Hard Pressed

By: Kate Canterbary

Narrated by: Lauren Sweet, Blake Richard

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Dear Jackson,

I'm leaving you this note because I know you're very busy, and I don't want to waste the town sheriff's time. Lord knows I've already wasted enough of it.

Thank you for taking me home last night and...everything else. I made you a basket of wild blueberry muffins for your trouble. That seemed like the appropriate baked good for getting naked in your living room.

I wasn't myself last night. I didn't mean to kiss you or fondle your backside or ask all those intimate questions. Thank you for pretending to enjoy it.

It was very noble of you to sleep on the couch while I was starfished on your bed. I couldn't help but notice it's quite large. The bed, that is. I swear, I didn't notice anything else when I let myself out this morning.

As you know, Talbott's Cove is a ridiculously small town, and there's no chance we can avoid each other. Not that I'd want to avoid you, of course, but I'm not sure I can look at you without thinking of the 40 different ways I made a fool of myself.

Instead of avoidance, let's try to be friends. We'll forget all about last night...if that's what you want. Please burn this note after you read it

- Annette

P.S. I whipped up some cinnamon buns, too. Please enjoy them. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't get buns out of my mind today.

©2018 Kate Canterbary (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Kindle version is better

I didn’t care for the male voice, but Kate Canterbury makes me laugh every time!

Nice story about a woman gaining confidence

Overall I liked this story. The baking definitions at the beginning of each chapter didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but they didn’t take away from the overall story. I thought the town where the story was set seemed lovely and it was easy to picture it in my minds eye.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the male narrator’s voice, but got used to it over time.

Thoroughly entertaining!

I thoroughly enjoyed Jackson and Annette’s small town romance because of Talbot’s Cove and its colorful residents, Annette’s successful business smarts and her reputation as the town sweetheart, the swoon worthy fact that Jackson falls first, and the hilarious best friends relationship between Annette and Brooke. The text exchanges between the various characters are highly entertaining and my mouth watered every time Annette was baking. I especially loved Jackson’s constant flirtation and the mad chemistry Kate Canterbary is well known for. Lest you think this romance is all fun and games I absolutely loathed the bullying Annette suffers at the hands of her mother and siblings which has numerous emotional consequences that are beautifully explored. Kate’s characters always engage both my emotions and my heart. I listened to the audiobook and was thoroughly entertained by the narration talents of Blake Richard and Lauren Sweet who made this a note worthy listening experience.

Good story!

I read this book when it first came out and I enjoyed it. I love Kate Canterbary’s writing. The audiobook was ok. I enjoyed the male narrator, Blake Richard, but was less fond of Lauren Sweet, the female narrator.

Sheriff needs to use those cuffs!

Annette may be the town sweetheart but she is a mess on the inside. Pining for a man who was never interested and she knew it. It's hard to wrap your head around her conviction and weird loyalty to a relationship that never existed.

The Sherriff has had his own crush and Annette has never noticed. When he imaginary world crumbles, Sheriff decides to be the REAL man for her.

It's a cute story in a town I already fell in love with (thanks Owen and Cole!). I'm just glad the Sheriff managed to break through her odd imaginary HEA and give us a real one.

Great Story & Audible Listen🎧 A Heartfelt Romance!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it is my first Kate Canterbary, I enjoyed her writing style, she created interesting storylines that held my interest from start to end. Her characters are complex and well developed. The story is set in a small town where everyone knows your name and your business. Annette, a local shop owner, had feelings for Owen, another local, but he did not reciprocate, he was into someone else which she sees for her own eyes and is left broken hearted. She goes to drown her sorrows at the local pub, indulging too much, the barkeep calls the sheriff to get her home. This sheriff is new to town and has had his eyes on Annette since he arrived. He did not act on it because he did not want to be the subject of small town gossip. He brings her to safety and it is a start of a new relationship. Annette has a lot of issues, her family did a number on her self esteem which leaves her with insecurities. She is afraid to open her heart, afraid she may get hurt, again. Jackson is a great guy, he has a good head on his shoulders and is patient with her but she keeps pushing him away. Will she push the best thing that ever came into her life away and does he let her? I liked how this story flowed and how it all played out, it is entertaining and enjoyable. Kate Canterbary, thank you for this great story and the emotional rollercoaster ride.

