Author: Fiona West
Series: Timber Falls, #4
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Steam: 🔥
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Single Parent, Small Town, Slow Burn
Release Date: November 9th, 2020
Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)
Synopsis: Wanted: renter for rural Oregon mountain lodge. Single mom divorcees named Starla preferred.
Starla Moore despises a mystery, and there’s no bigger mystery than Sawyer Devereaux. He comes into the library on Thursdays like clockwork, but rarely talks to anyone else. Not that she despises him; after all, he’s easy on the eyes, quick-witted, and that Southern accent makes her swoon. But in the midst of a divorce, her only romance is the bookish kind. Worst of all, crashing with her bestie won’t be an option soon, especially since her final fling with her husband had one very specific unintended consequence…
Regaining consciousness with his head in the cute librarian’s lap was a rude awakening; Sawyer thought his health problems were under control. Sans driver’s license, there’s no way he can live in his little cabin alone…or keep up with the anonymous book donations he’s been leaving to make Starla smile. When he finds out she’s struggling financially, he proposes a trade: his housing for her driving. Surely he can keep his feelings a secret for a few more months…
He’s given up on his dreams; she’s just figuring hers out. When the rumors start, will it push these two misfits together…or drive one of them out of Timber Falls for good?
Review: From the minute I stumbled across the Timber Fall series by Fiona West, I have been heavily invested in the lives of these incredible people. And the fourth book brought me to tears! I loved Starla from the first mention of her and then when we got to see more of her in Kyle and Ainsley’s book, I knew that she was going to be my absolute favourite. Pair her with Sawyer and I was a goner. Gosh, this book. It might just be my favourite of all the Timber Falls books so far and we’ve got more coming! Which just makes me that much more excited for the rest of the gang.
“She’d gotten more than she’d bargained for, and she wouldn’t give it up for anything.”
Starla’s finally gotten out of her marriage and with her two kids, she’s trying to make sense of her life and make it all work out the right way. She’s struggling, obviously. This whole time, she’s had financial support from Charlie, but now that’s gone too and she’s just trucking along. She’s constantly late to work, she’s wrangling the kids and dealing with Charlie and then Starla’s also got this book fairy to uncover – poor woman has so much on her plate! But she’s so damn amazing. Let’s not forget about her Star Wars obsession, because honestly, that just makes her that much more endearing. Starla’s also really proud and stubborn and doesn’t want to take help from anyone unless it’s absolutely necessary, so she’s obviously just pushing herself to her limit.
Sawyer, Sawyer, Sawyer. Does he come to life if I say his name thrice? Apparently not. Sawyer is so great. He’s an emotional character and not afraid to shed a few tears. Once a doctor, now he’s taken a step back because of a diagnosis and he’s focusing on fixing up motorcycles in the garage of his cabin in the woods. While he’s a Timberite, he’s happy living far away enough from town to avoid all the gossip and the rumours, but close enough to be near his family. Sawyer is amazing, even without the emotional side of him. He’s charming and funny and great with kids, plus he’s so handsome and attractive, it’s almost impossible to not feel something more for him just by being in his presence. And his love for Starla is just so….beautiful.
“Can’t be. I wasn’t going to fall in love again.”
“You say that like you had a choice.”
“Love is always a choice.”
As with all of Fiona’s books, More Than We Bargained For is a closed-door romance, but it doesn’t even make you miss the sex because the characters are so brilliantly written and their interactions are all so spectacular, that you focus on those things and not everything else. Sawyer and Starla have the slowest of burns, and it’s not like everybody else doesn’t know something is going on, it just takes them that much longer to make those moves. But once they share that first kiss, everything just skyrockets and watching them fall in love is truly the most brilliant thing ever. Then again, the entire book has them falling in love, it’s that one moment where everything shifts for them that makes it that much more beautiful.
I liked how a lot of the sensitive topics were tackled, including Charlie’s indiscretions and Sawyer’s illness. Did I wish we could see more of Sawyer dealing with his illness, yes. But somehow whatever we got fit so well into the story that it was emotional enough.
“You make me feel better, even when I feel lousy. Having you around. Seeing you smile. Touching you . . . I mean, the touching, that’s new, but I’m finding it addictive already.”
The second half of the book had me in tears. Sawyer has some of the best lines and honestly, I wish I could quote all of them here because that would just make you more aware of how brilliant this book is. Fiona West has done it again with another Timber Falls book and now I can’t wait for the rest!
Thanks to Fiona West and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
anna reads here 