Yarding Braxton

Wild Cross Family, Book 2

By: Stella Williams

Narrated by: Ginger Walton

Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Braxton Cross is known for breaking beds and breaking hearts, but a chance encounter at a hotel bar flips the script he usually follows. Braxton is still breaking beds, but for the first time, he may be the one that ends up with a broken heart.

©2022 Stella Williams (P)2022 Stella Williams

Yarding Braxton

This book is about Carmen and Braxton. Carmen thought she would go and surprise her boyfriend while he is away staying at a hotel. When Carmen knocks on the door she finds another woman in the hotel room. Carmen goes to the bar to get a drink. There Carmen meets Braxton. Braxton invites Carmen, who is dressed as Carmen Sandiego, up to his hotel room. At first Carmen declines but when they get in then changes her mind. Braxton plans on just having one night. Carmen and Braxton have such a good time they break a bed and a wall. Carmen ends up seeing her boyfriend at the airport on her flight home. When she gets off the flight Braxton is also there and then everything changes.

Steam-Filled Story and Great Characters!!

The steam of this book is greater than the first one, so if that's important to you, now you know.
I liked getting to know Carmine. She was a good character with lots of heart when she let herself go and not be constrained by the ideals of others. Her friends were fantastic!! Braxton was fun to get to know. He's briefly in the previous story and I'm glad he gets his own! He knows what he wants and he goes for it. He and Carmine are perfect together and I loved their scenes together (both the steamy and the sweet)!
The story is pretty low angst and a pretty easy read/listen.

The book can be read/listened to as a standalone without having read/listened to the first. I recommend enjoying the first book to better understand the Cross family.

I liked the narrator. She did a good job with the characters and story. I listened at 1.1x speed. It's the same narrator as the previous story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Braxton and Carmen

Carmen is in town to surprise her boyfriend, Noah, when she gets to his hotel
a woman answers the door in his shirt. Braxton meets Carmen in the hotel bar, after leaving his brother's wedding. He gives her his room key, but she turns it only to see him in the elevator. They spend the night together, they break the bed. Little do either know they are from the same home town and run into each other later. Braxton has never had a serious relationship and Carmen is not ready for anything. The pair get together each weekend and pretty much spend the time in bed. It is not long before Braxton knows she is the one for him, but he holds back as Carmen seems to want to find her footing on her own.

The narrator did a good job, just sometime it was a little slow.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Much Better than Book One

"Yarding Braxton" was a huge improvement from "Felling Bechet". I found myself coming back to this book because I wanted to see the connection continue to develop between Carmen and Braxton. His possessive nature combined with wanting to give her space to heal was such a green flag. This relationship felt realistic and genuine. There was a bit of instalove on one of the character's ends (trying to avoid spoilers), but I'm personally a fan of that trope.

I did have the same problem with this audiobook that I did with its predecessor; the narrator. Her voice is more fit for memoirs and bedtime stories than steamy romance scenes. I would still recommend reading and listening to this book (I listened at 1.25x speed to help ease the pain of the narration).

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Great Read

Carmen is at a bar having a drink and getting over a bad relationship when she meets Braxton. Braxton and Carmen have an instant connection. Carmen is a little hesitant after the relationship she has been in. Braxton and Carmen have a sizzling night together. Braxton was only interested in one night but he realizes that he wanted more. I enjoyed reading about Braxton and Carmen there were some witty scenes.
Will Braxton and Carmen have an HEA?

I received an ARC via Booksprout and I am leaving my review voluntarily.

breaking beds

Good read, great characters. A bit of suspence, romance, and sex. I'm looking guard to the next book in the series.

Braxton and Carmen!

Slowly but surely we are getting more hints at the paranormal legends and plots. Carmen and Braxton are so sweet together. I love how even her friends are like whats your problem date him lol. can not wait for Scarlets story, nerd girls are my fave! Also how Brax still calls Bennett, Chet lol.

Soo good! Can't wait to devour the next one!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Dimples

This book was freaking awesome. I love the mood of the characters. As well as the story line and the ending. This book is a must read.

An Awkward Mix of Erotica and Chick Lit

An Awkward Mix of Erotica and Chick Lit

This is the second book I've listened to in the Wild Cross Family series, and I don't think the series—and this book—are very good. This book can't decide whether it's chick lit or erotica. While I'm definitely a fan of the former, I am not a fan at all of the latter. The author did not seamlessly weave these two distinctive romance subgenres together. The shifts between them felt abrupt and just strange. While I like romance books, obviously, and don't mind well-written, character-driven intimate scenes, I found the ones in this book to be particularly more icky than yummy. The scenes are a trifle too violent in nature, with a running theme being that they go at it so vigorously that they break beds, including all the strong words to describe “the act” that denigrate it, at least in my view. They weren't romantic in the least, and I found them a turnoff. I wasn’t wild about the female narrator, either. Despite the two romance subgenres, the book had little plot of note. If you enjoy books that are mostly gritty intimate scenes with a bit of girl time in between, you may enjoy this book more than I did.