By Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer.
Rocky Start is a little town in the middle of nowhere that somehow crosses the boundary line of two states (how does this work?!), that has been settled by a lot of ex-spies/spooks/"players"/what have you. Two players, Pike and Oz, bought up a lot of property upon their forced retirement and have provided a quiet, safe place for people like them to settle down in. This all gets thrown asunder when Oz dies unexpectedly and an asshole proclaiming to be his son (Oz had no kids) shows up, along with his shifty double agent mother Serena, and Oz's shitty brother Morgan. Some are looking for Oz's hidden fortune, some are looking for hidden security info.
Oz's employee/roommate/adopted family member Rose Malone and her teen daughter Poppy are unaware of all of this shit until the bad guys start rolling into town and being threatening. Rose is already worrying about losing her job and home, and now this? Fortunately for her, a stranger comes to town and ends up riding to the rescue.
Max Reddy is an ex-player who's walking the Appalachian trail when a work contact of his arranges to send him a new pair of boots...in Rocky Start. Since strangers don't come to town often, this is noticed by people (including former work contacts), and he ends up coming to Rose's rescue. She has the hots for him right off and is basically all, "I am KEEPING YOU" (as is Poppy, for platonic reasons) and has him move in. It's an insta-romance without any particular conflict or drama beyond "will Max ever go back to the Appalachian trail?' Max is pretty stoic/not a lot of personality, but you appreciate how his brain works, and you get Rose's feelings about everything going crazy on her (again) after so long.
Mostly what interested me was the whole "players in town" situation, as you can't help but be interested when you find out that lady with all the teacups and the llama is a trained killer. As the invaders start going around town harassing people for what they think is theirs, they've got a population of retiree badasses to deal with, and the lead badass is a bit pooped out to say the least. There's a need for Max to step in. There's also Herc, a former boss of several players who seems to have his own agendas going on.
Overall I enjoyed it, but I'm giving it about 3.5 stars since the romance was kinda insta for me and Max isn't that standout of a personality, even if I appreciate his efforts. But the plot and especially the worldbuilding were interesting.
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