Release Day Review ~ Shifting Views (The Carlisles: Book Four) by Meg Harding
Title: Shifting Views
Series: The Carlisles: Book Four
Author: Meg Harding
Release Date: February 10, 2017
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 200
Successful fashion model Denver Carlisle is finally living on his own. He’s got a new apartment, a neighbor who has a problem shutting his blinds, and a local bakery with an owner who makes his knees weak. It’s raining men, and Denver hasn’t gotten any in a long time. Going out on a limb, he asks Ethan Monahan out and resorts to a little exhibitionism for his neighbor. Only to be turned down by both. That’s a first.
Ethan Monahan runs his own bakery and has a new neighbor who walks around naked. The latter is a little too distracting. When his naked neighbor turns out to be none other than model Denver Carlisle—and the customer who asked him out—Ethan tries to make amends. In a purely friendly way.
Friendship leads to more, and both men find themselves in over their heads with emotions and compromises. Denver has trust issues that could span the Sahara, and Ethan is a product of the foster system with a chip on his shoulder and a serious wariness of those with money. There’s only one way to reconcile their issues: work together.
Shifting Views is Book 4 in Meg Harding's The Carlisles series. I think this series should really be read in the appropriate order to get the full enjoyment from it.
For the first time in his life, Denver is living on his own and decides he needs to use this opportunity to figure out what he likes without his siblings' influence. One thing he knows he does like is the view out his window of his naked neighbor. Though Denver is happy for his siblings, he's a little jealous that he hasn't found his soulmate and is now the only single Carlisle sibling. Denver is checking out his new neighborhood trying to find his new favorite places to hang out when he discovers a bakery to help his sweet tooth. He enjoys trying the different options available and is interested in the new guy who takes his order one day. After deciding to take a chance, the next day that he's in the bakery he asks to speak to the guy who helped him before, to ask him out on a date.
Ethan's life revolves around his bakery. He's surprised by the good looking guy who asks him out but doesn't have time for dating and he turns him down. When Ethan's employees realize who he turned down, and confirm it with pictures of Denver on his social media, Ethan also realizes that Denver is his neighbor who's been flashing him. He goes to Denver's apartment to try to extend an offer of friendship and as him not to quit coming to the bakery. What results is an awkward friendship, between two men afraid to trust.
I love the Carlisle family and how close they are, but it felt like there was a lot less interactions with the crazy family in this book than the other ones and I kind of missed it. Plus, the friendship relationship between Ethan and Denver was so awkward, they really needed the help from outside parties! Ethan and Denver came from completely different lives, with Denver living a life full of privilege, but they seemed to bring an equal amount of baggage to the relationship. For me, I found Denver to be a little less interesting than his siblings but I enjoyed Ethan's character. I would have loved to see Denver introducing his family to Ethan's bake goods since they all have such a sweet tooth. Overall, a good story and I'm a little sad that all the Carlisles are now taken so I won't see any more of their crazy antics.
Rating: 4 stars
5 Stars
Another brilliant tale in this series that I'm soooooo not ready to see end. Please, Miss Harding, can we have more?
I got into this series 2 books back, absolutely loved book 3 and was so, so impatient for this one, and I can tell you that it's quite different to the others and absolutely brilliant in a different way.
Here we have Denver, Dorian's twin, who's just moved into a new apartment, now that Dorian's moved in with Eric. He's not lonely per sé, but he's not used to being alone and he spends a fair bit of time dolling up the new place...and admiring the faceless, mostly naked guy in the apartment in the block opposite. Denver decides to play the same game and in turn, he's spotted.
Naked guy, Ethan, owns a bakery but is so job-focused that he has no clue how famous Denver is...until he sees his butt in a magazine and recognises who he is. So, they start a friendship that each secretly wants to turn into more, but Denver's busy on assignments and Ethan's busy building his one-man baking empire, and there's another thing that stands between them, that Ethan struggles to deal with...
This tale felt so real, so lovely in a low-key way, that I wished I was part of the book, as an observer to the growth of the guys' relationship, because it felt so believable. I liked both guys equally and I felt for Ethan feeling as if he would always be at a disadvantage compared to Denver (sorry, not going to spoil the tale and tell you what the issue is!), and at the same time, I loved how Denver thought things through rather than retaliating in anger and damaging them. These guys were grown-ups. They talked. They worried. They fell out a little. They both wanted to clear the air and they both went about it. To me, they felt as comfortable and believable as friends.
The tale ends two years after the guys end up agreeing on a life together. I didn't get TMI from the author, but I would have welcomed some, tbh, but even the lack of didn't spoil the book for me. I sincerely hope that this isn't the end of The Carlisles, as I'd love to see all the previous leads living their HEAs in a tie-it-all-up tale, and I'd like to see young Cole in tale of his own, or Eric's friend whom I'd initially thought would end up with Denver. Maybe the author might drop some hints?
ARC courtesy of Dreamspinner Press and Bayou Book Junkie, for my reading pleasure.
I got into this series 2 books back, absolutely loved book 3 and was so, so impatient for this one, and I can tell you that it's quite different to the others and absolutely brilliant in a different way.
Here we have Denver, Dorian's twin, who's just moved into a new apartment, now that Dorian's moved in with Eric. He's not lonely per sé, but he's not used to being alone and he spends a fair bit of time dolling up the new place...and admiring the faceless, mostly naked guy in the apartment in the block opposite. Denver decides to play the same game and in turn, he's spotted.
Naked guy, Ethan, owns a bakery but is so job-focused that he has no clue how famous Denver is...until he sees his butt in a magazine and recognises who he is. So, they start a friendship that each secretly wants to turn into more, but Denver's busy on assignments and Ethan's busy building his one-man baking empire, and there's another thing that stands between them, that Ethan struggles to deal with...
This tale felt so real, so lovely in a low-key way, that I wished I was part of the book, as an observer to the growth of the guys' relationship, because it felt so believable. I liked both guys equally and I felt for Ethan feeling as if he would always be at a disadvantage compared to Denver (sorry, not going to spoil the tale and tell you what the issue is!), and at the same time, I loved how Denver thought things through rather than retaliating in anger and damaging them. These guys were grown-ups. They talked. They worried. They fell out a little. They both wanted to clear the air and they both went about it. To me, they felt as comfortable and believable as friends.
The tale ends two years after the guys end up agreeing on a life together. I didn't get TMI from the author, but I would have welcomed some, tbh, but even the lack of didn't spoil the book for me. I sincerely hope that this isn't the end of The Carlisles, as I'd love to see all the previous leads living their HEAs in a tie-it-all-up tale, and I'd like to see young Cole in tale of his own, or Eric's friend whom I'd initially thought would end up with Denver. Maybe the author might drop some hints?
ARC courtesy of Dreamspinner Press and Bayou Book Junkie, for my reading pleasure.
No comments:
Post a Comment