Well, it’s been awhile. This summer has been crazy busy, but also deliciously unscheduled for the most part. I’ve spent my warm Illinois summer days furiously typing away at book two in the romance series I’m writing and just finished it a few days ago. Before diving into revisions of book one and two, or even working on the upcoming school year, I have a bit more writing to do. I owe our indie bookstore owner a blog post for something fun in August and I need to write a post to run on my blog for the same day.
While I sat down to write those posts, I got distracted, as usual. I’ve been rereading a book series over the past few days in anticipation of the release of the sixth and final book on July 24th. When I began reading book one, I found myself taking screenshots of pages to send my friend, Karen, who was going to reread them as well. I hadn’t remembered just how funny this series is. In case you are in the mood for a laugh out loud romance series set around a family living in small-town West Virginia, let me introduce you to Bootleg Springs.
This series is unlike anything I can remember that I’ve read. It is written by two of my favorite authors, Lucy Score and Claire Kingsley. They take turns, alternating books, which is a concept I'm absolutely going to talk to my students about in the fall. I think that would be a fun way for them to write with a friend. Sometimes they try to write in the same document at the same time, which just ends up being a mess.
In Bootleg Springs book one, Whiskey Chaser, we are introduced to Scarlett Bodine. Scarlett is the one girl in a crew of Bodine brothers. She is tough, no-nonsense, loyal, and hilarious. Scarlett’s world takes a new path when Devlin moves into his grandmother’s house next door. He’s hiding out from a bit of a political mess he’s found himself in as a State Senator.
What follows is a story filled with humor, quirky characters, everything good and bad that comes with small towns, and some steamy scenes. And that’s just the first book. In the next four (so far), I’ve fallen more and more in love with the Bodine family and their little town of Bootleg Springs.
The other thing about this series that I’m fascinated by is that it doesn’t unfold like the majority of contemporary romance series. Like most series that I read, each book has another couple at the forefront, the other characters still in the background so that you don’t really let them go. Unlike anything else I read, there is another storyline that is told over the course of the series.
Callie Kendall was a teen that visited Bootleg Springs in the summer with her family. Twelve years before the series begins, she turns up missing, never to be found again. Through the course of the first five books, more information comes to light about the circumstances around her disappearance.
In just a few days with the release of Highball Rush we will finally know what happened to Callie and I cannot wait. I have so many theories of what happened to Callie, of what will happen in book six to Gibson, I wish I could speed up summer just for a moment. Then, of course, it needs to slow back down. Check out Bootleg Springs if you’re in the market for a fabulous read. Let me know what you think and regardless of what you pick up, happy reading.
