BLOG TOUR + REVIEW: SHINE NOT BURN BY ELLE CASEY

Title: Shine Not Burn

Author: Elle Casey

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Goodreads

BOOK DESCRIPTION

IT HAPPENED IN VEGAS.

I can't be held responsible. Things that happen there are supposed to stay there, right? Right? Yeeeah. Not so much.

Andie's just days away from tying the knot, but there's just ooooone little glitch. Apparently, she's already married. Or someone with her name is married to a guy out in Oregon of all places, and the courthouse won't issue her a marriage license until it's all cleared up. Tripping her way through cow pies and country songs to meet up with a man who gets around places on horseback is her very last idea of how to have a good time, but if she's going to get married, make partner at the firm, and have two point five kids before she's thirty-five, she needs to get to the bottom of this snafu and fix it quick ... before her fiance finds out and everything she's been working toward goes up in flames.

BUY LINKS for Shine Not Burn:

Amazon US | AmazonUK | Barnes&Noble | Kobo | Paperback

Our Review:

I absolutely adored this book! Adored it! I started it around 10 pm one night, did the 'just one more page' thing until about 2 AM, rolled over at 7:30 AM and didn't move until I finished it. Elle Casey wrote such funny characters and Mack was so swoonworthy that I just didn't want to put it down...and as it neared the end, I was hoping for more pages. Me too! Why I ever think it is a good idea to start a new book at 9 or 10 PM I will never know! But I one chapter it with the best of 'em!

Andie and Mack's story begins in Las Vegas but really it starts before that. Andie is coerced to going to one of her BFF's bachelorette party and she's not in the mood. She's a workaholic who is all about THE PLAN. If it's not on the plan, it shouldn't exist. Las Vegas was not on the plan..but thanks to her good friends refusing to hear NO she ends up on a plane, rid of a douchelord boyfriend, and in for an evening of fun. Mack, too, is not a huge fan of leaving his ranch to celebrate his brother's bachelor party but knows he cannot miss it. He'd much rather be doing his thing on the ranch but loves his brother and knows it'll mean so much to him to go, so he does. Mack, my friends, is a really great guy.

Poor Andie is in obvious need of a friend-ervention in the beginning and thank goodness that is exactly what she got. Kelly and Candice are some of the funniest BFF's I've read in forever and I was giggling and texting Shelley Lmao's, OMG's, and lots of funny faced emojis at one o'clock in the morning (Sorry J, if that wakes you up!) One part I am particularly fond of involved no jiggling of a uterus so as to postpone a period. Now...nobody says beautician's are not smart...but this one takes the cake of being a complete airhead and she has some of the best lines in the first part of the book!

When Andie spots Mack in the hotel's casino the magnetic pull between them is instant. After an unfortunate (and laugh out loud funny) drink spill and some hands at the blackjack table the alcohol, the chemistry takes over and before you know it they are in Andie's hotel room having a one night stand to end all one night stands! Damn..if I were single and going to have one of those I would want it to be just like Elle Casey wrote it!!! Anywho...up to this point we are getting both Andie and Mack's point of view but once the morning after hits, we only know what Andie knows...and she doesn't remember much.

Ooh baby, can somebody get me a fan? Just wowza. Mack (aka Gavin) is scorching hot and sweet and nice and funny and did I say hot already? Yes. Good. Andie did my love of awkward proud, but Mack thought she was cute and funny and wanted to know *a lot* more about her! Hence the later green light to become more acquainted which started the whole entire mess!

Fast forward 2 years and Andie is once again with a douchebag for a fiance but now her situation is worse. She's managed to alienate all of her friends and while she's checking off things on THE PLAN, her life seems miserable and heading towards more miserable. When she finds out that she's married to Mack and has no memory of it, her misery escalates...seeing as being married is definitely not on THE PLAN. As she begins her mission to be un-married, the journey is hilarious and touching. We learn more behind her desire to live life on THE PLAN, her struggle to deal with things not on THE PLAN; we also see the lovely MacKenzie family opens their hearts to Andie, and Mack becomes amazingly even hotter than he was in Las Vegas.

Her plan. I hate her plan. Give up on the plan. Control freaks seriously give me hot flashes, because if there is one thing we all know...we can't really control anything. One thing that made me super, duper proud of her though is when she makes a mistake she doesn't hesitate to own up to it, make it right, and take responsibility. You'll know when you get to it, because it is sometimes one of my least favorite tropes...but since it wasn't a major focus..and Bradley is a (insert profanity here..saving myself trouble later when I post to amazon by already censoring myself!) :) I really wouldn't have cared either way...but it really made me like Andie all the more. Mack just got better and better as the book went on too..he fought for what he wanted, and I loved that he loved her curves and saw past physical imperfections. Swoon.

Elle Casey popped my cowboy cherry--I'd never read about hot cowboys before!!! So, if there are more hot cowboy novels out there, send me a list...ASAP!! This was such a fun novel and my only wish would be for more!! I'd love to have about 20% more story between the last chapter and the epilogue because I wasn't ready to put it down. Baaahahahaha. You crack me up. You are missing out, but I am sure we can find some hot cowboys to swoon over for you, no problem. We may not be able to read about them for a really long time but we will sure find them!

OMG I just realized we forgot about Ruby. Ruby is a ridiculously funny character as well and is Andie's receptionist/friend/mother figure/bane of her existence. She gave me a lot of laughs for not taking any (yeah, a word, I know I'm working on it since I get really tired of editing later) off Andie and helps give her a nudge in a new direction. Can't forget Ruby!

Shelley: 4 1/2 Stars

Courtney: 4 Stars

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elle Casey is a full-time writer of New Adult and Young Adult titles in several genres, including romance, urban fantasy, sci-fi dystopian, and action-adventure. She's an American girl who's been living in southern France with her husband and three children since 2010. She loves chatting with her readers, so feel free to drop her a line.