She’s about to teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget.
Folk Around and Find out, an opposites attract, single parent contemporary romance set in a small town from New York Times bestselling author Penny Reid is out now!
He needs to get her out of his system. Just once…
Hank Weller doesn’t help people. He leaves that do-gooder nonsense to his best friend, Beau Winston. Hank does what he wants, when he wants, with whomever he wants—and Hank does not want to hire Charlotte Mitchell to be an exotic dancer at his club, The Pink Pony. Sure, he can’t help noticing the dips and curves of her, how shrewd, smart, and funny she is, the fire in her hazel eyes. He’s always noticed. She’d probably draw a crowd and entice the regulars. But after Charlotte’s messy, public divorce made Hank’s club out to be the culprit—and made her the single mother of four kids—he doesn’t need or want any additional bad press courtesy of Charlotte Mitchell. Or the distraction. Unfortunately for him, the town’s prettiest charity case doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of the words nope, no, and never.
Charlotte Mitchell doesn’t much like Hank Weller. Once upon a time, she used to. Years ago, she liked him a whole heckofalot despite other folks in town labeling him as “eccentric” and “nonconformist,” which were polite southern alternatives to “filthy rich” and “self-centered douchebag.” Her opinion of him changed dramatically after he volunteered to be her date to junior prom and then promptly stood her up. They haven’t so much as acknowledged each other in over a decade. But a sudden family emergency means Charlotte needs access to Hank’s club ASAP. Unfortunately for her, the narcissistic fancy-pants doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of the words help, generosity, and compassion.
But he’s about to find himself schooled. Charlotte is going to teach Hank a lesson once and for all about basic human decency, whether he likes it or not.
Spoiler alert. . . he likes it. 😉
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Keep reading for a look inside Folk Around and Find Out!
My day hadn’t been great even before she walked in.
I’d just returned from the funeral of my longtime bookkeeper. He’d died from old age in his sleep surrounded by his five kids, loving wife, and eighteen grandchildren while leaving me with a reconciliation mess and this month’s payroll to finish.
My newly trained bartender had sent a manifesto via text message, blaming his decision to quit on my unwillingness to build a dedicated meditation room and give him four paid half-hour breaks per shift to use it.
Three Diamond Whiskey bottles out of the six that had shipped from the distributor were broken in the crate. If you’re keeping score, that’s seven hundred dollars in Tennessee Whiskey and a crime against humanity.
On the plus side, the suit I’d worn to my parents’ funerals fit and I still looked damn good in it.
Of course, I didn’t know the newcomer was her at first. The door opened and closed, same sound as normal no matter who was coming or going. It was a Sunday mid-morning, still early yet for any of the dancers or bouncers and way too early for any customers.
But the moment she turned the corner and came into view, I gritted my teeth. Here we go. What could she want? She better not be selling Bibles.
“Charlotte.” Standing behind the bar, I crossed my arms and sounded unfriendly. She’d caught me restocking paper products and the three surviving bottles of Diamond Whiskey. I was only half finished with my current task, but nowhere near half finished with my task list for the day. I did not have time for pious Charlotte Mitchell.
As a rule, I had time for two types of folks: people I paid, and people who paid me. A small number of exceptions to this rule existed: a few friends from college and in town, like Beau Winston or Patty Lee, and any woman I’d set my mind on seducing, but even then, I made sure the scales remained balanced—give and take, tit for tat, even-steven. Point is, Charlotte was obviously not the former exception, and there was no way she’d ever be interested in becoming the latter.
“Hank.” She didn’t look at me, but she did paste on an obligatory-looking smile that pulled her full lips tight and came nowhere close to her green eyes. Tracking Charlotte Mitchell’s slow approach, I didn’t miss how she took her time and peered around.
I wanted to snark, “Lost? I believe the wallpaper and sanctimony store is closer to downtown.”
Instead, I ground out, “What do you want?”
Meet Penny Reid
Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she writes kissing books. Penny is an obsessive knitter and manages the #OwnVoices-focused mentorship incubator / publishing imprint, Smartypants Romance. She lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, three kids, and dog named Hazel.
Connect with Penny
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Mailing List: http://pennyreid.ninja/newsletter/
Website: http://www.pennyreid.ninja
[I received a digital arc for an honest review]
Folk Around and Find Out by Penny Reid is the second book in the Good Folk: Modern Folktales series. Hank Weller has accepted his standing in the community even if he’s considered a lovable reprobate. He knows his employees at The Pink Pony and friends love and appreciate him even if the rest of the town judges his choices. Charlotte Mitchell is used to being pitied by the folks of Green Valley and as long as she can care for her children, she doesn’t care. She approaches Hank with a proposition in hopes of helping her family and is shocked by his complete refusal and then change of heart. Charlotte finds herself seeing a different side of Hank but struggles as he continuously throws up walls in order to protect her reputation and his heart. But their attraction is too strong to ignore so both must decide if their future is worth the risk.
Hank Weller is a character who has always been in the background until now. Getting to know his struggles and past really warmed your heart to him. He cannot believe when Charlotte returns his affection and wants to throw his whole self into any relationship she’s willing to try. Hank hides behind physical intimacy but finds the emotional intimacy he and Charlotte share even more intoxicating.
Knowing my kids and truly liking them for who they were, he couldn’t have more effectively stolen my heart.
Charlotte Mitchell doesn’t care what the town of Green Valley thinks about her. She fails to see Hank as anything other than a successful business and a supportive and empathic boss. She is attracted to him physically but as they give more of themselves over to each other she realizes the support he provides is even sexier than their stolen steamy moments. I loved her sense of humor and use of sarcasm especially in the beginning to challenge Hank at every turn.
What would it take to halt the hurricane of optimism, hard work and competence that was Charlotte Mitchell?
I really enjoyed this addition to the Green Valley universe. You get to know Hank after him being in the peripheral for so many books. Charlotte ends up being one of my favorite females because she refuses to let the town’s opinion of her keep her from doing what she wants and being with who she’s falling for. Charlotte’s children added this whole other layer to their relationship and I loved seeing Hank fall for the kids even before he’s willing to admit he’s falling for Charlotte.
4 stars for Hank and Charlotte turning animosity into happily ever after.
—Written by Katie—
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