Hanky Panky

The Liquor Shop Series

By: M. K. Chester

Narrated by: Kelly Simpson

Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

A swing and a miss or a bases-loaded home run?

Baseball titan Rian Murphy returns home to nurse a career-ending injury and his shattered ego. When he learns he'll never return to the game he loves, he takes a job tending bar on the Carolina beachfront and tries to ignore his best friend's little sister who is all grown up.

Harper Jones doesn't intend to hit on Rian, but her brother's best friend always seemed so out of her league. When he serves her his signature drink and sparks fly, neither mind when a few stolen kisses go a little further. She might be the one to show him his life isn't over.

After all, a little hanky panky never hurt anyone…

©2022 M. K. Chester (P)2023 M. K. Chester

Delightful!

Rian Murphy is a professional baseball star pitcher, but he was injured and has come home to find out what's next. Harper Jones teaches history in the same school she and her friends graduated from and it's the last day of school for the year. She's barely on vacation when she notices Rian Murphy behind the bar at the Hanky Panky. Isn't he supposed to be pitching somewhere across the country? Rian and Harper have history, even more than they even know. He and Harper's brother, Sean, have been best friends all their lives and she has crushed on Rian just about as long! Rian looks at her, really looks at her, and sees the beauty she's become, not the 14-year-old cute kid that she was. When Rian tells her that he's home because he's injured and needs to rehab his pitching arm, she offers to be his "rehab buddy" and make sure that he gets there every morning and works his tail off. It's a sweet story with a lot of lovely moments, and they seem to fall in love more each day, until Rian's self-doubts and some self-loathing come into the picture. He gets down on himself so severely because he is sure that he's lost his career, but instead of having Harper at his side, he begins to shut her out. I was worried, for a moment, that they would end up apart, but Rian finally pulls it out and acknowledges what's most important in his life. M L Chester writes wonderful stories that are filled with sweetness and steam.... a perfect palate cleaner. Kelly Simpson does an excellent job with the narration. She has a dynamic voice and delivers the story at a perfect pace, bringing each of the characters to life. 

Cute and fun! (And Southern!)

Such a cute, fun romance novella! I love a small-town, sports, second chance, brother's best friend story. The narrator's southern accent is delicious even if her delivery is off every once in a while. I hope you'll give this story a listen.

Tasteful and spicy!

Rian, an injured baseball player returns home and hooks up with his best friends sister (Harper)
Harper who always had a crush on Rian helps him to overcome the loss of his baseball career

Cute story, the characters were developed, the storyline was good and the sex scenes were spicy and tasteful!

My only problem was the narration, I don’t know if it was the accent or the slow drawn out monotone voice but it took away from the story.

Hanky Panky!

This is such a fun story that is fairly short and quick to read/listen. I did listen to the audiobook and thought the narrator did a good job with the characters and bringing their story to life. The story is about Harper and her brother's friend, Ryan. She crushed on him but he left to pursue his baseball career. Unfortunately, an injury has sidelined him. He is down but does not want pity but he realizes that it has opened his eyes. This is a sweet story with wonderful and likable characters. I enjoyed every bit of it.

Baseball and love

Harper always had a crush on her brother's friend Ryan. she was.surprised to see him in town working at his family bar. He left town to follow his dream to become a professional baseball player. His injury to his shoulder sidelined him.
He felt like a failure getting hurt, and possibly end his dream. He regretted coming home facing the home town , he didn't want their pity.
His down time made him realize what else important in his life besides baseball. He realizes that he can't go threw his next chapter without Harper.
Kelly Simpson narration is good. she needed a little more difference in the characters.
I was gifted by the author and offered my review

Liked

I liked the story of Harper and Ryan. It’s steamy and romantic. I thought the narrator was ok but lacked in a little emotion as reading what the characters are saying. But I still liked the book.

Loved it!

He realizes that he has to make back up plan just incase. He goes home to recover and gets back into a new life and new love. Leaves you rooting for him to recover and that they both can be happy!

good story, poor narration

First, I really enjoyed the storyline and the characters. I like that this was told in dual point of view by our main characters Rian and Harper. This is a short, fast paced sports themed romance, also falls in the best friend's sister troupe as well. Rian's baseball dreams are crumbling after a shoulder injury and he returns home to come face to face with his best friend's sister Harper, who is anything but a kid any longer. Harper has always crushed on Rian and now's her chance to show him she's all grown up. Smooth flowing storyline with good level of angst and conflict resolution. The only thing I could not get on board with was the narration. I read and listen to a lot of books, some better than others but the narration on this was sadly painful and really took away from the enjoyment of this story. Not only do I think it really should have been dual narrated, but the single narrator was also stilted in her speech and had not tone or pitch variance. I'm sorry to say as I really don't know that I could do better but it really wasn't good at all which was too bad since the storyline itself was pretty good.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I voluntarily provided this review.