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All He Ever Dreamed
All He Ever Dreamed
All He Ever Dreamed
Ebook297 pages2 hours

All He Ever Dreamed

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

New York Times–Bestselling Author: He can’t wait to get away from his sleepy Maine hometown—but something keeps pulling him back . . .
 
Josh Kowalski is tired of holding down the fort—better known as the Northern Star Lodge—while his siblings are off living their dreams. Now that his oldest brother has returned to Whitford, Maine for good, Josh is free to chase some dreams of his own.
 
As the daughter of the lodge’s longtime housekeeper, Katie Davis grew up alongside the Kowalski kids. Though she’s always been “one of the guys”, her feelings for Josh are anything but sisterly. And after a hot late-night encounter in the kitchen, it’s clear Josh finally sees her as the woman she is.
 
Katie’s been waiting years for Josh to notice her, but now that he has, she’s afraid it’s too late. Giving her heart to a man who can’t wait to leave town is one sure way to have it broken. But Josh keeps coming up with excuses not to leave—could it be that everything he’s ever wanted is closer than he could have imagined?
 
Praise for the Kowalskis series
 
“I’m madly in love with the Kowalskis.” —Nalini Singh, author of the Guild Hunter series
 
“Sexy, sassy and immensely satisfying.” —Fresh Fiction
LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 21, 2013
ISBN9781426894626
All He Ever Dreamed
Author

Shannon Stacey

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shannon Stacey lives with her husband and two sons in New England, where her two favorite activities are writing stories of happily ever after and off-roading with her friends and family. You can contact Shannon through her website, www.shannonstacey.com, as well as sign up for her newsletter.

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Reviews for All He Ever Dreamed

Rating: 3.942307667307692 out of 5 stars
4/5

52 ratings9 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I've enjoyed this series except for this book. It went on and on about the same conflict for more than half the book. The secondary romance provided some relief but the plot was predictable and I skimmed a lot. Josh wants to get out of running family lodge and his childhood buddy Katie has always been attracted him.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    My favorite! I always thought Josh's story was going to be the best one and I was so totally right! Katie was such a fun and carefree character to be around and then her and Josh were just plain awesome together! I think the author made a very good decision in not creating a big scene about Josh's whole problem and jsut created a very nice, touching and albeit sad scene that conveined what the characters involved in it were feeling. I loved the ending!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. Josh has been one of my favorite characters from this side of the family and I was so happy when he finally got his story. Josh got stuck with running the family lodge by default when his father died and his siblings already had their own lives away from Whitford. He has dreams of his own that don't include the lodge. The only thing that has made life bearable for him is hanging out with his best friend Katie. But when she moves into the lodge to help out her mom, Rosie, something changes. Josh runs into her in the kitchen late one night when she's wearing somewhat skimpy pajamas. Suddenly he realizes that Katie isn't just his best buddy, she's also a woman and a pretty hot one at that.With her mom being the housekeeper and surrogate mom to the Kowalskis, Katie has been around them all her life. She's been in love with Josh for years and frustrated by his "best buddy" attitude. Now that he's actually seeing her as a woman, she couldn't be happier - except that he still plans to leave as soon as he can.This was so much fun to read. Everyone in town can see that Katie and Josh belong together. Josh's obliviousness is amazing to see. He spent so long resenting being stuck running the lodge that now that the end is in sight he can't see anything else. I loved their late night encounter and the way that Josh is so completely blindsided by his sudden attraction to Katie. His internal dialog is absolutely hysterical as he tries to cope with these new feelings. As they are thrown together to help Katie's mom, Josh continues to fight his feelings, fearing that getting involved with Katie will ruin their friendship and also cause him to give up his dreams. I loved seeing him finally give in. Instead of damaging their friendship, it seems to make it stronger as their feelings give it new dimension. I loved seeing the way that being with Katie settles his feelings somewhat, but his need to leave is still there. When he's given the opportunity to go, he is so conflicted. There's a lot of heartache for him as he realizes his two greatest desires are incompatible. I loved seeing his journey as he follows his dreams and learns what is most important to his heart.Katie was great. She is comfortable with herself as she is, but fears that Josh will never see her as more than his friend. I loved her reaction to their kitchen encounter, and his actions the next day. She sees his reactions but his fighting of it really frustrates her. Her decision to shake things up was great, and I loved seeing what she did on Christmas Eve that pushed things over the edge. But now that they have made that jump, Katie is afraid that things are going to change for the worse. She can see that he is still not completely happy and that he still needs to leave Whitford. She wants him to stay but thinks he will begin to resent her for keeping him from his dreams. I ached for her as she let him go, but was so happy that she loved him that much. I loved seeing her keep their friendship alive during his journey and what a difference it made to them at the end.There was so much fun to Josh and Katie's romance, as they deal with reconciling their romance with their long friendship. The banter between them was great, from their bet about Max's job to their attempts to keep their new relationship secret. I loved seeing various other characters get involved, from helping Katie with her Christmas Eve plans to ragging on Josh about not seeing what was in front of him the whole time. I loved Katie's ability to see what Josh needed and put her own dreams on hold to make his come true.I loved Katie's mom Rosie and her vital part throughout the books. She was such a great mom figure to them all. It was fun to see her behind the scenes work to get Josh and Katie together. I also loved seeing her with Andy and how she goes from hating him in the first book to love in this one. Andy's patient devotion to her was terrific. I also loved his part in making Josh's dreams possible.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've been waiting for Katie and Josh's story for ages. I wasn't disappointed. They're a great couple.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ahhhhhhhhhh, it’s a Kowalski book!! If you like sweet romances with a side order of hot sex then this is a series that you may need to start. This series is based around the members of the Kowalski family and their stories as they fall head over heels in love. This one features Josh, the youngest of five (I think) and his friends to lover’s romance. It made me laugh, hug my kindle and mentally beat them both over the head. I want the next one immediately!

