All He Ever Dreamed (Kowalski Family #6)

While I love the concept of Katie and Josh and their history, I just didn\’t feel the chemistry from them throughout the book(Christmas eve, yes! but not again until the end). It seemed like their time together was rare… especially alone time. Most of the book took place with secondary characters around saying how it was about time they got together but you didn\’t really feel the fire from them. It was almost like they were teenagers not thirty something adults with their own time and space. I understand that Josh had a lodge to run and Katie\’s mom was there all the time but I feel they should have carved more time out to be together in a romantic way…maybe it was the lack of foreplay??? I felt like they are almost still platonic best friends the entire time. For them \”falling in love\” I just didn\’t feel the neediness between them or the can\’t keep my hands off you intensity that I felt with the other books in this series. The beginning and end were worth it but the middle was lacking for me. Maybe if the book was longer, the author could have expanded some of the scenes so they weren\’t as superficial. Good book but needed something more to drawl the reader in completely.

I have to say Shannon has done it again with ann installment that made me cry and cheer. Anyone who has read the series knows that Josh and Katie are meant to be together but Josh just hadn\’t realized his best buddy, one of the guys and all around most counted on person in his life was actually female. I mean he knows it is a basic gender sort of way but in the romantic or lust sort of way it just never has crossed his mind until the night he runs in to her in the lodge\’s kitchen wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts and a tank top with no bra. Well then the man finally sees the woman she is and can\’t get it out of his head. I loved watching him struggle with the realization and also the potential consequences if he were to make the move everyone else, including Katie, have been waiting on him to make for years. What follows is a bit of tension as neither wants to make a move nor do they really know for certain what the other is thinking but when the move is finally made all of us release a huge sigh of relief. Katie has always loved Josh. She understands him better than anyone but is also unwilling to make a move to endanger the incredible connection they share. She\’s torn once the wall has been dropped between being willing to just have what she can of him and not wanting to be the \”dirty\” little secret he hides. I loved how she was willing to let him figure things out so she didn\’t become the one who held him back but at the same time she wasn\’t willing to completely let him walk all over her when it came to being open and honest with his feelings for her in public. She\’s a smart woman who loved the man she knew he was enough to let him take the steps he needed to even though it killed her inside and I loved that of her. We also get some fun with the rest of the family and of course a real smile when Rose gets a surprise. I adore how Shannon Stacey gets us so invested in a set of characters that we truly cry as their hearts are broken and cheer when things go the way we want them to. As usual thanks to NetGalley.com and Carina Press for being nice enough to let me read this in exchange for my honest review. Please note I also purchased a copy as well because I adore Shannon\’s writing.

Hotness Rating 3 out of 5 This series is just getting better and better. All He Ever Dreamed is the 6th book of the Kowalski Family series by Shannon Stacey. I don\’t know how she does it. Each book is connected to the one before, but is definitely able to be read alone. But, if you do read this series in order you\’ll love that even though they are connected and compliment one another each book is fresh and doesn\’t have that cookie-cutter feeling of you\’ve read one you\’ve read them all. Josh Kowalski is tired of having his life planned out for him. When their father died it seemed that all of the siblings just assumed Josh would be the one to take over the running of the family lodge. Everything came to a head when Josh broke his leg and one of his brother\’s came to help out. What he found was a very bitter and angry Josh that was barely staying afloat financially and emotionally. Since then things have gotten better. The siblings have stepped up and made a plan to get the Northern Star Lodge viable again and then sell it, so Josh could have his chance to do what he wants. And now that the time has come he\’s questioning everything that he\’s always thought he wanted starting with his best friend Katie Davis. Katie was raised with the Kowalski kids. Her mom has been the housekeeper of the Northern Star Lodge since they were all young children. Once Mrs. Kowalski passed away Katie\’s mom stepped in and helped raise the kids. Katie loves them all, but has been in love with Josh for as long as she can remember. It seems that everyone has seen it, but Josh and now that\’s all changing. Just her luck Josh finally sees her as a woman instead of his buddy at the same time he\’s planning on leaving their little town and make a life elsewhere. There\’s a lot of things she would do for Josh, but leave her father\’s barbershop and her mom is not one of them. Josh and Katie are so fun! I love a couple that has such a close friendship, especially one like Katie and Josh had. You could feel the bond as you turned each page. In this book, we also get to learn a little more of Max, the mysterious guy in town that keeps everyone guessing. I can not wait for Max\’s story and to delve into his character even more. You can find this review and others at www.riverinaromantics.com

Brilliant read

Really like Shannon Stacey\’s books.

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