About the Book

He’s my sister’s ex, a stubborn jerk, and completely off-limits.

Getting a man to give up custody of a son he didn’t know existed should have been easy. Trouble is, nothing with JP King is ever easy.

Suave, grumpy billionaires aren’t supposed to have strong hands or filthy mouths, and I never expected our snippy banter to be so much fun.

JP regards me as something he scraped off the bottom of his dress shoe, but when this reluctant single dad looks at my nephew, there’s a softness there he struggles to keep hidden.

He may be gruff and uptight, but something simmers beneath his controlled, polished exterior. Sure, I’m wild and reckless, but when we’re forced together as guardians, everything changes.

His cold and calculated exterior melts into hushed conversations and lingering stares. The more we fight, the harder we fall.

I’m scatterbrained, unconventional, and everything he’s been missing. The closer we get, the less we understand why we were ever at odds.

. . . until just like that our lives are turned upside down.

Review

Was it intelligent to continue The Kings series after it depended heavily on lore from the previous series and books? Probably not, however, I had unsupported confidence that I was going to enjoy this story. Out of the incredibly huge cast of characters, JP seemed interesting to me, and I was intrigued to see where his story went.

The gist of the story is that Hazel is now the guardian of her nephew after her sister passed away months prior. They arrive in Outtatowner in search of JP, who Hazel’s sister revealed in a letter is her son’s father. JP is completely blindsided by the revelation that he has a son, and at first denies the allegation. He’s dealing with the outcome of what happened last book and trying to save the family business. However, after spending time with Hazel and Teddy, he quickly grows to love and accept them in his life.

JP is very cold and buttoned up whereas Hazel is free-spirited. It’s an opposite attracts situation that is mostly done well. Their relationship progresses quickly. And funny enough they never have a conversation about them being together with Teddy, they just are and he accepts it. Anyway, they build a nice foundation of trust. JP begins to open up more and not work at much. And Hazel, well, deep sigh. Once again, there is no issue with how Hendrix writes her female main characters. Hazel feels like a supporting character in the King’s story. She isn’t sidelined by the mystery unlike with Veda from Just Between Us, she just doesn’t get much that doesn’t involve the romance. She loves traveling, her nephew, and is a social media influencer. She lost her sister, but the story doesn’t give us anything else. Readers deserve to know Hazel on a deeper level. I have so many unanswered questions. What happened with her social media career? What about her being a carrier for the ovarian cancer gene (the type of cancer that killed her sister)? What about the bus?

Truthfully, I’ll say that Hendrix found a good balance between the mystery and the story with this one. For the majority of the most, I was interested in the mystery and ready to learn other Kings' family secrets. Oh boy, was I naïve. At the eighty-five percent mark, the story took a turn for the worse. The author threw in an unredeemable twist that felt like a slap in my face. It once again proved that Hendrix does not favor her female characters.

Sidenote: I do wish that there was a character list at the start of the book that told the birthing order of the siblings and who is married to who. It’s exhausting trying to keep up with so many characters, and a reference sheet would have alleviated some of that exhaustion.

Final Thoughts

After reading, Just Like That, I can end my journey of trying to enjoy this series. I do not believe it is for me. Plot-wise—it did not allow for the emotional impact of the story to settle. It felt rushed, and character development was lost along the way. There is no denying that Hendrix can write a mostly entertaining romance. Although JP and Hazel were not the best couple, they did have several highlights that I did enjoy. It is a misfortune that the author continues to sideline her female main characters and jeopardize another to fulfill an unexciting and annoying plot twist. For a story littered with so many characters and mysteries, a last-minute plot twist was not necessary. I found myself asking who asked for this and left me wondering what it added to the story. I kept coming up with blanks. Not everything needs to be surrounded by mystery. The author had cleaned up the mystery better in this one as opposed to the last, and I’m sure there was some other direction that could have been taken to conclude this one. The author had explored that route before the twist had happened, and in the context of this world, it worked. Finally, the “villain’s” story ends in the most anti-climactic way and causes the main resolution to feel cheap and lazy.

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About the Book

Royal King is pure mischief wrapped in a cocky smirk and a heated stare.

Five minutes in his small town and I knew he was going to be nothing but trouble. He’s an arrogant, tattooed playboy with a secret, and I’m the woman tasked with quietly cleaning up his family’s mess.

I never dreamed he could be the mysterious stranger behind my hidden, late-night messages.

It doesn’t matter what he says or how hard he tries to get under my skin. I won’t break. Not for him. Not for anyone. But when our secrets are exposed, all bets are off.

He knows the rules—just a little fun exploration. Nothing more. But one lesson leads to another . . . and another . . . and soon I realize that he’s set out to break every rule I’ve ever put into place.

I refuse to find myself melting under his gaze or swooning at the way he makes the noise around us quieter.

I can handle men like him.

Everything will be fine as long as we can keep this just between us.

Review

There were some good things about Just Between Us that I thoroughly enjoyed. Royal King quickly became a standout for me, and I adore him. He was a top-tier MMC, and I appreciated that the author gave him layers. He wasn’t just the golden retriever to Veda’s black cat. Unfortunately, the author loses a bit of credit when it comes to Veda. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed her. She had some great moments within the story. However, her character is overshadowed by the mystery.

I had read two books within Lena Hendrix’s The Sullivan Family series which is interconnected into this one. I knew of the feud between the Sullivan and King family, and from the book that I had read, I knew that it was going to be resolved. I had not read the first two books within this series and was taken about the mystery of Royal’s mom. That mystery was heavy plot-wise within this story. I was intrigued by it; however, I think Veda took a backseat. There were hints about her childhood and life before coming to the town that should have been explored more.

Final Thoughts

Veda and Royal were a great couple. They had some amazing moments; however, there was not enough of them. Their relationship and Veda were sacrificed because of the mystery. There was a lot going on. Although the mystery was intriguing, since I had not read all the books, I would have preferred it to overshadow the main characters. If I had fully completed both series, I might have enjoyed this one more and enjoyed the large supporting characters.

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