Reviewer: Rowena Taking a Chance (Whisper Creek, #6) by Maggie McGinnis
Series: Whisper Creek #2
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: November 7th, 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 261
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Series Rating:
A fun-loving troublemaker gives a workaholic Southern gal a real taste of Montana magic at the one and only Whisper Creek Ranch.
A rising star in the corporate world, Emma Winthrop enjoys the view from her cubicle in sunny Florida. But when she’s dispatched to a nursing home in Whisper Creek for three months of field experience, she discovers a slice of heaven made of mountains and mayhem—mostly in the form of rugged, drop-dead gorgeous Jasper Stone, who grinds his specialty beans at the town’s best coffee shop in between organizing dodge-ball games and wheelchair races in Emma’s hallways.
When Jasper walks in on this beautiful angel in silky purple underwear trying to rinse out her blouse, it’s a breathtaking view—even for a Montana native. Wreaking havoc here at Shady Acres keeps his dad in good spirits, but getting under Emma’s skin is proving to be even more fun. Jasper knows that he’s falling faster than a man with his past has any right to, but his body and his heart have a mind of their own. And Emma appears to be claiming both.
Maggie McGinnis is a new to me author and I hadn’t heard of the Whisper Creek series before picking this one up but I’m thinking that I need to add the entire series to my wish list because Taking a Chance was an enjoyable story. I enjoyed the heck out of Jasper’s nursing home shenanigans and Emma was pretty great, too.
The story starts off with Jasper Stone meeting with the director of the nursing home that his father lives in and the director has her stern face on which means she means business. She’s taking leave to take care of some medical issues and she needs Jasper to take it easy on the temporary director being sent to take over while she’s out. Jasper is well known for his lively activities that rile up the old folks but the new director isn’t from around town so he needs to pipe things down.
Emma Winthrop thought she was on her way to a promotion that she’s been working her tail off for. So when she gets transferred from Florida to Montana to run a nursing home for three months, she’s thrown for a loop. She’s more of a headquarters girl, not a foot on the ground kind of worker so heading to Montana freaks her out just a little bit and when she shows up for her first day and the ambulance is rushing up the driveway, she freaks out a little bit more.
This was an enjoyable story of two people that make sense together, getting together. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows because they both have some past baggage that makes things a little hard but not impossible. I enjoyed getting to know both Jasper and Emma even though at times, I thought they acted immaturely. Jasper more than Emma and I tried to understand where Jasper was coming from, knowing about his baggage with his late wife but more than anything, I wanted him to be better. To handle the whole thing with Emma better.
Overall, this was a solid romance and I enjoyed it so I’ll definitely be adding this series to my reading list but there were times when I wanted to strangle both Jasper and Emma though I will admit that I admired the hell out of Emma when she picks herself right back up and focuses on herself, her goals and trying to move on from Jasper. While I understood why Jasper felt the way that he did, and the guilt that he carried, I wish he didn’t drag Emma through it the way that he did. Alls well that ends well though and I’m glad that he wisened up and was able to fix things. The secondary characters were great fun. I really enjoyed the people at the nursing home, the folks over at Whisper Creek and they, more than anything, made me want to keep coming back for more.
This is the first book by Maggie McGinnis that I’ve read but I don’t think it’ll be my last. Despite some of my issues with the main couple in this book, it was still a sweet romance and I’m glad that both Jasper and Emma were able to get their shit together.
Grade: 3.75 out of 5