Book Review: Yours to Keep by Shannon Stacey

Title: Yours to Keep
Series: Kowalski Family, #3
Author: Shannon Stacey
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetGalley
Published: June 2011 by Carina Press

Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he’s recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiancé. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother’s upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn’t like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma’s offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there’s no chance he’ll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he’s not planning to call home.

Emma’s not interested in a real relationship either; not with a man whose idea of home is wherever he drops his duffel bag. No matter how amazing his “pretend” kisses are…

Why I Read this Book: How could I not read this book? I love this series!

What I Liked: I loved the set-up between Emma and Sean. Emma’s scheme was a crazy idea but the author made it work. They’re faking a relationship (an engagement) to ease Emma’s overly worried Grandmother. Emma doesn’t want her Gram to worry about her; she just wants her Gram to enjoy her retirement in Florida. I think it was sweet of Sean to help Emma out. And it just so happens that there’s chemistry between Sean and Emma.

I’ve come to realize that I really enjoy romance novels where there’s a secondary romantic story arc going on. It gives me something else to focus on in addition to the main storyline and main hero and heroine. It’s kind of like getting a twofer. The secondary story arc revolving around Gram was tender and sweet and I enjoyed reading about her.

I love that I got to see a bit of Joe and Keri and Kevin and Beth. I love catching up with previous characters. And the family edition of the ‘Newlywed Game’ had me laughing out loud.

I loved Sean’s post-it note messages.

The whole “magical penis” thing was hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing every time it was mentioned.

“You’re thinking about my magic penis again, aren’t you?”

Yours to Keep is the 3rd book in this series, however, you can definitely read each book as a stand alone. But why would you want to miss out on the other stories? You don’t, trust me.

What I Didn’t Like: The ending was a bit rushed. I would have liked things between Sean and Emma to have gone a little more slowly with an epilogue at the end.

Overall Impression: Yours to Keep was my 2nd favorite book of this series so far (the first book, Exclusively Yours, being my absolute favorite). It was a cute and sweet romance read. The author made me laugh, she made me cry and she made me swoon. I cannot wait for more books in this series!

Brianna’s Rating: