Author: Erin Nicholas
Series: Boys of the Big Easy, Book 1
Publisher: Montlake Romance, August 28, 2018
This might just be Erin Nicholas’ BEST book yet! (And I’m a BIG fan, so I’m really saying something here…). This one started off HOT and steamy right from the get-go, so initially I had one idea of what this book was going to be…and I loved how much it surprised me. This book gave me ALL the feels. It made me cry (more than once), and I felt like I really knew and understood these characters pretty deeply. (That doesn’t mean I didn’t want to kick them both in their behinds once or twice, though, haha).
One of Erin Nicholas’ strengths is her character building–she develops strong main and secondary characters and really makes you care about them. In this book, there are also kids involved, which I wasn’t initially sure I was up for…but the inclusion of the kids was PERFECT. They added to the story without taking over–and they added depth to ALL the characters. I loved the inclusion of the parents group, and I really liked the different perspectives from different people in the group–all details that added depth and warmth to the story.
I’ve always loved Nicholas’ small town romances, and when she set this new series in New Orleans, I wondered if we’d lose that charm…but this book put those fears to rest. While New Orleans isn’t a BIG character in this book, it is a character, and I suspect it may become more so as the series goes on…but Nicholas does capture some important New Orleans elements and brings them in, adding some nice flavor, depth and atmosphere. As I mentioned, the book started off VERY hot–it take a while to get back there, but I actually really enjoyed that. I kind of felt like I had jumped into the middle of the book and I liked the slow build that came after.
Overall, this was a WONDERFUL read. I couldn’t put it down, I stayed up until it was done the day I got it, and I’ve already read it a second time. I loved these characters and I am VERY excited about this new series. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It’s romantic and sexy, it breaks your heart a little bit a couple of times, it will make you laugh and I’m betting it will make you cry…but best of all, it will make you HAPPY that authors like this are out there and creating these worlds for us to escape to. Thank you Erin Nicholas. I didn’t know how much I need this one!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Rating: 5 Stars
Read more about this book on Amazon (US).
Note: there is a prequel to this book called Easy Going. You can pick it up for free on Amazon, and I do recommend it. It’s a short story and introduces us to our main characters in this book before we meet them here. However, I actually recommend that you DON’T read that book first. Nicholas released Easy Going AFTER she released Going Down Easy, so I’d already read THIS before Easy Going came out, and I actually feel that’s the way it should be. Read THIS one first. I think you’ll like this one more, just kind of jumping into it, and then get a buzz out of going back and reading their beginning after you’ve read their whole story. Just my two cents, but I love love love how this book begins, and as much as I enjoy Easy Going, I don’t think the jump start that Going Down Easy has would be as effective if you’d read Easy Going first. Again, just my opinion, your mileage may vary. You can find Easy Going here for free on Amazon, and my review is here.