Parks and Provocation by Juliette Cross

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With a little bit of free time to mood read, I knew I had to pick up Parks and Provocation by Juliette Cross. This is a new release and I actually read it as an ARC (advanced reader's copy). I received the ARC because I am apart of Juliette's patreon and this was the first time I've ever read an ARC! This is the 2nd book in the SmartyPants Romance series Green Valley Heroes. If you haven't heard of SmartyPants Romance, it's a publishing company created by Penny Reid. After her Knitting in the City and Winston Brothers series got so massive, she created a Penny Reid Universe. Via SmartyPants Romance not only does it publish Penny's books, but other authors' works set in the same settings as her series. Green Valley Heroes takes place in Green Valley, the same city the Winston Brothers reside in. Back to Parks and Provocation though. I was able to apply this to the prompts New Release for Love Has Sprung and Bad Blood (enemies to lovers) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge. I was also able to use this for my April roll for the Yahtzee challenge which was the small straight.

Lola is back in her small town of Green Valley after getting laid off from her corporate marketing job in New Orleans. When she does something silly, Jed, her high school nemesis and now fireman is there to rescue her. As they reconnect and realize that the mutual crushes that went awry in high school are still there, maybe even stronger, Lola still plans on finding the perfect marketing job. Jed hopes to make her fall in love with him before she has to leave.

Oh my gosh, this was just the same kind of feeling I get from Juliette's Stay a Spell series and I absolutely loved it! I'm so happy for her that she was able to join SmartyPants Romance and this is her first published contemporary romance! I loved Jed, he was just so freaking swoony. I usually enjoy firefighter and everyday-hero heroes like him, but I absolutely loved Jed. We also got some good representation for Dyslexia. I'm also a huge sucker for mutual pining and we get that in spades here. While I'm not the biggest fan of enemies to lovers, this didn't quite push it that much for me. The reason why they kind of became enemies in high school was the mutual pining/crushes and misunderstandings due to teenage hormones.

I mean this is just pretty much a gush fest for me because I love Juliette both as an author and a person. Parks and Provocation was such a great expansion to Green Valley and I really hope that Juliette is able to write more both with SmartyPants and in this specific series as well. There were quite a few side characters I want books for and they seem a little teased. If I were to pick something that was a little bit of a detraction, I think it would be the third act conflict. It was a little predictable, but it wasn't bothersome to me. I think the grovel that Lola did was pretty special. Also, I should say be prepared to be teased by the sexual tension. It is top freaking notch!

I love Juliette and can't wait to read whatever she has next as well as what I have left on her backlist. She's one of my favorite authors and I know she has a few more releases planned for this year. If you haven't read Juliette Cross yet, please do so! Please, please, please!

Have you read Parks and Provocation?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Parks and Provocation, Juliette Cross, 5-stars, 2 days, eBook, 343 pages, published in 2022, indie published