Like You Love Me

Written by Adriana Locke

Narrated by Ryan West and Lidia Dornet

Two childhood friends are playing house—and maybe playing for keeps—in USA Today bestselling author Adriana Locke’s funny, sexy, and unpredictable marriage-of-convenience romance.

To save her Tennessee bed-and-breakfast, Sophie Bates needs a fast-cash miracle. Holden McKenzie, her childhood best friend, needs to prove to a prospective employer that he’s a committed man. Their fortunes on the line, Holden proposes…a solution.

He’ll take care of Sophie’s bills if she agrees to a temporary marriage of convenience. And why not? They’re comfortable together, they have fun, and they trust each other. It’s as simple as saying “I do.” But the off-the-cuff wedding has all of Honey Creek talking—and Sophie and Holden realizing that their perfect arrangement is working too well. If they’re not careful, this marriage could turn into a love story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Feb 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781713556534

Adriana Locke

Adriana Locke is the USA Today bestselling author of the Gibson Boys series and Tumble and Tangle in the Dogwood Lane series. She lives and breathes books. After years of slightly obsessive relationships with the flawed bad boys created by other authors, Adriana created her own. She resides in the Midwest with her husband, sons, two dogs, two cats, and a bird. She spends a large amount of time playing with her kids, drinking coffee, and cooking. You can find her outside if the weather’s nice, and there’s always a piece of candy in her pocket. Besides cinnamon gummy bears, boxing, and random quotes, her next favorite thing is chatting with readers. She’d love to hear from you! Find out more at www.adrianalocke.com.

Reviews for Like You Love Me

[Christina Becerra · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Like, I loved it! Such a sweet story. It made me smile and giggle.

[Jamie Koepplinger · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a sweet and swoony romance. It was like reading a Hallmark movie. I thought Holden and Sophie’s banter was really fun. This was just a cute story all around.

[booknookretreat7 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another great installment for the Jack Daniels series!

A backstory:

Jack is in dire straits within this story as she wakes up not knowing where she is or what has happened to her - all she knows is that she is in lots of pain. She knows she is in deep trouble when she learns that she is tied up with rope and she cannot see where she is located but she learns that she is in some type of storage facility.

Then it finally dawns on her just who might have her in his clutches and Jack knows that it will be no easy feat to escape this lunatic as her memory comes into sharp focus when she realizes that it could be Mr. K who is known for eluding capture as he slays victims left and right.

In the meantime while Jack is tied up in an unknown place, her partner (Herb) and her friends Harry and Phineas Troutt are hunting like mad for her trying to pick up some kind of trail of what happened to her and who is responsible for her kidnapping. It will be no easy hunt as all three of them start out clueless, but once they start going through all of Jack's arrests they finally come to a conclusion of who it could possibly be, but to find "him" will be another matter.

What happened to Jack and how did the killer kidnap her? Is the killer really Mr. K and if so, what are his plans for Jack? Does Jack's friends and partner find her in time? No spoilers here as you will need to read the book!

Thoughts:

This story took some time to really get into it even though it jumps right away with something happening. With this series so far I have been handing out five stars for each book because I would be staying up late into the night while I felt I was walking a tight rope most of the time with these stories. This book not so much.

Don't get me wrong - this is a great book but it has time jumps which I have said in other reviews that time jumping is rough for me as sometimes it throws me off of what is happening in the present and then having to remember what happens in the past to tie in with the present. This book though there are "two" time jumps - yes you read that right. Two jumps into the past - one time jump goes back twenty five years and the other time jump goes back three years - then you are shot forward back to the present. It goes like that throughout the whole book. Almost like clockwork - rinse and repeat back and forth to the end of the book.

So I read this book a little slower as I tried to stay up with what was happening twenty five years ago, three years ago and then into the "here and now". I know the author did it like that to tell the story of the "how and why" of what was happening to the character Jack, but two time jumps is a little too much. So that is why I dropped it down a star - even though there is a warning at the beginning of the book as the author goes into detail of why he is doing time jumps in this book and I thought "oh boy - just what I need", but I wanted to continue on with this series so I just plunged ahead and hoped for the best. I guess I was able to keep it all straight (amazingly enough) as I am writing this review.

As always the characters of Herb, Harry, and Phineas kept me in stitches with chuckles and laughter - there was no laughter with Jack though as she was in her tight situation so there was more of a somber feeling there. Otherwise this book kept me wrapped in suspense and intrigue. I am looking forward to reading the next book "Stirred" in this series. Giving this book four "Serial Killer Shake 'n' Bake" stars.

[vesper1931 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Detective Daniels is in trouble, she had woken up but is gagged and tied up. Is it possible that a person and events from her past have brought her to this place.
An interesting and enjoyable thriller/mystery

[bravenewbks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Don't know how I ended up with #7 in a series of which I haven't read any of the first six, but this was a fun, quick little read. The killer's methods were some of the more grotesque I've encountered, but he was a tricky guy and I rate him reasonably highly as a bad guy. The detective (Jacqueline Daniels... yes, Jack Daniels) wasn't the most well-developed character I've come across, but I could tell I was missing out on a lot of her backstory, so it might be my fault for jumping in mid-series.

[carmenmilligan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

WOW. As the seventh book in this series, I should know by now that Konrath doesn't always tie up all loose ends. And BOY, he really doesn't with this one.