    Josh caught my attention in Mitch’s book. Left by his elder siblings to run the family business (because they didn’t want to!), he was left feeling angry and trapped by their choices to leave and his sense of responsibility that kept him where he didn’t want to be. I understood his feelings, and it did affect my opinions of his brothers in their books, but in this one they are trying to rectify their mistakes. They have made the decision to sell the business and let Josh run free for a bit. Perfect timing for his story right? J

    Katie has been Josh’s best friend forever and loved him for just as long but he doesn’t see her that way (well, he doesn’t consciously anyway). I love friends to lover’s books and this storyline made me squeal! How does she finally get him to notice her? He sees her in PJ’s sans bra. Yes, that’s right ladies; the girls did it for her....stupid, horny man syndrome strikes again. Because of the way he started to notice her, it made me question the credibility of any relationship they might have. Luckily, Josh decided to make me like him again by having the same reservations and realising that he may screw up his friendship by giving into the demands of little Josh. Good man.

    Unfortunately, Katie realised that he had noticed her boobs at the same time he did and decided now was the time to strike. This is where I started to question her sanity. It is one thing loving a man from afar and knowing that you can never have him but then to try to entice him into bed when you know he is going to up and leave? That’s Masochism. Try as I might though, I couldn’t hate them together even when I thought they were making some very bad choices. The chemistry was awesome and all the sneaking around they were doing to find the privacy to have sex made it all the yummier. The barn, the shower, the snow mobile, the kitchen, the office....I wondered when the hell they were going to find a bed!

