Review: Yours To Keep by Shannon Stacey

Holly‘s review of Yours to Keep (Kowalski Family, Book 3) by Shannon Stacey

Sean Kowalski no sooner leaves the army than he’s recruited by Emma Shaw to be her fake fiancé. Emma needs to produce a husband-to-be for her grandmother’s upcoming visit, and, though Sean doesn’t like the deception, he could use the landscaping job Emma’s offering while he decides what to do with his civilian life. And, despite his attraction to Emma, there’s no chance he’ll fall for a woman with deep roots in a town he’s not planning to call home.

Emma’s not interested in a real relationship either; not with a man whose idea of home is wherever he drops his duffel bag. No matter how amazing his “pretend” kisses are…

What a sweet, adorable story. I was worried at first based on the premise, but Stacey pulled off the batshit crazy heroine extremely well.

Emma Shaw is not crazy. Ok yes, maybe she did make up a pretend fiance with a real guy’s name to get her grandmother off her back, but she did it for good reasons. Grandma wasn’t able to relax and enjoy her retirement in Florida because she was so worried about Emma. Telling a little white lie seemed like such a small thing if it gave her grandma comfort and allowed her to relax. And if that little white lie got a little bigger over time, well…that kind of comes with the territory.  Emma figures it doesn’t matter too much. She’ll get her grandma to sell her the family home, then tell her things didn’t work out between her and her fake fiance. But then Grandma says she’s coming for a visit, so there’s only one thing left to do….

Sean Kowalski has given enough of his life to the Army. He’s ready to be a free man. He figures he’ll spend some time in the apartment above his cousin’s bar, maybe pick up an odd job here until he decides what he wants to do with his life. When Emma shows up on his doorstep and introduces herself as his fiance..well, he figures she’s more than a little batshit crazy. Hot, but batshit crazy. He dismisses her and her crazy idea, but the more he thinks about it – and the more he talks to his cousins about it – the more he feels sorry for Emma and her situation. So he figures why not play the part of her pretend fiance. It’s only for a month, then he’ll be free to decide what he wants to do from there. But neither of them anticipated the attraction between them being hot enough to scorch, or the interference of two old women. 

This was such a fun read. I really liked the balance Stacey struck between emotional depth and humor.  Plus, I loved how real the characters were. Sean’s done in the military, but he isn’t sure what he wants to do with his life. He didn’t come out with a plan and a million dollars..he was just a guy who needed some downtime and a plan. That was so refreshing. Similarly, Emma was such a relatable heroine. Yes, she made up a crazy lie – it gets crazier as the story goes on – but she did it for the right reasons. She was concerned for her grandmother and wanted to keep the family home. How many of us have told a little white lie and then watched it snowball out of control? She handled herself pretty well, all things considered. I especially loved the way she beat herself up after she went to talk to Sean for the first time. So funny. 


I did get a little frustrated with Emma at times for not being up front with her grandmother. Instead of inventing a man, why didn’t she explain to her grandmother that she wanted to buy the house? I know her grandmother worried about her, but I think Emma needed to stand up for herself. Course if she had, we wouldn’t have had a story, but still…


Aside from that I found this to be a solid read. It’s one I know I’ll go back and re-read again. 


4.5/5

The series:

This book is available from Carina Press. You can buy it here in e-format only.

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