Maggie Blackbird

Today, I’m hosting author Petie McCarty’s latest release Any Fin for Love, a contemporary romance.  Be sure to read my review.  And don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

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Title: Any Fin for Love
Series: N/A
Author: Petie McCarty
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 357 pages
Publication Date: November 28, 2022
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services

She could almost hear the fish laughing at her . . .

Blurb:  Cody Ryan’s father never missed fishing the annual Loon Lake tournament until his unexpected passing. So this year, Cody packs up her how-to fishing videos and her dad’s old johnboat and gives him one final entry.

Gage Connor needs some R&R away from his coast guard deployment catching drug smugglers along the Louisiana coast, so he borrows a bass boat from his buddy and heads to Loon, Alabama to do some fishing.

When Gage and Cody meet at Loon Lake, their attraction is immediate and intense—until the two discover there is only one boat slip left on the lake and they both need it, and there’s only one vacant hotel room left in Loon and they both want it. Thus, their competition begins. Both vow to keep their distance from the other to fight the temptation, but fate has other plans. The tournament pairing party picks the two-man teams and chooses Gage as Cody’s partner.

For two days.
Alone on a boat.
Working as a team.

Good things come to those who bait . . .

Goodreads | Amazon

Double damn!

Gage looked over Lila’s head and saw Cody stomping toward the dock, a big Igloo cooler in her arms, fire in her eyes, and steam escaping from her ears. Okay, no steam, but she looked mad enough for some. He swallowed hard and tried to pry Lila’s arms free, but she was having none of that.

“Now you just hold still, cutie patootie,” she drawled, “and let little ole Lila give you my special good-luck hug.” She crushed her barely-covered breasts against his abdomen, causing the neckline on her tank top to droop almost to her navel.

Cody had reached the dock and stomped so hard he could feel the vibration in the boards. Her glare could singe the fins off an alligator gar, and Gage had Lila stuck to him like a tick. He was a sitting duck.

Cody looked even madder now than when she left to get the rest of her gear, which could only mean . . .

Wait a minute! She’s jealous.

Of Lila.

Cody’s glare deepened upon final approach.

And Gage grinned for real.

Zeke Tumson, my ass. She likes me.

He stopped trying to struggle free of Lila and waited for Cody to get to the boat and the fireworks to begin. Lila felt his struggle cease and snuggled in closer, rubbing every inch of her breasts against his gut, then laying her cheek on his chest. A week ago, Lila’s antics might have elicited a very pronounced and noticeable reaction. Today—he glanced down to check—nothing. His gaze shot to Cody steaming down the dock. Had she done this to him?

“Mmmm,” Lila cooed and squiggled her body again, “good luuuuck.”

Cody marched mere steps away. When Lila purred, Cody hesitated for a heartbeat, made a sharp left, stepped down into the johnboat, and proceeded to hook up her livewell.

Gage waited a five-count, but Cody kept her head down and fooled with the tubing attached to the cooler. He knew he had to move. If he didn’t, Lila would be in his shorts any second.

Maybe he should let . . .

Nope, bad idea.

Cody would push him overboard later, then drive off and leave him. Heck, she may already be planning that.

He cleared his throat to be sure Cody heard. “Thanks for seeing us off, Lila,” he said politely.

No reaction from Cody.

“I didn’t come to see her off,” Lila sniped. “Just yooouu,” she cooed and rubbed her breasts against his gut again.

Cody missed it. She never looked up.

“All right, you get on back to your registration table, and let me get to my fishing.” Gage took Lila’s shoulders and physically set her back.

Still ignoring him, Cody finished with the livewell and picked up a fishing rod.

Lila batted her eyelashes. “I’ll be waiting when you get back, sugar. What say we have dinner tonight?”

No way would he answer that question. He just smiled and stuck a foot out to step down in the johnboat at the same instant Lila hooked her finger in his belt loop to tug him back.

Too late, Gage saw the butt end of Cody’s rod push off on the dock cleat, and the johnboat shot back the full three feet of loose bow and stern line.

His sneaker stepped into thin air, and he dropped like a rock.

Gage hit the water at an angle, and Lila followed him in, her finger still hooked in his belt loop.

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I love fishing, and just like in the novel, my small town hosts an annual bass tournament, so the blurb was an easy “I want to read and review.”  The author didn’t disappoint.  This is a great read with plenty of fun, romance, suspense, and even heartache, all wonderfully written by the author.

The heroine Cody has lost her father, and he used to participate in the bass tournament every year.  To honour his memory, Cody takes the plunge, even though her fishing has been mostly watching the bass TV show.  And she wonders if she’s in over her head.

Gage, taking a break from the coast guard, borrows the boat of a man he considers a father, so he can enter the tournament.  Little does he know not only will he encounter someone unexpected, but he also meets Cody when the two fight over a hotel room and a slip spot for their boats.  Not the best way to bump into someone you’re attracted to LOL.

Oh yes, and there are some baddies who want something hidden in Gage’s bass boat.

There are also the local town folk who are either cheering on Gage and Cody, or against them.

The story is a hoot, along with the plot.  The writing is awesome.  The author has a great voice that pulled me in from the start.  She uses this voice to create strong characters with interesting backgrounds.  She also creates wonderful secondary characters and knows how to dial back lest they become caricatures.  And she gives us some great bass fishing out on the lake.  I visualized it as a small lake with the way people kept bumping into each other.

I can’t say enough about the dialogue and the author’s use of deep POV.  She really brought the characters to life with how naturally they spoke, argued, hemmed, and loved.

The theme is trust, and Cody and Gage have big issues with this small word.  Their arcs are well executed as they learn if they don’t tackle this problem, they can look at losing out on something special.

The ending is true suspense that brings Cody and Gage working together.

It’s a great read that I recommend.  Be sure to get yourself a copy.

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Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World—”The  Most Magical Place on Earth”—where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said good-bye to her “day” job to write her stories full-time. These days Petie spends her time writing sequels to her regency time-travel series, Lords in Time, and her cozy-mystery-with-romantic-suspense series, the Mystery Angel Romances.

Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband and an opinionated Nanday conure named Sassy who made a cameo appearance in No Angels for Christmas.

Visit Petie’s website online at http://www.petiemccarty.com or her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/petie.mccarty.

Follow Petie:  Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon

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