I listened to the Audible edition, Lauren Sweet and Blake Richard are wonderful narrators and voice performers. They bring these characters to life, give each their own voice and personality, as well as heart and attitude. They are awesome at projecting the emotions of the characters and the drama of the story into their performace. They are entertaining storytellers and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for this great listen🎧

Hot, sweet and VERY swoony!

I’m a HUGE fan of Kate Canterbary. So, when we found out that we were going back to Talbott’s Cove and get Annette and Jackson’s story, I was over the moon excited. Once again Kate hits it out of the park with this book.

Annette is the local book store owner and the town sweetheart. She is loved by her community and her friends but misunderstood by her family. She struggles with learning to accept love. She’s a character that I think many people will be able to relate to. Not only did she teach herself how to be a local business owner but she also taught herself how to bake. After this book I want to go watch The Great British Bake-Off and eat my weight in baked goods. Or just show up to Talbott’s Cove and eat some of what Annette baked in this book. This character is one of my favorites that this author has written. She’s strong but vulnerable. She is kind and loyal. She is definitely someone I want as a friend.

Jackson is the new town sheriff. He hasn’t lived in town long and is trying to make his place in this community. Jackson is one of THE SWOONIEST characters that I have ever read. I will gladly let him protect me anytime. He is dedicated, loyal, protective, and kind. He is definitely an alpha male, but has such a sweet side to him that you can’t help but fall in love with him. The sexy times are hot! The banter is great. He is just an all round great, swoony guy!

I would be remiss if I did not mention Annette’s best friend Brooke. As secondary characters go she is one of the BEST. Brooke is brash and hilarious. The text messages between the two are priceless. Brooke is the BFF I want in my life. I REALLY hope she gets her own book someday.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It is a stand alone and no cliffhangers. You will fall in love with this community and want to move to Talbott’s Cove. This author has such a way of not only telling us a story, but drawing us into their world, where we just want to set up permanent residence. This is one of those book that I wish was a million pages, because I don’t want to leave this community or the people. Giving this book 5 stars is not enough. You NEED this book and this author in your life!

I absolutely loved this book!!

between Blake's awesome and sexy narration and Lauren's great performance, I was completely captivated!!
Add to this the amazing story, filled with great quips from Brook and her smartassy remarks..
I truly enjoyed this story..
every time I read/listen to Kate's stories I come away with new knowledge, new thoughts, great feelings, and oh so seduced...
Thank you!!!😍❣

Hard Pressed

I am a fan of Kate Canterbary, and I love all of her books. Hard Pressed has the same funny banter throughout the book that keeps the story interesting but fun. Annette is unique and quirky and Jackson is the backbone against her family when she can't manage to be the backbone herself. The two of them together were really great and had so much chemistry.

The audio by Lauren Sweet and Blake Richard was well done, and was a great listen.

Superslow narration and stupid heroine

It was an okay listen, but I had problems with both the story and the narration.
The male narrator had an old-lady-like female voice, not fitting the younger characters. The female narrator was whiny. In addition, it seemed that the narrators drawled out the text in an unnecessarily slow way. It made me tensed with a constant desire to shout at them and urge them on.
The stupidity of the heroine just irked me further. (Sorry for this slight spoiler, but it happens at the very beginning, so I guess it doesn't make a big harm.) She is 33 years old, yet she is pining after a homosexual guy for more than ten years, and with that, sabotaging her lovelife. If it was a secret that the guy was gay, I would have understood. But knowing and still pining, then falling apart for seeing him with his boyfriend, was just too much. And having this as the core of the drama in the story "she couldn't trust whether her feelings were real anymore", thus not be able to accept a relationship with the hero, was too much. And the author repeating this a gazillion times did not help either. At the age of 33!!! On the top of all this, at about 80% enter the evil sisters and mother. The buildup to this was way too thin. We heard one time that she had a strained relationship with her family for not being born a boy much after her sisters, but that's it. The sudden appearance of the one-dimensional family, their characters lacking any depth, their appearance lacking any precedent (or reason) in the storyline was just amateur, bringing my evaluation down from 3 to 2 stars.