Unlike the other in the Jack Daniels series, this is a non-linear story, bouncing between three periods: 25 years ago, three years ago and today. The common thread is the killer(s) and their relationship with Jack. It was also, in my opinion, a little more gruesome than the others. The killers here were a little more ... I'll say inventive ... in their torture and killing of victims. As much as I want to see how the story ends (#8 in the series is the last, according to Konrath), I think I will have to wait a little until the bile that stayed in my throat throughout reading this one settles a little.

If you've read the others in the series, you will, of course, have to read this one. Recommended beach read.

[markpsadler · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Travelling back over a span of twenty years, detective Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels finds herself as a rookie entwined in the process of tracking a sadistic killer, code named “Mr. K”. The book twists back in time twenty tears, and then in a three-year increment to the current where Jack has not only identified the killer, but with no physical proof of his committing the crimes has now retired as a police officer. It is at this moment when she finds herself ensnared and captured by the very man she has been hunting for years.
Is he a monster, a killer-for-hire or just a little of both? His routine trademarks: putting salt in the wounds and placing a ball-gag in his victims’ mouth are ever-present. However the actual deaths have been routinely different—though a few evidently are favorites from the number of times they pop back up. After all, there are only so many ways to kill over one hundred people without repeating the method.
The details are gruesome and Konrath threads the story with sarcasm as thick and liberal as a street whore’s mascara in an attempt to slice through the horror. He expertly introduces enough humor into the storyline that stops the reader from running, screaming from the torture he laces the tale with. The dialogue is expertly woven. The scene when two detectives are sitting in the car eating dry cereal from a box will have you gagging along with them.
A no-holds-barred page-turner that will capture your rapt attention until the last page

[bookaholicbanter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As usual Joe never disappoints! A page-turner from beginning to end. I will be sad to see the Jack Daniels series come to an end. On to the final book-Stirred!

[ibkennedy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's always a gruesome but fun read.

[bdouglas97 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

great fast paced reading.

[mikedraper · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Jackie "Jack" Daniels had spent much of her career chasing and putting away criminals. Now, as a private detective, she is abducted and about to be tortured to death by one of the killers that she chased for years.There were occasions when Jackie was close to catching the killer, "Mr. K" but he slipped through her fingers.The story goes through the time when she first became an undercover cop in order to catch a serial killer.Next there is a segment of the action three years ago when Jack and her partner were following the person suspected of being My K, but they couldn't get enough to have a search warrant.The last segment concerns her abduction. How will she escape?The ending was unrealistic and highly unsatisfying. Deus ex machina is defined as a plot technique where a seemingly inextricable problem is solved with a contrived and unexpected intervention of some new character. This is never acceptable in literature. The author has written enjoyable novels in the past but "Shaken" is a disappointment.

[mashley_3 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Very violent. The book moves quickly by telling the story in retrospect, but the story and detective work are thin.

[darcia_10 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Konrath uses a different format for the seventh book in his Jack Daniels series. Instead of a linear story, he gives us glimpses of the present, weaving that in with two separate timelines from Jack Daniels' past. I have to say that I am not normally a fan of this type of out of sequence writing but Konrath handles it masterfully. He ties the events together perfectly, giving a seamless transition from past to present.This is Konrath at his best. Shaken had me riveted from beginning to end!** I was fortunate to receive an advanced copy from Mr. Konrath, though that had no effect on my review. **

[jrr731 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another great book in the "Jack Daniels" series. Without giving anything away, I thought the use of three different time frames in in a non-linear fashion worked well with this story. I re-read it in linear form and prefered the non-linear version. The three different time periods not only gave us the backstory leading to the present, but gave us a glimpse into the growth of the characters. Overall, it seems that this book is setting us up for an exciting conclusion to this series.Any fan of these books will enjoy this addition to the series, while new readers can jump right in without any problems.

[squeex_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Joe starts the book with the following: that the reader has a choice…he’s trying something new and wrote the story out of sequence as well as writing it the regular way. He wanted to know what the reader thinks of each form. I started out of sequence since I don’t mind reading a book that way so long as I have a wee cranium’s up for the jump in time. Joe complies and I did fine. This is a thriller in the finest sense of the genre. Mr. K is a killer who Jack has been tracking for 20 some years. The story goes back and forth through time, beginning with Jack’s realization that she has been abducted. The rest of the book is bringing the reader up to date on Jack’s life over the past 20 years, going from rookie cop to private sector investigator. And hunting Mr. K. I enjoyed watching her learn about Armani and Ralph Lauren clothes in the 80s when she mostly shopped at Sears. What I like most about this series (and this author) is laughing and being freaked out in the same chapter. Dry humor that has me laughing out loud and squinching myself into my chair to get far away from the murder/torture scene being depicted on the page. That’s talent and a very good book. Favorite characters…Jack definitely since she’s so sure of herself and she’s the good guy. Herb and Harry, especially Harry, since he makes me laugh. I surround myself with people like Harry. I do love to *snort laugh*. Herb is a sweetie and a good friend to Jack. I read this in one day, peeps! It was difficult to put down, so I didn’t. The book had a helluva WTF cliffhanger and I cannot wait to read STIRRED, the collaborative work of art of Joe Konrath and Blake Crouch, author of the extremely terrifying DESERT PLACES and LOCKED DOORS and ABANDON and SNOWBOUND…I have read one of these and working up nerve to read the rest.