Take Your Time

3.75 Stars. This is the third and finale book in A Pine Cone Romance series. For anyone who doesn’t know, all the books in this series are by different authors. I have to admit I was a little worried how this book would be. I felt like book 2 gave away some spoilers for this story. Luckily, Powell writes really well and even knowing what would happen, I found myself sucked into this story. This was better than I expected and I enjoyed it. The way these books are written, you could read this book without reading the others first. <br /><br />This series is about three best friends that live in small town Pine Cone Georgia. This book stars police officer Grace and new vet Dani. Grace is a sweetheart but has always been unlucky in love. When she meets the new vet she can’t help her attraction, but Dani is giving many mixed signals. Dani has had a hard life and is in Pine Cone only for her job. She misses the city and just wants to go back to Baltimore. Can two women with such differences have the chance at a relationship, or is Grace destined to be heartbroken again? <br /><br />This book starts off around the same time as book 1, maybe even a little earlier, and then it continues past where the second book ended. Because of that there are some scenes that you have already read (if you read the previous books) but this time it’s through Grace or Dani’s POV. Book 2 did the same and because of that it felt a little repetitive. While there is some repetition again, most of the scenes I felt you learned new things. For instance maybe the scene would start the same but Grace would leave the room, so you learn about new things happening that you missed in other books. I hope I’m explaining this since it’s a little confusing if you have not read any of these books. My point, Powell handled writing familiar scenes better than Leigh (author of book 2) did. I didn’t find myself bored reading scenes I had actually read three times already.<br /><br />What also made this book work for me was Grace. Grace is the most likeable out of the three original best friends. She is just so damn likeable. And she is also smart and most of the time acts like a normal person should. She is not full of drama or stupidity. She is just a nice, kind character. Dani on the other hand can be a PITA. It took me a while to warm up to her. She causes a little too much angst for my liking. Way to much push/pull. Luckily her character evolves in the book and I found her deserving of Grace. <br /><br />Another plus was the romance. While it was the annoying push/pull, “yes we can”, “no we can’t be together” kind it still had really good chemistry. The sparks and heat were there and believable. While I’m not really a fan of romances where the claim that “we can’t be together” doesn’t really have that great of a reason, I totally fell for these two as a couple anyway. Even the sex scenes were pretty well done. <br /><br />For me this was much more enjoyable than book 2 was. It was a good romance and even summed up the series nicely for all the characters. If you are new to the series, you could actually start here. Powell writes the other characters well enough I don’t think you would be lost. If you enjoyed either book 1 or 2, I think you will be happy with this one. This book was a good reminder that I need to go read more of Powell’s back catalog of books.<br /><br /><i>An ARC was given to me by BSB for a honest review.</i>

Review of 'Take your time' by V.K. Powell.<br /><br />This book is part of the 'Pine Cone romance' series by three different authors: 'Take my hand' by Missouri Vaun, 'Take a chance' by D. Jackson Leigh and 'Take your time' by V.K. Powell. This series follows the lives of three friends: Clay, Trip and Grace in the small town of Pine Cone, Georgia.<br /><br />There are series written by an author that usually need to be read in chronological order, series of standalone novels by different authors under a common theme, and the 'Pine Cone romance' series which is a bit peculiar. In this series the three different authors decided to create three romances (one in each book) but with the three stories overlapping. For example, if the three friends share a scene, it will appear in all three books but with a different point of view. D. Jackson Leigh says in her acknowledgements that it was arduous to write. Well, sometimes it's also arduous to read. I personally found some issues, one is that after reading the first book (whichever the order) the reader has sometimes a sense of deja vu, a feeling of having read that before because... they read it in the previous book. It works fine in some scenes as it gives other characters' perspectives but in other cases it is tedious. Also, some events that overlap in the books give information that act as spoilers for the other books' stories which is a bit annoying. Finally, I found that there are a number of unresolved secondary plots which are main plots in the other books, so in order to grasp the full story, you need to read all the series. So I guess readers can rate each book separately but also the series as a whole. Due to these problems appear throughout the series, you'll see some of my comments repeated in the other reviews.<br /><br />'Take your time' is the story of Grace Booker, a police officer in Pine Cone who is left with a parrot who hates her. When she takes the bird to Dani Wingate, a local vet, there is an undeniable mutual attraction. But Dani is a city girl staying in Pine Cone temporarily and she's not looking for anything serious. Will their initial chemistry have any future?<br /><br />This is a slow burn romance with very little action on the side. The author is a retired police officer and she normally writes crime novels so I was expecting more action. However, I understand the restrictions of writing a story with other two authors. The characters are well portrayed in their rights and wrongs but I personally couldn't feel much chemistry. The final chapters seemed a bit rushed and one of the crimes is left unsolved. All in all, the funny moments, specially with a very peculiar parrot, worked better than the serious ones.<br /><br />Now that I've read the whole series, my overall rating is 3.5 stars. It's an interesting writing experiment that, in my opinion, didn't work that well in the execution.<br /><br />Overall, an ok read though I recommend to read the rest of the series in order to fill in the gaps in the story. 3.5 stars.<br /><br />ARC provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.<br /><br />See all my reviews at<br /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.lezreviewbooks.com">www.lezreviewbooks.com</a>

