Thursday, April 2, 2015

BOOK REVIEW: Hammer & Nails by Andria Large

4 Stars

Nolan Hammerstein is in the market for a contractor to renovate his new house. 
Harley Jameson runs her own contractor business. Sounds like a perfect match until you meet Nolan and Harley…or Nolan and Harley meet each other.

They are complete opposites in the reverse gender stereotype roles. Harley is a tomboy raised by her dad and three brothers. Nolan is used to the good life, raised by his rich, old-fashioned misogynist father.  While Harley loves the hockey team Nolan’s father owns, there isn’t love at first sight when Harley and Nolan initially interact. 
“‘Do you call all your clients ‘dick?’”
“‘Only when they’re being one.’”
“‘With the way you act, I’m surprised you even know what a dick is.’”
Despite their lack of professional maturity, the pair surprisingly comes to have a relationship with a great deal of maturity. This isn’t a story filled with unnecessary misunderstandings or knee-jerk reactions. I really liked that about their romance; it’s something you don’t see nearly often enough. 
“‘You know, it was kinda hot, you getting all defensive of me. I may’ve even gotten a semi from it.’”
As the title suggests, there’s plenty of….um….hammering and nailing  to keep it sexy as the seemingly mismatched pair drive each other “up a wall.”

It’s a light-hearted romance with just the right amount of conflict.  While the alternating first person POV narration could benefit from a little variety in sentience structure (there’s a lot of consecutive sentences that start “I….”), the story is still fun and an enjoyable read. And while there were a few places that Harley was a little over the top, I still appreciated how she was depicted as a confident, independent female. (There’s no insecure, crying, weak girl here).

There’s a great epilogue (I really liked the end). This is a standalone story, but I definitely see potential for a series as Harley’s brothers would be fun to read about too!

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