Worth The Trouble - Book Review

By Jamie Beck

Synopsis

Cover girl Cat St. James’s picture-perfect life is anything but flawless. Luckily, she’s a master of hiding the truth from the camera. Relying on that skill, she conceals her latest secret from her family while attending her brother’s wedding. Her only trouble now is Hank Mitchell—the soft-spoken carpenter she’d once brushed aside. Seeing him at the reception underscores her private heartache and ignites unwelcome longing, which she promptly drowns in champagne.

Hank is no stranger to sacrifice, having set aside his own ambitions to take care of his family. One thing he won’t forsake is his pride, which Cat already wounded once. But when the maddening beauty’s reckless behavior forces him to rush to her rescue, he sets in motion a series of events that leads Cat to make a business proposal granting him his dream job.

When Cat and Hank mix business with pleasure, promises and secrets unravel, and each must decide if and what they’ll surrender for love.

Review

WORTH THE TROUBLE is the second book in the St. James series and, as with the first book, it was a light and easy read and a good way to spend a few hours. Cat and Hank shared a moment when they first met a year or two ago through her brother Jackson, but then Cat got back together with her boyfriend and things have been strained between them ever since.

Hank is one of those honest-to-God good guys and is so easy to like. After his father died while he was a senior in high school, he gave up his college dreams and went straight to work to support his ailing mother and four younger sisters, allowing them to go to college and chase their dreams. Despite his busy and hard-working life, he’s a simple man with simple tastes; all he wants is a wife, a family of his own and to make custom furniture.

“We’re two friends enjoying an attraction, right? Not falling in love.”
“Well, then, I’ll try to rein in my charm. But don’t be shocked when you fall hard. I’m a loveable guy.”

What can I say about Cat? She finally kicked her psycho boyfriend from the first book to the kerb, and good riddance I say. She’s determined and, when she comes up with an idea, she goes from 0-60 is 2.5 seconds. She’s smart and does her research, but I do think she rushes into things too quickly. I loved her journal entries where she’s talking to her mother; I thought they added a nice touch and made her seem softer.

WORTH THE TROUBLE is told in dual POVs, comes with a nice HEA and while it’s part of a series, it can be read as a stand-alone. While this story focuses on Hank and Cat, quite a bit of it also focuses on Jackson and his behaviour that has everyone concerned. Here, we learnt what happened between him and his ex-girlfriend and why he’s been spiralling ever since, but I’m sure we’ll hear more about it in his own book, WORTH THE RISK.