The Book Beehive: Book Review and Giveaway for Southern Comfort by Natasha Madison

SOUTHERN COMFORT
by NATASHA MADISON

Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South.

Olivia

When you find out that your fiancé is arrested for swindling over ten million dollars from his clients, you do what any sane woman would do. You escape reality and go undercover, trading in your city-girl Louboutins for country-pumpkin cowboy boots.

It wasn’t a forever change—it was temporary. I only had to stay here until things back home got straightened out, or so I thought.

Casey

I was riding horses before I was walking, or at least that was what they told me. I always knew I would take over the family farm. It’s in my blood.

Country boy at heart, the minute I saw her dragging her luggage up the gravel driveway I knew she was out of my league.

I shouldn’t have started anything with her, because I knew she was just passing through.

I couldn’t stop it, I fell in love with her. Even though I knew, in the end, she would leave me.

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REVIEW: 2.5 STARS
"You look perfect," I say, and when she looks over at me her whole face lights up. "You know, in all this time, no one has ever said that to me," she says, looking back in the mirror. "I was told I'm beautiful, and outstanding, exquisite, but I was never perfect."

I am going to make this short and sweet - get to the point and walk away. I was hoping that Southern Chance was a one off problem, so I jumped into Southern Comfort hoping that the issues I had with the first book would not carry over to the second book. It soon became very apparent that this wasn’t a one off issue I was having. She was still repeating things that had no need to be repeated from one chapter to the next. She still had shallow characters more concerned about fashion than circumstance. And I honestly couldn't handle Olivia in the way she treated Casey, in the first book so I unfortunately went in with a chip on my shoulder from the first book.....and yes, it carried over. Sadly.

I have enjoyed a few books by Madison to the point that she keeps me coming back for more. Her synopses always capture me and the covers are always beautiful. This one, I was hoping for the same pull that I have experienced before. The one that kept me coming back and sharing this with excitement. To be fair, I did DNF a book of hers right before starting this series, and the first one in this series was almost a DNF as well - so unfortunately, I don't think I went in with a clear conscience. I think the magic has worn off for me. I'm not saying she's not a good writer - because she clearly works for so many others and I'm not denying that. I'm merely saying she doesn't work for me anymore. Her brand of cheesy actions and responses, coupled with word repetition solely for word count, I need to call it quits. I'm sad because the next story was set up wonderfully throughout these last two books, but I don't think I can honestly read that book and not get frustrated.

Every once in a while, every few pages or so, she had these little gems sprinkled in some scenes between the chaos and the ridiculousness that filled the pages. I sought those gems out each and every time because I was hoping it was a passing phase and she was going to break out in her easy flow prose and allow me to fall into the story. There was more eye rolling adventures of the idiot kind than anything else, and it was getting more frustrating by the page.

I will say this much. She created a great confident character in Casey. He was protective and caring, but he didn't want to give in to this feeling he was feeling. What I didn't understand was the very thing that made him SO RICH was the ONE THING he couldn't stop. It seriously made no sense to me. At every corner. Olivia, however, was annoying. Elvis-lip annoying. No one ever loved her. No one ever did something so nice for her. No one ever made her feel so special. Everything is a new experience for her, but it came across as overplayed and overwritten, but most definitely underwhelming. She was portrayed as vapid and flat, not endearing and sweet. I'm still shaking my head at her (re)actions and personality. I get it, we get it, you had a terrible childhood and a horrible mother. I had zero sympathy for her - maybe it was the way it was written, or maybe it was her and how she conducted herself. I'm not sure, but it didn't read well.

So yes, as you can see, I didn't handle these last two books well. I’m so disheartened at how ridiculous this was. I generally like her flow, I like her word usage, even though sometimes the cheesy comes through extra hard. This one was ludicrous the amount of times I asked myself "what?" while reading, or rolled my eyes, or wanted to quit the book entirely. It was angering because I was promised angst - and all I got was cheesy unnecessary drama. There was exactly ZERO amounts of angst in this series. I honestly believe that added to my frustration because being promised that and it not being delivered really bothered me. I wasn't signing up for a cheesy, drama-laden sweet read. There is a HUGE difference between angst and stupid drama. This didn't have any angst.

Unfortunately, I now realize I am done with this series. Between this second book and the first one I read (one after the other), I knew I just needed to walk away and just count my losses as one massive thumbs down. I am tired of looking forward to a promised angst and honest storytelling only to be confronted with unnecessary drama and eye-roll worthy moments. This was just the icing on the cake - ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Better than the first, but not anything I can continue on with, unfortunately.

But don't let my opinion stop you....

"You're beautiful." His voice goes even lower, and I look down. I've been told I'm beautiful my whole life from as far back as I can remember, but the way he said it - the softness to his words and the way he looked straight into my eyes - is something I've never had.
~BEE

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Here is my review for the first book, Southern Chance

~MEET NATASHA MADISON~

When her nose isn't buried in a book, or her fingers flying across a keyboard writing, she's in the kitchen creating gourmet meals. You can find her, in four inch heels no less, in the car chauffeuring kids, or possibly with her husband scheduling his business trips.

It's a good thing her characters do what she says, because even her Labrador doesn't listen to her...

~CONNECT WITH NATASHA~

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