All He Ever Needed (Kowalski Family #4)

First, I must say that Shannon Stacey is one of my favorite romance authors. I was so excited when this title appeared on my Kindle (having preordered it months ago). I put off work and every other thing I should have been doing to read this highly anticipated addition to the Kowalski saga. My reaction was OK, it\’s a pretty well written story. However, I didn\’t find this book to have the spark or humor of the previous books, which are favorites for a reread or relisten (to the audio versions) about once a month. I miss the funny family interactions. I was so expecting the Kowalski cousins to come visit the inn at some point, or at least some of the previous characters. Even Sean didn\’t show up. Further, the romance left me a little bored. THe couple spent very little time together, at least in the written pages. There was a secondary storyline about the housekeeper and someone from her past that I felt took up way too much time. I didn\’t care about them, I WANTED THE KOWALSKIS that I met in the previous books to bring this book to life! I laughed out loud at some of the scenes from those previous books; this one, not a chuckle. I don\’t believe I\’ll be interested in reading this book again.

3.5 It\’s been a while since I read a new Kowalski book, so I couldn\’t wait to go back and visit them again. But I was worried when I started it because I was getting bored. All people could talk about was how much sex Mitch Kowalski had had; how, when and with whom. No one missed an opportunity to share their sexy adventure with the hero. And all I could think was \”okay, this guy likes sex, has had lots of sex, but could you tell me something I don\’t know?\” Then when it came to Mitch and the heroine, Paige, there was also just internal thoughts of how attracted they were and couldn\’t stop thinking about it and I just thought \”Oh man, will there be no story here? Will it all be a shallow sex story?\” Fortunately after some chapters, the town finally moved on and the story began taking shape. Mitch and Paige were still attracted to each other but there was something else too: chemistry and interest, and I finally started to fall in love with this new set of Kowalskis. I enjoyed the moments Mitch and Paige spent together talking about everything and nothing, and doing everything and nothing, too. I loved how neither of them noticed their falling in love but I could because there were more actions than words. It was sweet and nice and I couldn\’t wait for that final moment when they would finally work it all out. And speaking about that, I did feel the ending a little rushed BUT I loved what they said to each other. I also loved seeing glimpses of Mitch\’s relationship with his brothers Josh and Ryan and I can\’t wait to read their stories in the next books. OVERALL: The beginning was somewhat bumpy but as it progressed, \’All He Ever Needed\’ took shape and I enjoyed it a lot. It can be a stand alone book and it\’s not necessary to read the first three books in the series, but I do recommend them because they\’re incredible, especially \’Yours to Keep\’ where one of Mitch\’s younger brothers, Sean, falls in love.

This series gets better and better. For anyone that hasn\’t read this series, I would recommend it. I wasn\’t a huge fan of the first book but thanks to a lot of encouragement from other readers I know, I went ahead and gave the 2nd book a go and haven\’t regretted it since. The 4th book in this installment manages to balance out so many of the internal and external conflicts our main characters face. Family, money, work, insecurities, and fighting against the fear of wanting something to the point of almost losing out on what could be the best thing of your life. Loved the characters. Found them easy to like and understand and also appreciated that there wasn\’t a \”quick fix\” to any and all the problems that came up – both for the main characters as well as the their friends and families.

I had enjoyed the Kowalski cousin\’s stories so much I ordered book four as soon as I was done with book three. I did not do that this time. First let\’s deal with the sex…well not a lot to deal with there. Mitch is suppose to be this womanizer who has \”been with\” everyone who wears a skirt in and out of his hometown. So of course I thought uhmmm, this might get interesting. The first time they were together I thought this is pretty vanilla for as much hype as the guy is getting. And, I do mean hype. His escapades are featured regularly as town gossip. So go figure. Next, there were just a lot of situations that seemed to be a big part of who the characters were that was never really delved into very much. One example might be why Mitch is such a hound dog other than a character\’s opinion that \”he just likes sex\”. Was it caused by a childhood trauma, fear of commitment, health issue, or other possibilities. Then, issues that could have been expounded upon were not. Just here\’s how it is. No conflict between the characters.No make us wonder what might happen. An example would be when a mother has to tell her daughter something horrible about her father who she idealizes. The daughter just accepts it and we move on. Just a quick fix! (Kind of like the romance) 😉 These Kowalski brothers are different than their cousins. I am not sure it is in a good way either. There were some good laughs along the way. I really loved Paige\’s independent nature. Her desire to belong somewhere and put her mark on the town shone through. The townsfolk included some pretty entertaining characters, also. I probably won\’t finish the series if I continue to read similar comments about the other books in the series. My reasoning is that even though it\’s a book in a series I expect that it be well planned and thought out. Sometimes I feel that authors start to feel safe when writing a series. They know they have us hooked and the quality begins to fall off. I\’m jumping off my soapbox now!

Brilliant read

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member