Book 3 in the Honeybrook Hollow series
Reviewed by CJ | Rating: 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
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⚠️ This is a full spoiler review. If you haven’t read By Your Side yet — go read it first. We’ll be here when you’re done.
OPENING HOOK
Well, I jumped straight into book three of a series because the description called to me and I’m a mood reader like that. It’s one of the things I love most about a series of interconnected standalones. I’d go so far as to say it’s my ideal series set up. Anyway, turns out you don’t need book one and two to fall completely in love with Hunter Cassidy and Paige Darlington, you just need a childhood marriage pact, a fortieth birthday, and two people who’ve been orbiting around each other in one way or another for decades.
THE FULL STORY — SPOILERS INCLUDED
So the setup: Hunter and Paige made a pact as teenagers that if neither of them was married by 40, they’d marry each other. Hunter’s fortieth birthday rolls around, he brings up the pact the night before. This leads to Paige showing up at his house the next morning with their tradion of birthday coffee and muffins devolving into the most deliciously awkward encounter of her life. I loved it.
Their friendship has been rock solid through adulthood, but Hunter pulled back a bit while Paige was married to Eli (her ex, and an absolute douche-canoe of a human being). Eli cheated on Paige and went on to marry her high school nemesis, so by the time we catch up with present-day Eli, he’s neglecting his and Paige’s kids because his new wife and stepkids are getting all his attention. Noah (20, away at culinary school), and Lark and Briar (teens) are old enough to see exactly what’s going on, even though Paige tries to take the high road by not badmouthing him when they’re around. Eventually they all talk openly and honestly about his behavior so I loved getting to see them included in that. We don’t give kids enough credit for how perceptive and insightful they are.
From there it gets worse. We find out that all of the little problems at Paige’s bar have been Eli’s sabotaging Twilight Tavern this whole time. Using an old spare key to mess with the freezer, the margarita machine, all of it. I called this as soon as the bad luck started piling up, so no surprise there for me. He gets caught on camera and completely unravels, because it turns out he can’t run the two businesses he kept without Paige’s management, meanwhile Twilight Tavern, the one she took with her, keeps thriving. He loses his new wife in the process because he can’t produce the money he used to and it’s a delicious little karmic spiral.
Meanwhile, Hunter’s been there the whole time. This is textbook friends-to-lovers, but the twist that made it work for me is that Hunter’s clearly had buried feelings for Paige for a long time, and he didn’t interfere with her and Eli because he didn’t want to risk the friendship. It’s the same reason she never made a move or seriously entertained the idea either when they were teens. Makes sense, but god, you wish someone had interfered. As adults, though, they don’t fall into this by accident or drunkenly stumble into it, they make a real, decisive choice to be together. Hesitant at first, sure, but purposeful. They choose each other with full awareness of what it means and I frikkin loved that.
BEST PART OF THIS BOOK
Watching Paige’s kids react to all of it. Kids get written as background noise in so many books, but here they’re actually paying attention; they see what their dad’s doing, they know how it’s affecting their mom, and they’ve known Hunter their whole lives. They know he’s someone they and their mom can actually rely on and they’re just genuinely happy for her. It’s not all about them, them, them, it’s real support, and it felt so much more realistic than the usual “kids as plot device” thing.
WORST PART OF THIS BOOK
The will-they-won’t-they dragged a little longer than I needed. I get the hesitation because she’s coming out of a bad marriage, she doesn’t want to get hurt again, but this is Hunter. Best friend, decades of trust, an easy decision in my opinion. Not a huge complaint, just a personal frustration.
THE STEAM RATING BREAKDOWN
- Yes, there are sex scenes — explicit, not fade to black
- Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (spicy)
- Romance is central — this is a full friends-to-lovers arc, the relationship IS the plot
- Content warnings: infidelity/divorce backstory, sabotage/property damage, general “ex is a manipulative dickhead” behavior
THE ENDING — SATISFIED OR DISAPPOINTED?
Satisfied. Eli gets exactly what he deserves, Hunter and Paige get their happily ever after the right way where it’s chosen, not accidental, and Paige’s kids get to see their mom finally land somewhere good.
WOULD WE REREAD IT?
Probably, if I revisit the series. Wouldn’t seek it out on its own, but it would definitely hold up.
THE CHARACTER WE LOVED TO HATE
Eli. He is such a dickish dick that I kind of hoped there would be some off-page head injury explaining how he got this bad, because otherwise it’s hard to justify how Paige ended up married to him in the first place. That’s not a knock on the writing, because we all know people who made decisions with their heart over their head, but that’s just how much I hated him.
WHO IS THIS FOR
Anyone who loves a well-done friends-to-lovers arc, especially one where the guy isn’t a mess about his feelings. Hunter is a forty-year-old man who knows exactly how much he loves his best friend, and he doesn’t spend the whole book pretending otherwise.
WHERE TO GET THIS BOOK
📖 Physical Book
📱 Ebook
🎧 Audiobook
📚 More from the Honeybrook Hollow series
- Book 1 — Not yet reviewed
- Book 2 — Not yet reviewed
- Book 3 — By Your Side | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥 (you’re here now)
- Book 4 — Read, but not yet reviewed | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 4/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
- Book 5 — Yours to Keep | Reviewed by CJ | ⭐ 3.5/5 | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Ready for more reviews from CJ? Find More Here
Plot Twisted. 🔥
📖 | Series: Honeybrook Hollow Book 3 | Genre: Romance | Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