    "Gee Josh. Sex in a barn. Cookies in a closet. You sure know how to show a girl a good time."
    "I'm a hell of a catch, huh? Wait 'til I show you what I can do in the basement"

    In all honesty, I liked both of the characters individually but I adored them together. Josh was a stubborn character that needed to be left to make his own decisions and this did give some moments where I mentally beat him repeatedly with my kindle. Katie was a fantastic character whose only flaw was her unwavering devotion to Josh. There were points when I questioned why she hadn’t moved on, why she had kept herself in such an impossible situation, but it was all worth it in the end. Together, they were fricking amazing. They were fun, sexy and in complete synch. Of course, the whole question hanging over their relationship is whether or not it will be enough to keep Josh’s itchy feet still. Well, I’m not telling....read it yourself J

    This was a fantastic edition to a series that is a must read one for me. A friends to lovers book which was believable as well as sexy, it hit everything on my check list. I read it tucked up on a cold snowy day and I never stopped reading or smiling. Shannon Stacey, you are now one of the authors I will automatically turn to when I need a read that makes me feel good J
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    All He Ever Dreamed is another solid series entry. I loved Katie, who'd been in love with her best friend Josh forever--her love/hate relationship with cutting his hair was particularly cute. Josh was a typical clueless guy--the scene where he finally notices that his bff is an actual woman with girly parts was just too funny! Sure, there were times that I wanted to smack him upside the head for his dogged insistence that he HAD to leave town in order to be happy and fulfilled, but Katie was absolutely right when she said that if he never went anywhere he'd eventually come to resent anyone and anything he perceived as having kept him from it. My only complaint is that I wish this one were longer, because the ending felt a tad bit rushed.For example, it would have been nice to have seen some more of Josh and Katie's correspondence while he was gone--especially an example or two of his "here's where I am right now" picture/texts to set us up for the final one. A closer look at his experiences while traveling, too, wouldn't have gone amiss. He'd been looking forward to doing this forever--surely he had some memorable experiences while he was gone? Still, though, I definitely can't complain about the ending. It was very nicely done.

    Sigh...now the downside. All the Kowalski boys are finally taken. Surely this means it's Liz's turn next, right? And then maybe the "Friends and Acquaintances of the Kowalskis" series, so we can see Max and Hailey get together, perhaps? (Heck, I'm even willing for Mallory, Drew's ex, to get her own HEA, once Drew is all taken care of. That's how much I enjoy Shannon Stacey's writing style. I'm just sayin'....) Please, Ms. Stacey, can we have some more?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    ****Review also posted over at ParanormalHaven.com****


    3.5 Stars

    If you’re fond of fun, contemporary Romance, then Shannon Stacey’s books just might be for you. All He Ever Dreamed centers around Josh Kowalski and Katie Davis, daughter of the Kowalski’s Lodge’s longtime housekeeper. Josh, the youngest of the Kowalski’s, was left to run the Lodge after his siblings left to pursue their careers without giving much thought to their youngest brother. When one of the Kowalski siblings moves back to Whitford, Maine to settle in with his family, Josh is chomping at the bit to leave the Northern Star Lodge and pursue dreams of his own. Katie Davis, his best pal of many years, has pined over Josh for years but Josh never acknowledges her as a woman until a late night run in at the Northern Star Lodge.

    If you’re going to read a series involving siblings, you really can’t go wrong with Shannon Stacey. She creates funny, engaging, and flawed characters that make you wish that you knew the Kowalski’s. I love the small details in the book, like being able to identify the people in the town by the car they drive, or characters referencing their lack of choices when it comes to places to eat. Plus, the dialogue between the brothers had me snort laughing or smiling throughout the whole book.

    This is a book where I had a lot more love for the heroine than I did the hero. I loved Katie. She is unpretentious, loyal, smart, and unselfish. She decides to move into the Northern Star Lodge after her mother contracts pneumonia so she can care for her mom and help out around the Lodge to ease the burden on Josh. By contrast, Josh comes across as less impressive. His feelings and desires are focused on leaving the Northern Star Lodge and that’s pretty much it. And I never fully bought into the fact that he never acknowledges Katie as a woman. Not picking up on her feelings, I could buy, especially as Katie does take care to hide them from Josh. But only noticing how attractive she is after seeing her in a tank top and shorts late at night? Yeah, I don’t think so. Don’t be misled by the description of the book either. There is no “hot late night encounter in the kitchen”. (Unless you count him noticing she’s not wearing a bra underneath that tank top of hers)

