Author: Amy AndrewsSeries: N/A
Narrator: Shirl Rae
Audience: +18
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
Length: 9 hours and 25 minutes
Release Date: December 10th 2019 (first published April 8th 2019)
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: Spotify, Netgalley
Blurb (from Goodreads):
Marshall Dyson wants one thing and one thing only: to raze his grandfather’s island to the ground. Everything is ready to go––except for the freakin’ bunnies! Hundreds of the furry critters hopping about and multiplying before his eyes. And then there’s the American Bunny League, along with one distractingly beautiful veterinarian, taking him to court to save them...
Dr. Augusta “Gus” North can’t believe the grumpy–and annoyingly hot–builder she’s facing in court cares more about demo-ing some cabin than the lives of 200 bunnies. But when the judge orders Marshall to stay on the island and help her rehome the rabbits – the entire month – she knows they’re going to need to lay some ground rules.
Like, for example, absolutely no kissing. Might as well go ahead and get that in writing. Sure it’s on a napkin, but that still counts.
How hard could it be to keep their hands off each other amidst all the fighting? Surprisingly, harder than wrangling 200 bunnies...
*Disclaimer: I received an eARC from Netgalley and Entangled Publishing, LLC in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review
**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As such my review may reference content intended for an adult audience
In my quest to read as many ARCs as possible during this year's edition of ARC August I decided to check and see if I could find any of them as audiobooks, because why not multitask while working? Thankfully one such book was The Kissing Contract. I knew I was going to enjoy it, because it's an Amy Andrews book, but I didn't quite expect the story to be this cute. I remember when I saw it on NetGalley and I knew I wanted to read it, because it was Amy Andrews, and even then I did not look at the blurb. Unfortunately, I'm a mood reader, so sometimes that means I don't read certain stories right away. Thankfully I was in the mood to read it now, and guys, I am very happy I did. Let me tell you all about it!
This story, guys. It has it all. It has a very interesting meet cute, a contract between two lovable dorks that I just wanted to shove into a room, and lock them inside until they got over their differences and stubbornness, and bunnies. What could be cuter than bunnies?
Gus is the most adorable heroine I've read in a while. She's a vet, she has a passion for bunnies, and she's sarcastic as hell. I loved her from the first moment we met her, when she basically called Marshall, the hero, a moron, in court. She did that, and I just fell in love with her. She's afraid of being hurt again, so she's trying really hard to resist the attraction she feels towards Marshall. And while she does admit it to herself that she loves him, she realizes that Marshall needs something more than he needs love. He needs to overcome some issues before he can fully commit to a relationship, so she isn't afraid of telling him that. She isn't afraid of telling him stuff he doesn't want to hear, even if it means breaking her own heart, and I respected her for it.
Marshall's story was heartbreaking. His childhood hasn't been an easy one, and he doesn't know how to deal with what happened to him, his brother, and his parents. Having lost both parents pretty young, Marshall was forced to grow up way faster than he should have. He was a good older brother, but unfortunately that meant he has a lot of stuff he isn't willing to deal with. Like his hatred for his late grandfather. The story there is heartbreaking to say the least, and like Gus, my heart broke for those two little boys who just needed someone to love them. Prepare for heartbreak once you read this book.
There was a lot of chemistry between Gus and Marshall, and I adored their banter. Even if they started their relationship on the wrong foot, I loved how they ended up working as a team to retrieve the bunnies, to take care of them, and even to put them up for adoption. Marshall went from seeing the bunnies as pests to being fiercely protective of the bunnies who received mean comments because they weren't as cute as people think bunnies should look like. He even ended up adopting one of the bunnies that no one wanted, and that made me swoon so much. Because a man who loves animals will always get to my heart.
The plot moved quite quickly, and it wasn't long before I found myself at the end. The epilogue was fantastic and it made me smile. I loved everything about it. I wouldn't be me though if I wouldn't wish for Jeremy, Marshall's brother, to get his own book, because I feel like he needs his own happy ending too.
The narrator, Shirl Rae, does a fantastic job at bringing this story to life. I loved her narrating style, and I will make sure to check out some of her other audiobooks. She even managed to make Gus's sarcastic comments sound sarcastic, which I find not everyone manages to do that well. I'll definitely check out more of her audio work.
All in all, a really cute story that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
