Review: The Pick Up by Allison Temple

Title: The Pick Up

Series: Up Red Creek: Book One

Author: Allison Temple

Length: 337 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: Temple has a very nice start to her series here. I smiled and/or laughed through just about all of it.

Reviewed By: Jules

Blurb: Kyle’s life is going backwards. He wanted to build a bigger life for himself than Red Creek could give him, but a family crisis has forced him to return to his hometown with his six-year-old daughter. Now he’s standing in the rain at his old elementary school, and his daughter’s teacher, Mr. Hathaway, is lecturing him about punctuality.

Adam Hathaway is not looking for love. He’s learned the hard way to keep his personal and professional life separate. But Kyle is struggling and needs a friend, and Adam wants to be that friend. He just needs to ignore his growing attraction to Kyle’s goofy charm, because acting on it would mean breaking all the rules that protect his heart.

Putting down roots in this town again is not Kyle’s plan. As soon as he can, he’s taking his daughter and her princess costumes and moving on. The more time he spends with Adam, though, the more he thinks the quiet teacher might give him a reason to stay. Now he just has to convince Adam to take a chance on a bigger future than either of them could have planned.

Review: The Pick Up, by Allison Temple, delivered just what I hoped the adorable cover was advertising: a cute, low-angst, fun read. The story wasn’t perfect, but that’s ok. I was able to brush off the few little issues I had and enjoy it for the parts that worked so well. There are plenty of reasons to like this book—small-town setting, an adorable kid, good bisexual representation, great characters (I’m looking at you, Fenton clan), and humor to name a handful.

Kyle was my favorite. The author’s description of him, and all his fabulous graphic tees, fit his personality so perfectly. And, I loved how driven he was, even though his job situation was so challenging. It was tough moving back home, what with everyone knowing his business and offering un-asked for help, and the lack of privacy that came with living with his dad, but Kyle had to do what was best for him and his six-year-old daughter, Caroline, after their life in Seattle unraveled. I also loved, loved Caroline and Kyle’s dad. They were a big part of the combination of things that made the book so enjoyable.

Adam was a bit tougher of a sell for me. I did like him and ultimately thought he was a good fit for Kyle and Caroline, but he was so over the top and melodramatic at times, especially during the small conflict toward the end, that I wasn’t as in love with him as I was with Kyle. He was obviously an excellent teacher, though, and I liked how sold on the community he was. He clearly appreciated living in Red Creek and being so close to his sister, though it was a sort of reluctant closeness. Rebecca was a busybody, though, so I don’t blame him!

Temple has a very nice start to her series here. I smiled and/or laughed through just about all of it. The romance was slow burn, which was good considering Kyle recently lost his girlfriend, who was also his best friend, and Adam had a difficult breakup involving a coworker. Even though the conflict and Adam’s behavior didn’t quite work for me, I definitely enjoyed where they ended up; the epilogue was very cute. And, I just realized that the author is going to be at GRL this October. So, I look forward to seeing her there! Maybe I’ll have another Red Creek installment to discuss before then. 😊

You can buy The Pick Up here:
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