Sienna Diaz is everyone’s favorite „fat“ funny lady. The movie studio executives can’t explain it, but her films are out-grossing all the fit and trim headliners and Hollywood’s most beautiful elite. The simple truth is, everyone loves plus-sized Sienna.

But she has a problem: she can’t read maps and her sense of direction is almost as bad as her comedic timing is stellar. Therefore, when Sienna’s latest starring role takes her to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, she finds herself continually lost while trying to navigate the back roads of Green Valley, Tennessee. Much to her consternation, Sienna’s most frequent savior is a ridiculously handsome, charming, and cheeky park ranger by the name of Jethro Winston.

Sienna is accustomed to high levels of man-handsome, so it’s not Jethro’s chiseled features or his perfect physique that make Sienna stutter. It’s his southern charm. And gentlemanly manners. And habit of looking at her too long and too often.

Sienna has successfully navigated the labyrinth of Hollywood heartthrobs. But can she traverse the tenuous trails of Tennessee without losing her head? Or worse, her heart?

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Total surprise

I try to regularly make myself read a book that laid on my staple of unread books for was too long. Only every now and then, I honestly regret not getting to this book later. The second Winston Brothers installment is one of those few. It’s my first of the series and I requested it (and the third) via Netgalley years ago. Yes, years. Back then, I was enjoying some bad boy, good girl dynamics. And this is exactly what I thought this would be due to the cover. But this book is honestly so much more, and I enjoyed it a lot once I’d overcome my false expectations.

Meeting the protagonists…

Jethro and Sienna took me by surprise. I wanted to roll my eyes when they met in the very first chapter, but I simply couldn’t help falling for them. And that is surely also due to the amazing voice performance of Cielo Carmago and Chris Brinkley who brought the characters’ Mexican and Tennessean accent to life. Moreover, the author wrote their dialogues in an intriguing but natural manner. I couldn’t get enough of their interactions and fall for each of them through the other’s eyes. Luckily, the readers could also witness their behavior around other people—their family and friends, and people they don’t like. And all these many interactions were filled with their heart and thoughts and enabled us to see their soul. I can’t remember when I fell for characters that easily despite—or especially due to—their flaws.

Hidden Identity and Lovers to Friends to Lovers

I also can’t remember when I last listened to or read a book with so little unnecessary drama. And that is one of the greatest compliments I can attribute to a story. I simply hate miscommunication and drawn-out revelations. Instead, this book had a wonderful pace, and the characters speak with each other about their former arguments, their problems, their worries. They don’t shy away from speaking the truth just to keep the other one close. Of course, they hesitate but they don’t put their own well-being and comfort about that of the people they grow to love. And I admired that. The conflicts happen through the characters’ backstories or their circumstances, but they learn to jointly deal with them.

In conclusion,

This book took me by surprise and is the most enjoyable rom-com I’ve read in months. No unnecessary drama or miscommunication but honest arguments and conflicts the complex characters deal with together. While they fell in love with each other, so did I with them. I will surely pick up many more books of the author.

The author:

Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY Bestselling Author of the Winston Brothers, Knitting in the City, Rugby, and Hypothesis series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja. Source

The voice performers:

Chris [Brinkley] is a narrator, voice actor, writer, producer, NCAA Division I broadcaster, radio personality, and emcee.  Brinkley penned the recently released My Story of Us book and audio series.  He is also known as the voice of Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers Series, narrating and voicing all six brothers in the popular audiobook collection. More

Also read by Cielo Camargo, unfortunately, I couldn’t find Information about them online.