Self-Isolation Read - Nailed

• Title And Author: Nailed by K.M. Neuhold
• Publisher: Self Published [?]
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Bought
• Length: 337 Pages

It’s rare that I read the same author back-to-back. Very rare. And within the same series. Even rarer. So, me buying and instantly read Nailed, the second book in the Four Bears Construction series, after having a blast reading the first book, Caulky, seemed to make perfect sense! 

Stone doesn’t understand why his neighbours hates him so much. He seems to have hated Stone almost as soon as they met, and there seems to be no reason for it. Well, if Dare thinks Stone is the neighbour from hell, Stone is going to be: mowing his lawn at dawn at the weekend, leaving his rubbish bins in front of Dare’s driveway, renting out a petting zoo without checking… 

But when it’s revealed why is a simple minunderstanding, the anger between these two men have for each other turns into an angry, yet hot make-out section. So, where does that leave them now?

I am going to admit this now: out of the two, I prefer Caulky more than Nailed. But these two books are very different animals. Caulky is quite sweet, hot and romance with very little angst. While that is the same with Nailed, it’s a little more prickly (due to the Dare and how he is at the start of the story) and there is a bit more angst in it (which explains Dare’s prickliness). 

Because of this prickliness, it does take a little while to warm to both Stone and Dare and root for their relationship. Plus, with moments where both characters act and behave a little juvenile (both are in their early forties - something I really do like. How often do we read romances where the romantic leads aren’t in their twenties or thirties?) and Stone does do things without really thinking them through (getting your neighbour’s dog microchip without his permission or a tattoo of his dog on your arm, for example). Because of this, it might feel like a turn-off if you go into this without reading Caulky (each of these can be treated as standalones so you don’t need to read Caulky, but because I did, I knew Stone do like jokes and does do things without really thinking them through. Plus I remember the moment that caused the tension between Stone and Dare, but you don’t need to read that to get Nailed. It is talked and addressed). 

Plus, we’ve read the romantic troupe of enemies-to-friends-to-lovers before, but this felt different somehow. I think it’s because it went from enemies to friends with benefits, then to friends then lovers. It flips from explosive sex to a slow burn romance. Plus, we see why the relationship does go slow on Dare’s side as he worries about his anger due to his (now) disowned family and their reaction to him being gay. 

Speaking of that, this might be a trigger for some of you as Dare’s nephew comes to live with him after being thrown out for coming out as bi, and we see Dare’s relationship with his nephew, West, grow and, for half a chapter, meeting Dare’s brother/West’s homophobe father. 

A thing I noticed in both here and Caulky is something I seem to enjoy hugely. When the characters seem to have a problem, they talk to each other. Not right away, but it’s not left to grow into a huge problem which, we see in other romances, breaks them up because “You don’t trust me!”. But here, they talk to each other like adults and each respects the other. 

While I didn’t love Nailed as much as I enjoyed Caulky, I am having such fun with this series which means I’m continuing on. I believe both the third and fourth books, Hardwood and Screwed (work titles announced on a podcast), will be out this year so, of course, will preorder and read as soon as I can.