<b>What's it going to take to get me to love a lesfic book? No, seriously tell me because I'm getting desperate here...</b><br /><br />Ugh, I wish I liked <i>Take Your Time</i>, I really do, but it just wasn't working for me. I know there must be awesome lesbian romance out there but it's really hard to find. <br /><br />In all fairness, contemporary romance is typically my hardest genre. This book was a contemporary small-town romance, which can be tricky to pull off. <br /><br />My issues with <i>Take Your Time</i> was pretty much twofold. For one, I thought that it was sloooow. I mean, just plain boring at times. There wasn't enough action or adventure in the first part of the story to grab me and I found my mind wandering while I was trying to read. For the first 40%, the most exciting thing that happens is that a parrot starts freaking out and yelling cop slurs at Grace. <br /><br />Dani, on the other hand, was irritating. Like, really irritating. <br /><br />I was sick of Dani's negative, judgmental attitude by 15% in, and I didn't get what Grace saw in her (other than her body, I guess). Dani was flat-out rude to Grace during the whole beginning of the story, and then she just toyed with her emotions. It was off-putting. It got so bad that I wasn't even rooting for them as a couple. <br /><br />I read this book as a stand-alone, but it's pretty clear who the other two couples were. I couldn't figure out how this fit into the timeline, then I figured out that the stories overlap (I think?). It was a bit confusing with all of the people weaving in and out, but I made it work. I wish I got more of a sense of their physical traits as many of the characters blurred together for me. <br /><br />Overall, I don't think this was a bad story, but I don't think it's the one to turn me into a devoted lesfic reader. <br /><br />*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*<br /><br /><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13070326-heather-k-dentist-in-my-spare-time" rel="nofollow noopener">goodreads</a>|<a href="https://www.instagram.com/reading_all_night_long/" rel="nofollow noopener">instagram</a>|<a href="https://twitter.com/DentistHeatherK" rel="nofollow noopener">twitter</a>|<a href="http://www.myfictionnook.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">blog</a>

<b>Take Your Time (A Pine Cone Romance #3)</b> was the third book of a three part series about three friends living in the small city of Pine Cone, Georgia. I didn’t read the first, jumped in with part two and now see with part three how the authors set it up. Many of the key scenes of book 2 were repeated all be it shown from a different point of view. It still made for a lot of repetition though.<br /><br />Take Your Times centers around Pine Cone local cop <b>Grace Booker</b> and her dealings with dr. prickly pear <b>Dani Wingate</b>, the new vet. I liked Grace a lot better than dude-bro duo <b>Clay</b> and <b>Trip</b>. She was friendly, warm and relatable and it was a big mystery to me why she fell so hard for Dani.<br /><br />Because yes, Dani had a troubled past and I can understand that motivates certain behavior in the present, but she was a very unsympathetic character all throughout the book. Her epiphany came only after she burned a whole truckload of bridges behind her. By then I almost wished for Grace to move on and find her happiness with anyone else but the yankee vet.<br /><br /><b>V. K. Powell’s</b> style suited me a bit better than <b>D. Jackson Leigh</b>. It was less sentimental and gave more focus on the relationship, although Leigh gave me much more Southern flavor and incorporated the humor of the people of Pine Cone more. <br /> <br />f/f explicit<br /><br />Themes: it was pretty obvious to me why <b>Dirty Harry</b> didn’t like Grace, I could just not warm up to Dani at all, all that hot and cold behavior was off putting to me, not my favorite kind of romance to read.<br /><br />3.4 stars<br /><br />* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bold Strokes Inc. for an honest review.

