Review Tuesday: Any Fin for Love by Petie McCarty -- #EnemiesToLovers #SmallTownRomance #ReviewTuesday

Any Fin for Love by Petie McCarty

First Edition 2022

Cody Ryan wishes she’d paid more attention to her father on their shared fishing trips. Now he’s gone. As a way of dealing with her grief, she has decided to enter the Loon Lake Fishing Tournament, the way he did every year. Her boat is under-powered and her fishing expertise leaves much to be desired, but Cody is determined to honor Jack Ryan’s memory even if she has zero chance of winning the competition. She doesn’t want the help of the bossy, arrogant hunk from New Orleans who seems determined to rain on her parade. It’s just too bad if he kisses like an angel.

Louisiana Coast Guard agent Gage Connor heads to Loon Lake to escape his high pressure job interdicting drug runners. Little does he realize he’s bringing trouble with him, hidden in one of the compartments of his bass boat. As far as he’s concerned, his main problem is the red-headed spitfire who’s assigned to be his fishing partner. Cody is about as relaxing as a bayou gator, but there’s something about her that draws him, too. She definitely disturbs his peace of mind.

Cody and Gage are both nursing broken hearts from their distant past. Their potent attraction and the uncanny sense of familiarity they each feel in the other’s presence aren’t quite enough to overcome their lack of trust. Only when their lives are threatened do they come to recognize their mutual love as the only thing that really matters.

Having read the hilarious blurb, I was expecting a light-hearted romcom from Any Fin for Love. Although the book has its humorous moments, it doesn’t quite have the zany quality I associate with that genre. Both Cody and Gage have serious emotional issues, which turn out to be obstacles to their romance. There’s an enemies-to-lovers vibe as each of them seems to continually disappoint the other. Meanwhile, Gage is keeping secrets that Cody really needs to know. Plus, of course, there are a couple of brutal drug dealers to keep things on the darker side.

The prose is smooth, the pace swift. The plot has quite a number of surprising twists. Some of them work well, while others seem strained. I can’t say more without spoiling the effect, but the final reveal left me a bit incredulous. Others might be more willing to suspend their disbelief.

The small town of Loon is lovingly portrayed, as are the quirky characters who live there. Courtly Doc Taylor, twin innkeepers Velma and Delma, flamboyant femme fatale Lila Tumson and her scheming brother Zeke, local restauranteur Sadie Darling – Ms. McCarty brings them all to vivid life. The wily cajun Dougah is a wonderful creation. I also appreciated the fact that some of the apparent bad guys are redeemed by the end of the tale.

And the kisses...! This is not erotic romance, so there’s nothing explicit, but the author still manages to convey the intense heat between Cody and Gage. There are some truly swoon-worthy embraces scattered through the tale, in between the pratfalls and the arguments.

Overall I enjoyed Any Fin for Love, though toward the end I lost patience a bit with the protagonists. Anyone could see they were meant for one another. As a reader, I wanted to shake them and tell them to wake up to the obvious.