Review: Hopelessly Devoted by Piper Sheldon

Hopelessly Devoted by Piper Sheldon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was really cute despite being pretty angsty. While it is a standalone novella, I would highly recommend reading The One That I Want first, and maybe My Bare Lady as well. This runs concurrently with events that happen in The One That I Want, and I feel like I would be really confused had I not read that already. You should also read The Treble With Men because it is my favorite book in the series and then you will know all of the women in Scorned Women Society up to this point. There are alot of mentions of previous characters and I feel it would be helpful to have a baseline knowledge of who they are and what they are talking about going into this novella. You can read it on it's own, but I think it would be helpful to have read the other books first.

If you have been keeping up with the books in the series you will recognize Jack as Ford's best friend, and Skip aka William as Sanders' best friend and business partner. Skip has come to Green Valley to rescue Sanders from yet another bad decision and help him clean up his mess. Both Skip and Sanders are grieving over the loss of Sanders' father, who was a father figure to Skip. Sanders isn't dealing with his emotions very well, which means their business is suffering from yet another rash decision. Skip gets roped into helping out with a youth group for troubled teens and ends up going camping with Jack. Normally his wouldn't be a big deal, but Skip had a panic attack all over Jack at a bar just a few nights ago and is feeling some sort of way about it. Both Jack and Skip are attracted to each other, but neither of them are ready to jump in head first into a relationship especially when there is a ton of baggage for them to sort through.

I really enjoyed the character development in this. William/Skip kind of starts out as a shy, gruff guy but he really blossoms when he's on the camping trip with the kids. There is a bit of kinship with them as they all come from rough homes and not the best circumstances. He gives them great advice and encourages them to be better men. The consent conversation was pretty great. That needs to be on a poster! We also get to see him connect with Jack as they both came from somewhat similar backgrounds and while they have some things to work on when it comes to their relationship the had good chemistry. While this is only a novella, it packs an emotional punch and has a good amount of steam.

I was provided and ARC, all opinions are my own.
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