New Release & Review: ★Nuts★ by Alice Clayton

Nuts
Series: Hudson Valley #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Alice Clayton
Release Day: October 20, 2015

The New York Times bestselling author of Wallbanger and Rusty Nailed is back with Nuts, the first in a brand new series set in New York’s beautiful Hudson Valley.

Roxie Callahan is a private chef to some of Hollywood’s wealthiest, and nastiest, calorie-counting wives. After a dairy disaster implodes her carefully crafted career in one fell ploop, she finds herself back home in upstate New York, bailing out her hippie mother and running the family diner.

When gorgeous local farmer Leo Maxwell delivers her a lovely bunch of organic walnuts, Roxie wonders if a summer back home isn’t such a bad idea after all. Leo is heavily involved in the sustainable slow food movement, and he likes to take his time. In all things. Roxie is determined to head back to the west coast as soon as summer ends, but will the pull of lazy fireflies and her very own Almanzo Wilder be enough to keep her home for good?

Salty. Spicy. Sweet. Nuts. Go on, grab a handful.

I’ll see you around, I’m sure.”
“It’s a small town. Maybe you’ll show up at my backdoor with your nuts again.”

Adorably quirky, laugh out loud funny, and deliciously sexy, Nuts was the perfect escape read I’ve had in quite a while. Alice Clayton just gets better and better with each new book, but she simply outdid herself with this one. If the Nuts is anything to go by, we have quite a bit to look forward to in Alice’s new Hudson Valley series.

The eyes and the hair were a package deal, the hair was falling across his eyes in a careless way that said “Hey, girl. I’ve got peas on my shoes, but who cares, because I’ve got these eyes and this hair, and it’s pretty fucking great.”

Roxie Callahan is a celbrity chef in hollywood catering to the rich, famous and the entitled. She loves to cook…dealing with some of her clients? Not so much. So when an unfortunate butter incident costs her almost most of her clients, suddenly her kooky mother’s request for her to come back to the town she grew up in and run the restaurant while she’s away doesn’t sound so bad. Then a certain bearded farmer changes her outlook on the small town entirely…

You didn’t really bring me beets, did you?”…
“I did,” he murmured, his thumbs sliding underneath my T-shirt the tiniest bit. “I brought mad beets.”
“Oh man…Did you bring me anything else?”
He brought his face back to mine, tinged with the slightest of blush. “I hesitate to say it now.”
“What did you bring?” I asked, shaking his shoulders.
He buried his head once again into my neck. “A really big zucchini…”

And you know what the best part is? The entire book is filled with witty humorous dialogue like that. I must have read the entire book with a goofy smile on my face. My cheeks hurt I was grinning so much. Leo and Roxie together was pure gold. There’s enough sexual tension to truly make things sizzle. Alice Clayton definitely gives some good sexual tension. There’s just enough sexy to appease even the biggest pervies like me, but without being so much that it takes away from the book. It was the perfect balance of romance and humor.

It was also a refreshing change to get a heroine that’s the commitment phobe instead. Roxie is a strong, career oriented woman that’s not afraid to admit what she wants without any shame.

Pin 1. Don’t get involved.
Pin 2. Enjoy the penis. Engage no other organ,
Pin 3. Attachments are for suckers. See also Mom.
Pin 4. Falling in love sucks.

In addition to the fantastic secondary characters, the wit and the humor, the setting of the book is what really hooked me. The author did such a fabulous job truly engrossing the reader in this wonderful town. I couldn’t help but be transported there myself as I was reading it.

Rocie is probably one of my favorite heroines I’ve read in quite a while. And it has nothing to do with the fact that she shares my unreasonable fear of bees. They really are assholes. But everything to do with her quirky personality. All the characters in this book were so well developed that even the secondary characters jumped out at you in vivid clarity. The writing was simply luscious.

In a shell, this book was fantastic! If you’ve loved any of this author’s previous titles, you’re pretty much guaranteed a win with this one. I can’t wait for the next one in this series. Fingers crossed it’ll be the grouchy Oscar.

Are those nuts in your pocked, or you just glad to see me?”
“Both.”