Week Forty-Nine: Maggie Moves On

***This is a review of an upcoming release. This title is scheduled to be released on June 21, 2022.***

Lucy Score is a bit of a conundrum for me. I have said in this space before that she OWNS me, and I stand by that. But earlier today, when I was talking about the books that I return to over and over and over again, well, there was a dearth of Lucy Score in that conversation.

I mean, sure…there are parts of Forever Never that I have practically memorized. And By A Thread also features pretty prominently in my re-reads…but for the most part, I don’t spend more lazy Saturdays than I am comfortable admitting down a Lucy Score rabbit hole of re-reads. That honor is reserved for Ella Frank. Brooke Blaine. The incomparable AM Johnson.

So. Why do I say that Lucy is my favorite? Because even though she doesn’t write those sweeping, agonizingly emotional 4- or 40-book epics, there is no one—NO ONE—who writes books that are more deliciously fun than Lucy Score.

Can these opposites turn up the heat… without burning down the house?

House-flipping sensation and YouTube star Maggie Nichols can’t wait to dig into her next challenge. Arriving in tiny Kinship, Idaho, with only a cot and a coffeemaker, Maggie is prepared to restore a crumbling Victorian mansion in four months or less. She has her to-do lists, her blueprints, and her team. What she doesn’t have is time for sexy, laid-back landscaper Silas Wright.

The man takes flirtation to a whole new level. And he does it shirtless…sometimes pants-less. He and his service school-dropout dog are impressively persistent. But she’s not interested in putting down roots. Not when fans tune in to watch her travel the country turning dilapidated houses into dream homes. A short-term fling on the other hand could fit nicely into her calendar. After all, Maggie remembers what fun is like. Vaguely.

As their summer gets downright steamy, Silas manages to demolish the emotional walls she’s spent years building, sending Maggie into a panic. He’s the wrench in her carefully constructed plans. With the end of the project looming, she has a decision to make. But how can she stay when her entire career is built on moving on?

Up until now, Lucy has been self-published through her “That’s What She Said” imprint. This is her major label debut, and I was concerned. I didn’t love the cover art, and I was very worried that being with a “real” editor would beat the charm right out of the book.

I should have known that Lucy would not let that happen.

I liked Maggie a lot. She is strong and focused, and she has spent a fair amount of time examining her life and making choices for herself. She has a strong relationship with her ex-husband, who is her producing partner, and manages to stay in touch—mostly—with a sister that she has a very complicated relationship with. Among the things that Maggie knows about herself is one single, unwavering truth. Maggie doesn’t put down roots. Anywhere. For anyone.

Enter flirty, sexy, fun Silas. Enter a house that Maggie is a little too in love with. Enter a town that Maggie visited as a child with her beloved late mother. Enter the previously-mentioned sister, who shows up looking for a real connection to the sister that she doesn’t really know. Enter a homeless teen, and a slobbering dog who never met a mud puddle he couldn’t flop into.

And suddenly, Maggie doesn’t know anything anymore.

This book is a complete blast. Silas may be my favorite of all Lucy’s male leads, and while this one doesn’t have the gravitas that TWNGO or Forever Never had, it makes up for that by being full of pure joy.

Lucy still owns me. Cannot recommend this one enough.