<i>I received an ARC of this book from Bold Strokes Books and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.</i><br /><br />This is the conclusion of a three book series, each book written by a different author, and all three books set during the, roughly, same period of time. The difference in all three books is which specific characters are the lead characters.<br /><br />The first book in the series, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37793482-take-my-hand" rel="nofollow noopener">Take My Hand</a> by Missouri Vaun, follows Pine Cone resident Clay Cahill, and Pine Cone visitor River Hemsworth. They meet when River accidentally drives into a hair salon while attempting to avoid driving into an illegally parked horse trailer – which I mention because the horse trailer belongs to Trip (star of book two in the series), who attempts to help her after the accident, and the police officer who talks with her is Grace Booker, star of book three. Clay is the tow-truck driver who drive up to pull the car away from the scene of the accident, and the second lead character of book one. <br /><br />The second book in the series, 'Take a Chance' by D. Jackson Leigh, follows Veterinarian Trip Beaumont and police officer Jamie Grant and her smelly dog. I've not read that one so I can't say more, though both of the characters appear in all three books. Which I can say since they star in book two, and I've read book one and three.<br /><br />The third book in this three book series is this book here. <br /><br />All three of the locals who match up with ‘outsiders’ are best friends. Trip and Clay are on the ‘butch’ side of things, while Grace is on the femme side. <br /><br />Of the ‘outsiders’, River is also femme, and Dani is androgynous. Jaime, the ‘other’ in book 2, is in other parts of this series, both in book 1 and 3, but, as I’ve not read book 2, I cannot ‘pigeon-hole’ her. <br /><br />Right, now that’s out of the way, this specific book here.<br /><br />Grace Booker is a sheriff’s deputy, the . . . a . . .well, she’s also some form of Sergeant. The book opens with her having to deal with the fact that her latest roommate has fled, leaving behind a freaking out parrot. Which is how Grace and the other main point of view character meet – Grace needs help and stops by the local Vet office, expecting to talk to her friend Trip, but she’s out. She has to, instead, ‘deal’ with Dr. Dani Wingate. I say ‘deal’ with because Dani has already come to a negative view of Grace, simply because she wears a cop uniform. It is one of many things the two will have to get over, in the course of the book, for the two to have a relationship.<br /><br />Dani, see, had ‘previously meet’ Grace when she was in a store. While there the store owner had grabbed and detained a youngster for shoplifting. Dani, while hiding her presence, watched as Grace handcuffed and lead the youngster away. What really happened, and yes what Dani saw wasn’t the whole story, wasn’t explained until after Dani witnessed Grace restraining a drunk man and leading him off. <br /><br />A cop being a cop, negative vibes being created in the watcher? Dani grew up in a poor neighborhood – her only interaction with the police was when they would come and ‘hassle’ the residents, once even destroying her food when they raided her parents place.<br /><br />The book unfolds with the two being interested in each other but having reasons to not pursue the other. Dani: Grace is a police officer and Dani doesn’t plan to stick around the small town. Grace: Grace just had one relationship (not really a relationship, but . . .) implode, and is still trying to get over a previous relationship that was an actual relationship in which Grace let her heart be open; plus Dani isn’t planning to stick around.<br /><br />Somehow or another, largely due to: 1) attempting to deal with the bird issues; 2) living in the same bed &amp; breakfast and therefore running into each other a lot – the two developed some kind of relationship.<br /><br />I liked the book; though felt that there was a little too heavy focus on sex for my own enjoyment. Ended up rating this one about a half star less, not for the sex, than the first book in this series. <br /><br />This is the first book I’ve read by this author and now I need to check some more out by them.<br /><br />Rating: 3.78<br /><br />July 24 2018

This is the last in the <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/series/233473-a-pine-cone-romance" rel="nofollow noopener">Pine Cone Romance series</a> and the story centres on Grace Booker, deputy sheriff, and Dani Wingate, a vet working for Trip. A little background first though: Each book in the series is written by a different author. The first, by <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/8433400.Missouri_Vaun" title="Missouri Vaun" rel="noopener">Missouri Vaun</a>, deals with Clay Cahill and the second by <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/3447277.D__Jackson_Leigh" title="D. Jackson Leigh" rel="noopener">D. Jackson Leigh</a> is about Trip Beaumont. Clay, Trip and Grace have been friends since childhood. The series runs concurrently for the most part so there are parts in the second and third books with some repetition where the stories overlap.<br /><br />Grace’s girlfriend of three months ups and leaves, taking all her stuff but leaving behind Dirty Harry, an African Grey parrot. Dirty Harry hates Grace so she takes him to Dani for some advice and assistance but Dani has already unfairly judged her. Dani is fairly new to Pine Cone having lost her job as a zoo vet in the city which, ideally, is where she’d rather be. Her experience with exotic animals is what made Trip hire her which is fortunate because her animal-skills are much better than her people-skills.<br /><br />Of the three friends, Grace is the character I liked the most. She’s easy-going, grounded and patient; patient enough for someone like Dani, who is closed with all defences up. Actually, in light of that, this is also the book I enjoyed the most in the series and a lot has to do with the type of characters Grace and Dani are. <br /><br />All three books can be read as stand-alone novels but if you’re going to read them as a series, give a reasonable amount of time between them so that the repetition is more a reminder of what happened previously.<br /><br /><i>Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.</i>

I felt a little robbed when I read this book. It is basically the same as the book before this one just with two different characters which you have already met in book two. In book two the characters are secondary although you are shown that they are interested ion one another.<br /><br />That may all sound confusing. But the book is done from two of the other characters view points but the story itself remains the same.<br /><br />It is an enjoyable story. I was glad I read it. I also thought in book two that Grace deserved to find someone special and she did.<br /><br />I would recommend this book. Its nice, Its sweet and its enjoyable. Enjoy!<br /><br />*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*<br />

I love Dirty Harry. Very entertaining. This is the third book in a series that was written by three different authors. I thought the premise of big city small town was written in such a way that it did not feel "been there, done that". A group of three women that grew up together and decided Pine Cone is the place for them. Clay Cahill was the focus of the first read. Trip Beaumont was the focus of the second read and Grace Booker is the focus of read three. The femme/butch characterization was sweet and bounded the three friends as they navigate day-to-day life and relationships. To some extent their behavior and reactions were over the top but in other ways, on point. Animal science, law enforcement, and art, how varied and interesting. I really enjoyed Grace's character and the introspective way she viewed life, her surroundings and relationships.<br /><br />ARC provided with thanks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc via NetGalley.

Take Your Time by VK Powell<br /><br />The last book in the A Pine Cone Romance series was excellent and I reckon VK Powell wrote the perfect book to round up the series. <br /><br />Dani Wingate is new in town and working in a small country Vet clinic. None of these factors are what Dani wants. She wants to go back to he big city and continue working at the zoo she loves but budget cuts have forced her hand. So why does the world tip on its axis every time deputy sheriff, Grace Booker is around? Especially when Dani despises cops. Grace is a small town girl and looking for love, something Dani is not looking for or ready for… So why does she feel so connected to Grace?<br /><br />On one hand I was glad to finally get the last book in the series but in the other, I am really heartbroken it’s over. These three books have such beautiful nuances in many ways but are completely different in other aspects. For one, each book is written by a different author but all the characters from each book are the same. And while each author is telling a different protagonists story, each time they are able to keep each of the personalities constant throughout. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when all three were plotting the stories out.<br /><br />This is the first VK Powell book I have reviewed and I am excited to see what else I can nab from her back catalogue… If you have suggestions throw them my way. <br /><br />Both Grace and Dani's characters are developed well and I was so excited to get to this book because they have had staring roles in the first two books and I was well and truly intrigued. I actually think this book had me hooked more than the first two because from the first book, Take My Hand by Missouri Vaun, I knew I wanted to know Dani and Grace's back story and I was pleasantly surprised. <br /><br />Grace for me was the star of the book, I think mostly because I feel like I am Grace in a lot of ways so when she done and said certain things I was very aware that my own response would be the same if not aligned. In saying that, I thought Dani was a bit of a stud and wouldn’t have minded chasing her around Pine Cove. When these two were able to lock the world out there was some really beautiful moments and I shouted at my kindle screen more than once, “Dani just let go” or “Dani you idiot”… Yes, I got more than a little caught up in the excitement of the Pine Cone Drama. <br /><br />I reckon if these are the sex scenes VK Powell can write then I have been missing out and I will definitely be checking out more because WOW! <br /><br />All in all… Fantastic!<br /><br />5 stars

This is the third book in the series and it's Grace's and Dani's story. I liked the first and second book, but this was my favorite from the series. I liked Grace's character from the first book itself and I was really looking forward to her story and it wasn't a let down. <br /><br />So Grace is the deputy sheriff of Pine Cone who is suddenly left to take care of a parrot left behind by her ex. The parrot hates her, so she has to seek help from Dani, who's the vet working with Trip. <br />The story moves along well and there are plenty of subplots which will keep you entertained. I liked how Dani's character developed. I think I may have underestimated this author, I mean I've read one book and I wasn't that impressed. She does a good job in regard to maintaining continuity with respect to the other books. And she writes sex scenes which are hot!<br /><br />Bottom line is, this series is a solid read and I would recommend it to everyone