, that I am sure will once again highlight her special brand of sass, wit and humor.
Riley otherwise known as RISD, is clumsy, a bit of a klutz, at times he's socially awkward, accident prone, often with food adorning his clothes and has a tendency to have his fly unzipped. He's also loyal, caring, loving and quite brilliant in his role in the family architectural firm.
The lady that captures Riley's heart is strong, intelligent, impressive and very intense.
This pairing of characters are complex, unique, endearing and completely intriguing. They both are quite vulnerable, and have perceived deficiencies, that cause them to struggle to live up to not only the expectations others place on them, but the ones they place on themselves. They are perfect for each other, although in some ways they are quite opposite, in others they have are incredibly similar and complement each other beautifully.
I adored the banter that this pair share throughout the story line. Whether it was in person, or their favored form of communication,text messages, that had me continually laughing out loud.
If you are a fan of this series, you will be invested in this family and thoroughly enjoy seeing them all appear throughout the story line. I loved that Riley and his lady love's story is told from a dual perspective and we once again, have the opportunity to understand their thought processes.
Preservation is a heartfelt romance full of emotion and humor, a story of friendship and family and above all love. This story had me both in laughter and tears, and I cannot recommend this title and this series enough to anyone who loves contemporary romance, and in particular a series of titles that are interconnected and continue with each additional title. The Walshes have put Kate Canterbary up their as one of my all time favorite authors, and I will be eagerly anticipating her next title, that I am sure will once again highlight her special brand of sass, wit and humor.
Kate Canterbary doesn't have it all figured out, but this is what she knows for sure: spicy-ass salsa and tequila solve most problems, living on the ocean--Pacific or Atlantic--is the closest place to perfection, and writing smart, smutty stories is a better than any amount of chocolate. She started out reporting for an indie arts and entertainment newspaper back when people still read newspapers, and she has been writing and surreptitiously interviewing people—be careful sitting down next to her on an airplane—ever since. Kate lives on the water in New England with Mr. Canterbary and the Little Baby Canterbary, and when she isn't writing sexy architects, she's scheduling her days around the region's best food trucks.
