I read a lot of historical books, both fiction and non-fiction. I’m used to seeing a list of characters at the beginnings of those because the stories are often epic, convoluted, and it’s hard to keep people straight.

That type of list is not something I am used to seeing in a romance novel.

When I first opened Cougar on my Kindle and had to scroll through multiple pages of characters, I thought “Oh boy, this might be too much work.” But the plot sounded interesting, so I stuck with it.

And I am so very glad I did. Because I absolutely loved every second of this book!

I’ll admit, there were a few times where I thought, “who the hell is this person?” and I couldn’t tell you who some of the others were, but it doesn’t matter, because this was one epic story of love, loss, and second chances.

Y’all know that I don’t do plot recaps. Suffice to say that life events force Emerson to return to her hometown of Heritage Bay, FL after decades of being away. Her life has taken many twists over the years, and she always swore she would never go back. She has an amazing, supportive family and lots of friends. As life continues to throw curve balls at her, she grows and comes to new understandings about herself and the people who surround her.

That’s kind of simplistic, because there is was more to the story than that. Late in the book, one of the characters says, “Hold on, let me get Jerry Springer on the line.” My note at that point reads, “describes the entire book, right here.”

There are lots of baby mamas and daddies, but those connections don’t feel forced – they feel natural. In today’s world, convoluted relationships and webs of familial ties are totally normal. The author does an excellent job of weaving them all together.

I particular liked how the adults’ histories with each other caused them to judge and react to their teens’ experiences in different ways. There were cases of history repeating itself, and cases where the adults had learned from their past choices. This was an interesting facet to the character motivations.

Ultimately, however, it’s Emerson’s story about how she continues life after faced with tragedy. I will say that Cam (her ex-best friend’s brother, and her own brother’s best friend (see what I mean?)) is a great character – a perfect combination of devotion and dedication. He can be my latest BB any time! Bonus points for being a baseball player.

In some ways, this review is hard to write, because I can’t really isolate small events from the larger overarching plot. Another note I have is “the writer takes us along on the journey and what an effed up but marvelously epic journey it is.”

(Yeah, I make notes like that as I read. Helps me remember what I was thinking as I read it instead of trying to pull it all back up later).

Even though it’s the third in the Heritage Bay series, it was the first one I read and I can’t wait to go back and read the first two. I highly recommend Cougar and hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Go get it. Now! (It’s currently $2.99, but free on KU!)

My Goodreads review is below.