Review: New Orleans Rush by Kelly Siskind

Falling for your surly boss is a rotten idea.

Letting him saw you in half is even worse...

NEW ORLEANS RUSH by KELLY SISKIND

Publication date: April 23, 2019

Published by: Everafter Romance

Genre: contemporary romance

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Synopsis

Beatrice Baker may be a struggling artist, but she believes all hardships have silver linings...until she follows her boyfriend to New Orleans and finds him with another woman. Instead of turning those lemons into lemonade, she drinks lemon drop martinis and keys the wrong man's car.

Now she works for Huxley Marlow of the Marvelous Marlow Boys, getting shoved in boxes as an on-stage magician's assistant. A cool job for some, but Bea's been coerced into the role to cover her debt. She also maybe fantasizes about her boss's adept hands and what else they can do.

She absolutely will not fall for him, or kiss him senseless. Until she does. The scarred, enigmatic Huxley has unwittingly become her muse, unlocking her artistic dry spell, but his vague nightly activities are highly suspect. The last time Beatrice trusted a man, her bank account got drained and she almost got arrested. Surely this can't end that badly...right?

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Praise for New Orleans Rush:

“A fun mixture of magic, sensuality, and iconic pin-up girl style. The romance in New Orleans Rush will leave you smiling and filled with optimism.” ~ Helen Hoang, author of the smash hit The Kiss Quotient

“New Orleans Rush is full of humor, explosive chemistry, the fun backdrop of New Orleans, and a couple I truly rooted for. This is a must read!” ~ USA Today bestselling Author Jennifer Blackwood

“Kelly Siskind knocks it out of the park with her evocative voice in this story of family, fun, and falling in love—you don’t want to miss the magic of Beatrice and Huxley!” ~ USA Today bestselling author Ellis Leigh

About Kelly Siskind

A small-town girl at heart, Kelly moved from the city to open a cheese shop with her husband in northern Ontario. When she’s not neck deep in cheese or out hiking, you can find her, notepad in hand, scribbling down one of the many plot bunnies bouncing around in her head. She laughs at her own jokes and has been known to eat her feelings. She’s also an admitted book addict, devouring novels into the wee hours of the morning.

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REVIEW

New Orleans Rush by Kelly Siskind
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book has laugh out loud, grab your butterfly filled chest, feel-good romance stamped all over it! I clicked request on this book because of the adorable illustrated cover, the magician hero, and the setting of New Orleans but I had no idea how much I'd end up enjoying it. You know when you spot a book and every single part of the outer packaging looks PERFECT for you? Then your intuition makes an appearance and whispers in your ear that you need to read it now. You try not to get your hopes up because, well...expectations. They ruin you. But guess what? New Orleans Rush exceeded all of my hopes and delivered a sexy, sassy rom-com that made me happy with every page I turned. Beatrice "Bea" charmed the pants off of me with her infectious joy and zest for life. Huxley tries to fool people into believing he's a stern stick-in-the-mud, but he's nothing but a pile of goo in her very capable hands.

From their first inauspicious meet, Bea begins making his life better. Okay, so she keyed his late father's vintage car and doesn't have the funds to pay for it. She also shakes up his gloomy, orderly life that has been filled with worry for too long. She revitalizes his stale magic show and helps him fill the empty seats again so he can hang on to his father's legacy. The dilapidated theater he inherited is falling down all around him and there's nothing he can do about it. With two brothers holding their hands out for money constantly, and an uncle constantly plotting his downfall, he has little time for fun anymore. But he sacrifices and works his fingers to the bone in order to hold onto it all. One disastrous day at a time. Huxley is the kind of person who would give a stranger the shirt off of his back or his last dollar to someone in need. Someone like Bea.

Bea is down on her luck as well. Her loser father drained her bank account and now has a loan shark threatening her bodily harm on his behalf. She's been dumped by her boyfriend, and has nowhere to live. But her eternal optimism doesn't let her wallow or give up. She steps into a scene with her quirky 50s pinup girl style, her bright colors, and artistic flair, and you can't help but smile right along with her. And lord, does this girl have sass. She handles Huxley's "lie detector" face and his brothers' shameless teasing like she was born to it. And that's one of the things I loved the most. How she not only paired as a perfect compliment to the hero, but she fit flawlessly into his family and finally had a feeling of being home. One thing they had in common was the fact that they didn't have a stable home life with their parents. As different as they were, they could relate on that very elemental level. And for the first time she knew what it was like for people to have her back. Just as she was set on having his back and easing the stress that was overwhelming him.

    What would it be like to wake up to her brightness every morning? To have that unbridled joy in his life. To slip his fingers through her red hair whenever he wanted, claim her lips in a bruising kiss. Every muscle in his body flexed at the fantasy.

Bea and Huxley had chemistry in spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. She could have easily made him her rebound guy, but they both enter into a relationship with extreme caution. And how do they do that, you ask? By becoming roommates, with the strict rule that they won't get physical or go on a date. Two adults with sizzling attraction brushing up against each other at breakfast, giving secretive hot glances, teasing banter, and lots of bottled up pheromones. There was one scene where I chuckled so hard, I had to stop read it from the beginning. Yep. Just as funny the second time. They're texting back and forth, somehow the conversation starts getting more flirty than she intended. So she tries to back off and retreat. Hilarity ensues.

    She’d planned to end their flirtatious repartee with the non-sexy text: I’m menstruating. Buy me whipped cream. Because whipped cream tasted best when menstruating, and menstruating was non-sexy. Instead autocorrect betrayed her and sent: I’m masturbating. Buy me whipped cream. Crap. Huxley’s answering dots bounced. She held her breath. Then her phone died.

Huxley wears his heart on his sleeve for Bea. I mean...his nickname for her (Honeybee *swoon*) his constant chivalrous efforts, his willingness to wait for her until she's able to trust in his promises. I couldn't get enough of them and the anticipation for them to finally exit the friend zone ratcheted up to sky high levels. This book is low on drama, high on effervescent humor, and filled to the brim with heartwarming romance. I'm not kidding when I say that I didn't want it to end!! Kelly Siskind waved her wand and sprinkled magic on this delightful story. I rarely gush over books anymore, but in this case all I want to do is share how bright this book sparkles. Read this! One-click, READ THIS, and savor it just like I did.

    “I’m in love with you, Beatrice Baker. The rest is a backdrop. Window dressing. You’re the main event I can’t live without.”

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