BOOK REVIEW for "Cream and Punishment (King Family, #2)" by Susannah Nix

BOOK TITLE: Cream and Punishment

SERIES: King Family #2

AUTHOR: Susannah Nix

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

TROPES: Second Chance, Coworkers/Office Romance, Cinnamon Roll Hero, Small Town, Big Family

RELEASE DATE: January 18, 2022

~ BLURB ~

She’s not just my ex-girlfriend. She’s my new coworker.

I knew Lucy Dillard was The One the first time I met her. Yes, I’m enough of a sap to believe in love at first sight. When I fell for Lucy, I fell hard. Everything was great between us—until the moment she dumped me.

Now I just want to forget about her. Instead, I’m stuck staring at her face all day. But I need this job, so I’ll find a way to be civil and professional.

There’s just one small problem: I’m nowhere close to being over her.

First, we were lovers. Then enemies. Now we’re trying to work together.

I didn’t set out to break Tanner King’s heart, but you know what they say about the road to hell.

I’ve got too many responsibilities and no room in my life for love. I can deal with Tanner’s resentment until he starts working at the desk directly across from mine. Obviously, a truce of some kind is required. We’re both grownups. We can handle this situation like professionals.

There’s only one thing threatening this fragile peace we’ve negotiated: all these inconvenient feelings I apparently still have for him.

Cream and Punishment is book #2 in the King Family series set in the small town of Crowder, Texas, home of the King’s Creamery ice company. Each book is a standalone, full-length contemporary romance that follows one of the six King siblings as they find and fight for love.

~ BOOK REVIEW for Cream and Punishment ~

***(3) out of 5 Stars!

I'm not much of a fan of second-chance romance, but I must say that this one was pretty good. Of course, it was a lot more tolerable in this instance because the couple had only been broken up for six months (not the years seen in many of this type of story). And they hadn't broken up due to some huge transgression of either party, just one of them freaking out at how serious things were getting between them. Also, neither of them was with anyone else in the meantime.

I did have a hard time connecting with Lucy, especially at first. She was just so mean! And while I kind of understood her reasoning about not wanting to get too involved, I also thought it was a cop out. Not to mention how immature she was in handling many things, especially their initial breakup. Most of their problems could have been solved with some good communication.

Tanner, on the other hand, was a true gem! Despite some initial resentment at being forced to work with Lucy, and mostly because of her poor attitude toward him, he very quickly starts being as nice as can be to her, even when he doesn't think there is any chance they'll ever be together again. Once they decide to try things again at least to some extent, he is like the perfect boyfriend. Not sure that she deserved him, actually.

Something in her spoke to something in me, and just like that, I knew I loved her.

While they came from vastly different backgrounds and had different types of baggage they were carrying around, they both had HORRIBLE families! I mean, these were truly awful people. I cannot believe how much Lucy let her mother and brother take advantage of her for so long; and how gullible she was when it came to her mom especially. Tanner's father was a real piece of work as well, with no apparent redeeming qualities at all. Tanner did at least have some half-way decent siblings. (Of course, with there being 8 of them, you'd hope that somebody turned out good!)

When they both learn to finally start standing up for themselves and each other, that's when things really start getting good. (But before that, seriously, they would have been better off running away together to join the circus! LOL!)

And it's always fun to see characters from other books making guest appearances.

I can hardly wait to read the next installment to find out what happens to Tanner's brother Ryan...

I received a free eBook copy of this title from the author, and have willingly provided an honest review.

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AUTHOR BIO:

Susannah Nix is a RITA® Award-winning and USA Today bestselling author of rom-coms and contemporary romances who lives in Texas with her husband. On the rare occasions she's not writing, she can be found reading, knitting, lifting weights, drinking wine, or obsessively watching Ted Lasso on repeat to stave off existential angst.

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Website: http://www.susannahnix.com