Pint of Contention: King Family, Book 3 (Unabridged‪)‬

This is book 3 in Susannah Nix’s King Family series. While Ryan & Maggie’s story stands on its own, events and characters are introduced in previous books (My Cone and Only, Cream and Punishment) that make these best enjoyed in order.

I loved this! I admit to already having a book-boyfriend-crush on Ryan from his appearances in My Cone and Only and Cream and Punishment. I also love the grumpy/sunshine, city/country, & older MC’s tropes. (Maggie is 45 & Ryan turns 40 in the story.) The Texas references, especially Maggie’s reactions to the heat and bugs, were delightful.

Maggie is a consultant brought in to help save the floundering King’s Creamery. Used to short term gigs & potentially hostile communities – she keeps to herself and eschews any potential friendships. Ryan is her next door neighbor full of southern charm and personality determined to crack her defenses. But, he’s hiding a secret of his own. Once he realizes he’s falling for Maggie, he worries about keeping things casual.

These two are fantastic individually and as a couple. Nix also gives them several scenes that prove Ryan’s mouth can go from charming to devilishly sexy with amazing skill. And he definitely has the expertise to back up his words. 🔥🔥🔥

I appreciate that while there may be some hurdles for these two – the resolutions come fairly quickly and things aren’t needlessly dragged out. Start to finish a funny, romantic, sexy, and heartfelt listen.

The only problem with binging these is now I have to wait a while for Nate’s book, Mint to Be.

Narration:
Amanda Stribling and Chris Brinkley continue to be the perfect match for the King Family and anything Nix’s writing serves up. They especially shine with all the emotions in this book – bringing me to tears more than once, squirming on my couch (chapter 16 y’all 😏), but mostly laughing out loud. Perfect listen.

Susannah Nix continues to entertain me with another amazing “King Family” novel, each book features a different member of the King family and stands on its own with each one just as amazing as the other and I recommend them all and enjoying them in order gives you the benefit of knowing the other character’s back stories and seeing them again is like seeing an old friend. These King siblings are something special and this third book is Ryan’s story, a King by marriage. His Mom married George and the Kings became his family despite being a stepson/brother and continued to live there after his mom passed away. George passed on some information about his birth father and the news was devastating for Ryan and it was not just about his father, but himself, too. King’s Creamery has been suffering from some financial woes, so George brought in a consultant to save the company from what may be its demise. Maggie is good at what she does, but she is nobody’s friend when business is involved and no one is exempt from the ax if she deems it best to make cuts. She is planning to stay in town for six months and instead of staying in a hotel she found a place to rent and it comes with a handsome neighbor, but as small towns go she is not sure if he has any stake in King’s Creamery so she stays away, which was pretty funny but Ryan does not give up on her. She finds out that he is a firefighter and now that she has his name, she checked the company roster and he is not on it, so he is safe on that front, little does she know, LOL. Neither one is looking for a relationship, but a fling would be okay as long as they are upfront with one another. But Ryan is not wiling to go the extra step with Maggie and she wants to know why he is holding back. This wonderfully plotted story has plenty of drama, heartfelt emotions and steamy romance. Susannah Nix, thank you for another fabulous story and emotional rollercoaster ride.

🎧📚🎧 And for the amazing narration, Amanda Stribling and Chris Brinkley’s outstanding performance continues as they bring these characters and their story to life. Their character voices have been consistent and the quality of the audio has been top-notch throughout the series. They have a complete understanding of the characters they are portraying play their roles with perfection, Stribling’s Maggie is the smart, take no names bad@rse with a whole lot of personality, while Brinkley’s Ryan is a charming charmer. Both are great performing the roles of the secondary characters too. They set the perfect tone for the story, capture all the character’s emotions and project them into their performance. These entertaining storytellers are versatile voice artists and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for another fabulous listen.

Book 3 in Nix’s King series is definitely the stand out for me, so far. Ryan and Maggie’s story includes elements that set it a part from the previous books, the characters themselves being a major factor. Taken as individuals and a pair, they were compelling and I found some of their less conventional qualities refereshing. I also loved that both are an older (near or over 40) that most central couples. And that fact that she is the older woman to his younger man - yes please! While it sometimes seemed that emphasis on their physical relationship overshadowed their emotional connection, that emotional connection still felt genuine and the physical was appealingly steamy. (Ryan is a dirty talker and I am so here for that.)

My main story complaint is that the resolution was a bit fast, and some of the conflict with Maggie and the job she’s come to the King family business to complete struck as paper tigers by the end; however, the conflict around Ryan’s secret is well done. Nix handles his anger and fear given the situation with a deft hand.

Regarding the narration, I have similar feelings for this book as with the previous. Christ Brinkley is well-cast. His performance as Ryan augments both the strength and vulnerability of the character and added to my overall experience of the story. Again, I cannot say the same for Amanda Stribling. While in the previous book I didn’t enjoy her performance, I thought she at least fit the character; this time I thought she was wholly mis-cast. With the King siblings (even those not King by birth) it makes some sense to use the same narrator, and Brinkley has proved more than up to that task. However, since the heroines so far have been unrelated, maybe change up their casting from book to book?

Overall, story-wise this was a series high for me, and a recommendation. If you’re a fan of the series, chances are you’ll enjoy it, too.

I received an audio review copy via Home Cooked Books. All opinions are my own.