Bazaar Girls by Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin [Review]

Bazaar Girls (Townsend Harbor #3) by Kerrigan Byrne and Cynthia St. Aubin
Format: ebook
Source: borrowed through Kindle Unlimited
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Date read: August 30, 2023

Townsend Harbor
1. Nevermore Bookstore
2. Brewbies
3. Bazaar Girls - Paperback | Kindle
4. Star-Crossed
5. Sirens

Kerrigan Byrne
| Website | Amazon |

Cynthia St. Aubin
| Website | Amazon |

Synopsis (Goodreads):

Gemini "Gemma" McKendrick knows just about everything about everybody in Townsend Harbor. When she's not serving on one of the many civic positions or leaping headlong into another hobby, she's hosting the Sunday Stitch 'N Bitch at her yarn and craft shop, Bazaar Girls. With her quirky boutique in big financial trouble, she makes a snap decision to rent out the basement of her cozy craftsman to Townsend Harbor newcomer Gabe Kelly. A man with a past as colorful as his tattoo sleeves, who has become an urban legend since he blew into town. And who better than Gemma, Townsend Harbor's own gossip guru, to answer the rumor mill's most pressing questions? Like whether the silver-tongued mechanic is as good with his hands as he is with a socket wrench.

Gabriel "Gabe" Kelly wasn't born into a family so much as a criminal enterprise. Taught to lift, chop, and rebuild cars since before he could tie his own shoes, he's obliged to pay his debt to society before deserting South Boston for Townsend Harbor, Washington. Surely he can stay out of trouble here, right? He immediately finds the only position an ex-con with prison muscles and neck tattoos could easily find in a town like this, and buys the vintage car mechanic shop from it's retiring owner . Moonlighting as the only tow truck in a thirty-mile radius, he rescues the absent-minded hottie who runs the local yarn shop. But he quickly discovers that a toy-sized car with a dashboard lit up by Christmas isn't the only thing in Gemma McKendrick's life desperately in need of maintenance. Gabe, who is uniquely qualified to diagnose and fix complicated mechanisms, finds his sexy landlord is impossible to figure out. Looks like he'll have to take a peek at her undercarriage to find out what makes her purr before he hits the road again. Because women of her caliber don't take home guys with his make and model...

But he knows she wants a test drive.

Thoughts on Bazaar Girls: Hoo-boy. Gemma is a bit of a mess. I can't even say "not in a bad way, though," because things are pretty rough for the lady at the start. She's overcommitted (SO MANY THINGS!) and she thinks she's letting everyone down when she drops a ball and thinking she's let everyone down causes her to start spiraling and suddenly things in her head are heading toward a full on meltdown and it's tough to watch.

To make things even more exciting, poor Gemma gets utterly tongue-tied around Gabe. She just loses her words and things go downhill from there.

Fortunately for her, Gabe isn't much bothered by Gemma's inability to form sentences around him. He thinks she's sexy and smart and that she's way to good for a guy with a criminal past and a family like his. Then he starts getting to know her and he sees how hard she tries to be normal. He sees her struggling to fit in the way he does and soon the two are making eyes at each other as they settle into the roommate (and more) thing.

It doesn't take long however before the past is rearing up to sink its claws back into Gabe, Gemma's family arrives for Cady's wedding (further complicating things), Gemma has to fight to hold onto the store she loves, and Gemma's twin sees WAY too much for comfort. No lie, Gemma and Gabe both have baggage and them figuring things out is FANTASTIC.