RELEASE BLITZ & REVIEW ~ STUBBORN AS A MULE by Juliette Poe

       

Down in Whynot, NC, there are three things that hold true: 1) life moves just a little bit slower, 2) family means everything, and 3) you don’t mess with history.

When his family decides to sell a home that’s been part of their history for over a century, Lowe Mancinkus is madder than a hornet. To add insult to injury, the woman who purchased it is some fancy pants, city girl looking to fix it up and sell it off. Doesn’t matter that she’s sexy as hell or that just being near her gets his blood racing like never before. That home belongs to his family, or at least it did until she came to town.

Well that just won’t do, now will it?

From the moment that she laid eyes on the historical home in rural North Carolina, Melinda Rothschild knew Mainer House was something special. The perfect escape from life in New York City, Melinda signed the papers and set to work restoring the house to its natural beauty. That is until an angry Lowe showed up on her doorstep one day. With a scowl on his handsome, chiseled face. And a shotgun in his strong, muscular arms.

Is it getting hot in here?

Melinda’s about to get a lesson on life in the south, but Lowe is about to learn a lesson of his own – this city girl doesn’t back down from a fight.

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“Looking good, Lowe Mancinkus,” I hear a woman call out as I stretch upward to paint the top of the frame around the window. Turning my head to look over my shoulder, I see Lynette Carnes getting ready to walk into Sweet Cakes across the street. She’s our town’s very own Daisy Duke. By that, I mean she struts around in miniscule jean shorts, high heels, and a sleeveless blouse tied off just underneath her very ample chest.

She’s definitely nice to look at, although she doesn’t have much going on above the cleavage.

“Morning, Lynette,” I call back. “Lookin’ good yourself.”

She grins and blows a kiss at me before walking into Larkin’s shop.

The front door opens and Mely steps out onto the porch, carrying a cup of coffee. There’s no doubt in my mind she witnessed that exchange from the other side of the doorway. It’s obvious by the pinched expression she has on her face. Still, she brings the coffee over to me and sets it on the porch rail.

“Thanks, darlin’,” I tell her as I go back to brushing paint over the layer of primer I’d put on a few hours ago. I’d decided to work half a day here at Mainer House, not because I was anxious to get the work done, but because I wanted to be around Melinda Rothschild.

She may not be strutting around in little shorts and a low-cut blouse, but she is most definitely a prettier picture than I’ve ever seen around these parts. She’s wearing a white sundress with a halter top, and her shoulders are lightly tanned with tiny freckles. Her legs are long, bare, and perfectly adorned with nothing more than a pair of simple white sandals. Her silky blonde hair is pulled away from her face at the top of her head and she looks like a breath of fresh air.

Mely leans against the porch rail, crosses her arms low under her breasts, and watches me work for a minute. I wonder if she likes what she sees.

I think so.

There was going to be another kiss last night if Morri hadn’t managed to ruin that little moment. And while I’d never stoop to mention this to Mely, I’m pretty sure he’d been hovering at the top of the stairs, just waiting to ruin it.

“Much better than hot pink,” Mely says as I continue to apply paint to the casing. I have no clue what the hell I was thinking when I painted her house pink. It was an attention getter and since the two people whose attention it got were Mely and Judge Bowe, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out I might have been pulling on her metaphorical pigtails a bit.

“I should have this finished by tomorrow,” I tell her. “Then all will be right again.”

“Odd since it took you a single night to do the damage,” she quips. I don’t look back at her, but I hear the laughter in her voice.

“Well, neon pink isn’t all that easy to cover up,” I tell her with a laugh.

She snickers and I can’t believe she was trying to get me thrown in jail last week. My how the mighty have fallen.

“When in Rome and all that,” Mely says and I turn to look at her from my perch on the ladder. She jerks her chin over her shoulder in the direction of Sweet Cakes. “Is that the standard southern girl uniform?”

Chuckling, I cut my eyes over to Sweet Cakes where sexy Lynette just disappeared into. I’m not about to tell Mely that I have actual carnal knowledge about that southern girl, even if it was back in my younger years.

Looking back to Mely, I take in her stylishly sweet dress that doesn’t reveal much but is still sexy at the same time. Giving her a wink, I say, “There’s nothing standard about you, Melinda Rothschild, so I’m advising you to stay away from that look. I think you’re mighty fine just the way you are.”

***ARC provided in exchange for an honest review - Lauren / Scandalous Book Blog***

Stubborn as a Mule is the second book from Juliette Poe in the sex and sweat tea series but can be read as a stand alone which I did. 
Set in the town of Whynot, North Carolina, we are thrown in to this book at the court appearance of  Lowe Mancinkus and Melinda  Rothschild, both parties fighting over Mainer house and both believing they are in the right but the judges decision will flip both their lives upside down.
Lowe Mancinkus is a passionate man who loves his family fiercely, but right now he can barely talk to them! How could they sell their beloved, historical Mainer house and to top it off to some stuck up New Yorker who just wants to do it up and sell it on. Well he’s not going to make it easy for her, but ending up in court with community service to undo any damage on the house was not in his plan but he wouldn’t change what he done, he’s just going to have to make Melinda’s life hell until she drops the charges. 
Melinda (or Mely to her friends) has brought the house of her dreams! Yes it’s run down and needs a lot of work done on it but to her it’s perfect. What’s not perfect is Lowe Mancinkus trying to make her life a misery but she won’t let him win. She’s a strong, confident woman and knows how to stand up for herself. Coming from New York and use to the fast paced life but Mely soon falls in love with the slower southern life and wants to stay in Whynot but what does Lowe have in store for her, will he throw a spanner in her plans?
After Lowe starts restoring Mainer house to its previous condition he soon forgets his bitterness towards Mely and both of them quickly realise they have both been quick to judge each other. Mix in Mely’s bestie Morris D and the laughs start coming, the three of them clashing especially Lowe and Morris D but when push comes to shove they all have each other’s backs.
The chemistry between Lowe and Mely is passionate from the start. First fuelled by anger but then definitely changing into something else but is it love? Once we start to see the characters for who they really are we see Lowe truly is a southern gentleman and what woman wouldn’t fall for that charm? He also has a playful side which makes you have that dreamy smile on your face while your reading. Basically Lowe sounds like the perfect guy there must be a catch right?

To me this book is all about family, following your heart and standing up for what you believe in. Add in what sounds like a beautiful town, good people most with good values and what’s not to fall in love with. Like I said at the start I read this book as a stand alone but I will be going back to read the first book as I feel like I have missed out on some important events and characters and I will definitely be reading book 3 when its out.

Juliette Poe is the sweet and swoony alter ego of New York Times Best Selling author, Sawyer Bennett. A fun-loving southern girl, Juliette knows the allure of sweet tea, small towns, and long summer nights, that some of the best dates end sitting on the front porch swing, and that family is top priority. She brings love in the south to life in her debut series, Sex & Sweet Tea. When Juliette isn’t delivering the sweetest kind of romance, she’s teaching her southern belle daughter the fine art of fishing, the importance of wearing Chucks, and the endless possibilities of a vivid imagination. 

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