The gossip mill in the seaside community of Monterey is churning about Chloe Patterson, the newcomer who is starting a sanctuary for rescued pit bulls. It’s rumored that she’s a former beauty queen (true) who ditched her fiancé the morning of their wedding (also true). And that while she’s not looking for a new man, the good-looking local veterinarian has his eye on her. Absolutely, positively true.
When Lucas Campbell isn’t at the family veterinary clinic, he’s paddle boarding in Monterey Bay. Recently single, he’s definitely not in the market for a new relationship, but he still can’t resist taking a second, third, and fourth look at the recent arrival of Miss Golden State.
Neither Lucas nor Chloe has any interest in being tied down. Being tied up, however—now there’s a thought. But are a few Mai Tais, a moonlit night, and the music of Frank Sinatra enough to allow them both to forget their past? Let’s hope Ol’ Blue Eyes knows what he’s doing.
Mix one part tiki, one part kinky, and a splash of old black magic matchmaking, and it’s time to be . . . Mai Tai’d Up.
What I have adored about every single Alice Clayton book I
have read is that they are just truly funny.
The characters are witty, some of the scenes are over-the-top hilarious
and basically, they just bring a smile to your face. This book was most definitely not an
exception to that rule. I laughed by
damn butt off.
Chloe is 24 and has just realized that she cannot allow
herself to float along in life anymore.
She has to have a passion and make her life better for herself so she
has a chance at true happiness.
Unfortunately, this involves taking off to her Dad’s ranch in Monterey
on the day of her made in country club heaven wedding to Charles Preston
Sappington. She just can’t marry him, so
she doesn’t. Now, she’s fallen into
making one of her dreams come true by opening up a pit bull rescue, with the
help of the local (and extremely hot veterinarian). Unfortunately for her (and most fortunately
for her sex life) Lucas Campbell is the local vet and he’s funny and great
looking and they hit it off from the get go.
Neither wants a serious relationship, but the attraction between them is
too good for either to deny. Can they
throw caution to the wind and act on the attraction without getting their
hearts involved?
I’ll start of by saying that I was supremely entertained by
this book. My complaint is that as far
as plot goes, I wasn’t too terribly surprised with how it turned out, but it
sure was fun getting there. Alice
Clayton has a very original voice and is able to turn what can be a mundane store
into an extraordinary one. I laughed so
hard at so many points in this book! One
more teeny, tiny complaint…the lack of sex.
For a book that drips with sexual innuendos, there just wasn’t enough
bangin’ for this broad. But, the buildup
between Chloe and Lucas is pretty fantastic! I just really found myself
thinking that I wanted them to get it on, like, yesterday.
Overall though, this was a very cute, very funny and
somewhat touching story about two people and some dogs that I think is well
worth the read. The characters are great
and actually believable, the antics are entertaining and if you love dogs,
you’ll be a total sucker not only for Lucas but for some of the canine friends
we meet in these pages. 4 stars.
I don’t recall being as sad while
reading the previous books in this series as I was at times while reading Mai Tai’d Up. Nor do I remember being as
frustrated with one of the characters’ parents as I was with Chloe’s mother. But
as with all of the books from the Cocktail series thus far, Ms. Clayton managed
to take me on one heck of a journey as Chloe tries to find Chloe and what it is
that she needs to make life meaningful for her and not her mother or her
fiancé.
After bailing on her wedding the day
of (and blaming it on the doughnuts … LMAO), Chloe leaves her “perfect” life
behind and goes to Monterey to decide what she wants to do with her life
because she knows the path she was on, wasn’t working. What she finds is Lucas,
a sexy vet who also happens to be a Ginger – her personal kryptonite. As Chloe
embarks upon establishing a pit bull rescue & adoption center on her father’s
family ranch, she finds herself working closely with Lucas and a friendship
begins to form. When they share war wounds as to why they’re both single, she
learns that Lucas’s fiancée left him at the altar. Because this was too close
to what happened between her and her fiancé, she only tells him that they
called off the wedding shortly before the ceremony and yep, that lie came back
to bite her on the a$$ much later in the book. But before that unfortunate
scene, I got to fall in love with Lucas right alongside of Chloe, for whom I
developed a girl crush. Their courtship was sweet and romantic and full of
laughs and if you read the book you’ll understand my choice of the word
courtship.
I absolutely loved Mai Tai’d Up from beginning to end,
devouring it in one sitting. Even when my heart was breaking for Chloe and
Lucas, I was compelled to turn the page to see what happened next. I loved that
we got to catch up with Clark and Viv from Screwdrivered,
which was easy enough to do as Clark is Chloe’s cousin and they had a
sibling-like relationship during parts of their youth. I loved it when Chloe
finally stood up to her mother. I loved that Chloe found such happiness with
the pit bull rescue. And I love, Love, LOVED the final scene of the epilogue
because it left me with a huge grin on my face and a stitch in my side from
laughing so hard. I cannot wait to see what you grace us with next in this
series Ms. Clayton.
Amazon US || Barnes & Noble || ARe
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