Review: Past Tents by Stacy Travis

Past Tents by Stacy Travis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via the author and Smartypants Romance, all opinions are my own.

This was such a fun romance set in my favorite fictional town of Green Valley.  This like the other books in the series can be read as a complete standalone.  There are mentions of other characters that we have met before in previous books set in the series, however you don't have to have read those to understand the storyline in this book.  I do highly recommend them because they are all excellent reads.  

This follows two teachers at Green Valley high who have known each other since they were teenagers.  Clay teaches English and coaches the track team and has been Ally's older brother's best friend since high school.  Ally teaches Art, runs the yearbook, and is the backup nurse now that she took a first aid course in an attempt to be more self-sufficient.  With a stomach bug taking out half of the staff, Ally has been asked to co-chaperone the annual senior camping trip with Clay.    No big deal right?  Well...Ally is terrified of the woods despite being surrounded by them in their small town.  Clay camps regularly and offers to take her on a trial run in his back yard to get her comfortable before going out with the kids.  Their trial run goes swimmingly as Ally realizes the outdoors and camping can be a great escape and she gets to know Clay, who she has had a crush on for ages much better.  They both are able to open up with each other about their vulnerabilities and some baggage they carry around which only makes their mutual attraction to one another deepen.  

This was filled with humor, awkward moments, great banter, great discussions about mental health and having a healthy relationship, and great characters.  Both of our main characters are hesitant to enter into a committed relationship for different reasons, and they both put that out there at the beginning.  They have some stumbling blocks along the way but they have support to help them figure things out and eventually have mature conversations instead of letting miscommunication reign supreme.  I loved getting to know Clay and Ally.

This was a fun read and another great addition to the Pennyverse.

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