    The way the last 10-15% of the book pans out is pretty predictable. From how the book was set up, I realized what was going to happen later pretty early on. I wish the resolution had been set up in a different way, though, given the book’s premise, I did understand the direction of the story even as I didn’t particularly care for it. If you haven’t read any of the author’s previous Kowalski books, you’d still be able to understand what was going on and the character’s motivations, and the book does make for an enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    All He Ever Dreamed Shannon StaceyJoshua Kowalski lived at the Lodge with the housekeeper, Rose, Katies mom. Katie Davis was Josh's best friend and she'd never tell him how she really felt about him...Once the snow came to Maine he'd be busy with the Northern Star Lodge..but Rose had pneumonia again and hospitalized. The plan is that Katie will move into the lodge to get it ready for the season and the family Christmas holiday where everybody would spend several nights at the lodge and this way be able to keep an eye on her mother's health and get the rooms ready for occupancy..Rose's plan was going to work but she needed to push them together more...Love hearing about the rest of the family as I have read other books in this series. Just a down to earth family...Book also follows others relationships and love life's.Others who come to visit with Rose discuss the lodge. The family wants to sell it as everybody has another life outside the lodge, Josh due to his broken leg was the one to run it and he hopes this will be his last season but it's a family decision.And where does that leave Rose? At her business running the barbershop her father had started.Hot steamy sex scenes only add to this book. Such choices to make that could turn disastrous in the long run... Love this series, can be read as stand alone.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4 STARSAll He Ever Dreamed (Kowalski#6)I liked it better than #5 in the Kowalski series. Some ways it was easy to see where the book was headed all along the way. Still how they got their was told really good. I did not want to put the book down.Shannon has created the Kowalski family. They are more character driven romances. This is Josh and Katie story. But you see and hear whats going on with his other brothers and friends too. I missed reading book 3 & 4 but don't feel lost in the later books. It is easy to read any of the books so far that I can see. Though it is richer if you had read them. I want to go back and read them sometime in the future.Josh is the youngest of his family. When he was ready to leave home like the rest had is father got sick. So he stayed to take care of the family lodge. When his dad died his brothers and sister just assumed he would stay and keep the lodge going. Josh has let the anger build up in him and when he broke his leg they all came home to help. Now the lodge is in better shape and they are thinking of selling it so he can choose and go where he wants.Katie is Josh's best friend for years. She is into sports like him. Her mother was the housekeeper at the lodge and helped raise Josh & his brother and sister. Katie has been in love with him for years. He has never really noticed she was a women till she moved into the lodge while her mom has been really sick.Two best friends that everyone can see belong together but Josh. Rosie Kate's mother is matchmaking harder. She wants them to get together and marry and keep the lodge open and give her grandkids. Rosie also starts her own affair.Thier is some foul langage,and love scenes. romance,humor,sports and lots of love.I can't wait to find out what happens to Liz Kowalski. I am sure we will see more of her in the future.I was given this ebook to read in exchange for honest review from Netgalley.Description taken off NetgalleyJosh Kowalski is tired of holding down the fort—better known as the Northern Star Lodge—while his siblings are off living their dreams. Now that his oldest brother has returned to Whitford, Maine for good, Josh is free to chase some dreams of his own.As the daughter of the lodge's longtime housekeeper, Katie Davis grew up alongside the Kowalski kids. Though she's always been "one of the guys", her feelings for Josh are anything but sisterly. And after a hot late-night encounter in the kitchen, it's clear Josh finally sees her as the woman she is.Katie's been waiting years for Josh to notice her, but now that he has, she's afraid it's too late. Giving her heart to a man who can't wait to leave town is one sure way to have it broken. But Josh keeps coming up with excuses not to leave—could it be that everything he's ever wanted is closer than he could have imagined?01/21/2012 PUB Carina Press 9781426894626 ISBN

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All He Ever Dreamed - Shannon Stacey

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