White Whiskey Bargain

This was unexpectedly delightful in the best way - I don't read a lot of contemporary romance where the characters are mafia/motorcycle club/various “sexy” members of the underworld, but I picked this book up a while ago when it was free for Kindle and it was a perfect fit for bingo this year. There's not a whole lot of focus on the bootlegger drama, and when it does take more of the plot later in the book it's resolved fairly quickly and without a lot of angst. Though Javier does beat up and kidnap a couple of the bad guys, and there's a big battle/brawl/showdown at the end that culminates in Hannah holding the big bad at gunpoint, if any of that is a problem.

Most of the book is Javier and Hannah getting to know each other and Hannah coming into her own as the leader of the Hawkins organization. There's really not a lot of conflict between Hannah and Javier, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, so I wouldn't call this anything like enemies-to-lovers, more like rivals-to-lovers? I would've liked to see a bit more of the character's lives or relationships aside from the arranged marriage - the two scenes where Javier runs into his ex at the store and Hannah visits the basement beauty parlor with her sister and friend were great, and I wish there was a little more about each of those relationships, especially about what went wrong in Javier's first marriage, which was a little underdeveloped to me. Having said all that, this was a lot of fun and extremely sexy. Even though settings like this aren't quite my thing, I'm definitely keeping an eye out for this author.

(2020 summer romance bingo: bootleggers. Would work for “there's only one bed” or ice cream as well.)

2.5 rounded up to a 3. Something about this book didn't quite come together for me. The last few books I've read have all been middling at best and I wonder if this has to do more with my mood than with the quality of the books I am reading. I may have to read an old favourite in order to recalibrate my reading senses.