4 ⭐
Disclaimer: I got an E-ARC in exchange from an honest review
This review contains mild spoilers

Loved my return to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island and was definitely ready to find out how Shucked our hero and heroine were.

From the second Sunny & Beck meet on page, when he storms over to her place of business, Naked Provisions, and demands her to stop setting up her flowerpots, it is an explosion of feeling and energy that makes it obvious they are meant to be together.

Beck & Sunny's love story is slow to start, minus all the arguing as foreplay, but once they come together, it is so emotionally satisfying that I am left unable to exist properly.

The cast of characters in Friendship are...something. Quite endearing. Love them to pieces but my goodness do they get in the way sometimes! Of course Sunny's friends and business partners are fantastic, and encouraging, but there was one cock block in particular who seemed to have a radar set for when Sunny & Beck were about to get close and pop up at that exact moment to distract them.

It felt like there was TOO MUCH going on in this book at times, as there was so much happening with Beck's personal life that it overshadowed some of Beck & Sunny's story.

In addition to that, I totally forgot at times there was Sunny's own subplot going on until things came to a head with the most unexpected villain.

This book very clearly leads into the 2nd book in the series, but I wish we had been able to wrap up more of Beck's family's subplot in this one because it feels like a hefty load to take into the follow up.

I also have to say that Beck is dealing with enough stress in this entire book hat I honestly have no idea how he survives without a major cardiac episode. Especially when we factor in him constantly worrying about Sunny and her management of her epilepsy.

Fave Parts: Every single time Beck calls Sunny "storm cloud," every single time Beck gets tingly when Sunny is mean to him, Leary, the doggy door (IYKYK), and Patrick's pineapple juice woes

Least Fave Parts: Dex, and The first time they have sex, because while delicious, I was immediately taken out of the scene because he was literally rolling around playing with her dogs and is said to be covered in dog hair is tries to brush off his clothes and there is no mention of any hand washing before he dives into her!

All in all, it was a very enjoyable book and I would recommend it to anyone.

Review cross posted on GoodReads

4⭐
*Thank you to the author for providing an e-arc in exchange for my honest review*

What's a little marriage of convenience with criminal activity, primal play and complicated family dynamics between friends?

Sal needs some protection after getting in slightly over her head and Devon needs a Green Card to stay in the US while he recovers from his injury, so why not help each other?

Sal & Devon's connection was interesting and it was obvious that the sexual attraction was on point from day one.

There was a bit of a push and pull between them that I'm not sure I enjoyed as much as I could have, but that's definitely because they both had walls up for almost the entirety of the book. Devon gave the illusion of openness and so it seems like Sal is the only person hiding in the dynamic, but we learn that is absolutely not the case.

It was surprising to learn more about Devon's backstory and I enjoyed those bits, though I wish they were fleshed out a bit more and spend time with his and his brother's people. Some of the Patois wasn't hitting the way it needed to but it was done mostly right.

The friendship between the women is always a high point but felt severely strained in some parts due to the Sal of it all. Sal is...a hard woman to get to know and to care for. She spends the majority of the book keeping everyone at arms length emotionally which is as a result of her family & relationship trauma (really girl, get some more therapy), but it made it more difficult to root for her. I appreciated her growth towards the end but she still has a long way to go for me.

Also can we talk about this part time receptionist who just be out here spilling people's private business cause she cannot read the damn room???

Girl...

When it came to the sex scenes and the kink, I really loved that.

I enjoyed the hentai, kink and primal play. We don't see this kind of play pop up enough in kinky Black romance if you ask me.

I felt overall that though the writing was solid in this book, that there were too many moving pieces happening at once. While everything came together/made sense in the end, I probably would have preferred to lose an element or 2 from this to make a more cohesive storyline.

Solid Book 2 in the Wicked Moves series

Review cross posted on GoodReads