Book Review for Shock and Aww by Lilly Atlas

Title: Shock and Aww

Series: Blue Collar Bensons #2

Author: Lilly Atlas

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 27, 2022

Reviewed by Angels With Attitude Book Reviews

Arc provided for an honest review

5 stars from us

JP’s childhood was the definition of dysfunctional, but he has a sweet set up as an adult. He bounces around, working at his siblings’ businesses, steers clear of relationships, and plans to stay child-free for life. Few commitments and even fewer responsibilities; just how he likes it. He cruises along with no shortage of women to warm his bed and fun times to be had until the universe drops a seven-month, fifteen-pound bomb in his lap.

Hannah doesn’t have a rebellious bone in her body, which is why she’s stunned to find herself traveling to Vermont to spy on her infant niece’s father. After the recent passing of her sister, Hannah’s parents are struggling and failing to deal with their new reality. They beg her to help them get custody of their grandchild in any way possible, no matter how unsavory.

When Hannah arrives in Vermont, she doesn’t find a neglectful, degenerate father as her parents predicted. Instead, she encounters JP, a man whose world was rocked to its core. Before long, Hannah is suffocating under a mountain of lies and falling hard for a man her family despises.

JP has so much to learn, but with Hannah’s help, he’s finding responsibility isn’t the dirty word he made it out to be. Instead, the more time he spends with her, the more he wonders what else he’s misjudged, like relationships.

Hannah is thrilled to help JP muddle his way through single parenthood and explore their developing feelings. But with so many secrets and challenges between them, how can this end in anything but heartbreak?

This was one heck of an emotional ride for these characters as well as its readers, we were not even through the first chapter, and we were already crying our eyes out. This story gives you the feels sometimes it rips out your heart other times you are laughing as JP has an awesome family who are close, love hard, tease, laugh and love. 

JP was a character who his a free spirit  loves the ladies and loves his life that way, and we would even add that he was even a bit cocky and one who runs from commitments of any kind but, his fun is over, and it's time to grow up. We loved the change and growth we saw in his character, and we loved that he put his fears somewhat aside to do the right thing for his daughter.

Hannah was a wonderful character whose heart was breaking from not only feeling the loss of one loved one but, 2. Our heart went out to Hannah, she was really in between a rock and a hard place trying to please everyone without taking sides. Although she had her faults, we loved the fact that her main concern was and has been always for the safety and well-being of Kayla.

We loved the slow burn romance, the chemistry, the easiness between JP and Hannah, it all seemed so natural. We loved that from Hannah just being Hannah, JP felt trusting enough to open up about his feelings, both past and present.

The characters were remarkable JP's family awesome, little Kayla melted our heart and Hannah parents were just a mess thanks to JP family Hannah didn't have to climb the mess/mountain alone.

We loved that Kayla had so many people who loved her, she is one lucky girl. It's nice to see a couple fall in love when commitments and love is not even on one's radar, but, after meeting the right person and your life takes a complete 180 turn you have to ask yourself is that destiny or fate? 

A beautifully written story that felt very real, was quite endearing and one that had so many precious moments that just melted your heart. Kayla's mom may have committed a grievous sin in the eyes of others but, it seems to me that in doing so, she healed a stranger and gave him a life he never would have had otherwise...

Wow! What a heartfelt story filled with a ton of emotion and a lot of drama. One thing to mention is that out of all the books we have read so far this year, this book and brand-new series has had the best cast of characters ever. We thought the characters were absolutely awesome! We loved the family unit of the Benson children they were a lot of fun, and they were engaging we loved their teasing their camaraderie some were full of sass others funny and one that had a grumpy and judgmental attitude. Considering this family had been to hell and back, we loved that they were so close and there was a lot of love there between them, and we loved that they always had each other's backs. Keith stood out as the protector of all of them.

One thing we loved most about the story, it, it felt very real. Scarlett aka Mickie was a bit of a train wreck when were first met her despite her fame and fortune she was very lost but, we loved how she took responsibility for her past and moved forward to create a band new life and left that toxic life behind that was killing her. We loved her determination and even though she was still a bit lost and insecure at times you could just tell she had one heck of a backbone, we also found her to be funny and sassy when the situation warranted it!

Keith was one of those characters you want to hate but, he makes it impossible and from the moment we met him our constant thoughts were this man needs a good a--kicking! We loved his love and devotion to his family and how he was all about protecting them but, his treatment from the moment he met Mickie was deplorable here Mickie was trying to move on from her past and here you had Keith letting his define his current action and deeds.

Talk about a couple having awesome chemistry because Keith and Mickie had that in spades. This couple had some rather fan worthy hot and sexy scenes, those two we like a moth to a flame. Smoking Hot together!

Overall, we really loved the story and could not put it down. The story was full of tons of drama and had a cast of some really awesome characters that were impossible not to fall in love with, and it was about all the messy bits' life throws your way. But, in the mix of all the crazy, sometimes something beautiful comes out of all those ashes...

Lilly Atlas is a contemporary romance author, proud Navy wife, and mother of two spunky girls. By day, she works as a physical therapist for a hospital in Virginia. Lilly is an avid romance reader, and expects her Kindle to beg for mercy every time she downloads a new e-book. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened yet, and she can often be found absorbed in a good book.