The Co-op
A Novel
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4.1 • 39 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
A Library Reads Pick!
"Sexy, smart, playful, and poignant, DeWitt has created pure romance magic!" —Christina Lauren, New York Times bestselling author of Love and Other Words
The all-new renovated edition with expanded scenes and bonus content!
They say love and construction don't mix. By that logic, hate and construction may as well be condemned.
LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had one short and contentious summer fling when they were teens—certainly nothing to build a foundation on. But a decade later, when their grandmothers have left them with shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz building, they're thrust back together and have to figure out how to brace up the pieces.
LaRynn has the money, but in order to access her trust, she has to be married. Deacon has the construction expertise, but lacks the funds. A deal is struck: Marry for however long it takes to fix up the property, collect a profit, and cut ties.
Thrust into a home without walls, LaRynn and Deacon quickly learn that it's easy to hide behind emotional ones, even in a marriage. But with all the exposure and pitfalls that come with living with the opposite sex (and none of the perks, much to their growing mutual frustration) they'll also have to learn what it means to truly cooperate as a team.
Filled with crackling tension, The Co-op is a steamy second chance romance about restoration and renovation, and uncovering all the things that build character within ourselves. It's about the never-ending construction project that partnership is, and finding enjoyment at every stage.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
DeWitt (Savor It) delivers a sensitive marriage of convenience romance about love blossoming in close quarters. Growing up, LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds spent summers together at their respective grandmothers' shared house in Santa Cruz, Calif. At 19, they attempted to have a no strings attached summer fling that ended in disaster when feelings got involved. Seven years later, following the deaths of both their grandmothers, they co-inherit the crumbling co-op. Contractor Deacon has the skills to fix up the place, but he needs capital. LaRynn has the money, but she needs to be married to access her trust fund. They strike a deal: they'll get and stay married just until the work is done and they're able to either rent or sell the property, at which point they'll split the profits and go their separate ways. With firmly established boundaries—and an end in sight—surely they should be able to coexist without any problems. But as they live and work together, old feelings resurface about their relationships with each other and with their respective families. They help each other work through past hurt, grief, disappointment, and regrets, forging a powerful bond. DeWitt tackles tough issues without ever losing sight of the fun and effectively uses the renovations as a metaphor for rebuilding damaged relationships. This satisfies.
Customer Reviews
Several painful misunderstandings throughout the story
This is set in Santa Cruz, with a slight bit of location fudging. When I saw ‘17’ on the first or second page, I thought, “my 17?”. When LaRynn Lavigne was getting motionsick while transversing the really curvy parts, I sympathized: I’m never going to drive or ride Hwy 1 north of Hearst Castle to Big Sur, and no way will I go south on it with those sea cliffs.
Not only was *I* nauseated as the driver, but I had fun with a migraine. I understood her situation from my guts. I expect she avoids Hwy 152, which goes over a mountain pass with many sharp curves.
Enough of that. Both LaRynn and Deacon Leeds have a lot of emotional pain: both of their fathers were abusive jerks, to start with, and how much money was available didn’t change that.
They each had a grandmother who lived in the house near the Boardwalk & its beach, that requires serious renovation to make it livable. The two “grands” became lovers and then spouses, one widow only living a few months after her wife died.
The house has been willed to LaRynn and Deacon … who dated in highschool for a summer before one misunderstanding caused an explosive breakup, leaving both of them hurting. Ten years later, each of them with buried hurts and not-so-buried resentment, have come together to repair & renovate the house.
She’s the grumpy (mostly in self-defense & anxiety) to his sunshine. Her social skills are nearly nonexistent, also expecting the worst.
He’s gone through all his discretionary cash, but is working as a general contractor; she’d been very sick with pneumonia when her grand died. Because she dropped out of law school (due to the strain of law school with tons of reading with her dyslexia) her father blocked access to her trust fund unless she married. They need access to the money to finance the rest of the repair & renovation.
Dean suggests a platonic marriage of convenience—or is it mutual support?—to which she attaches some rules/conditions. They have a no fuss terse ceremony in the chapel near the licenses and vital records offices.
They begin to learn things about the other & what happened before & after the blowup, and begin to work better together, and become the friends they had been in the summers they’d spent together with their grands, while their parents went off somewhere. They do begin to warm toward each other.
Romance, and restoration of the house, ensue, but time & funding for the house is hard to get, and desperation sets in.
This is where I stop to avoid spoilers. I really liked the blossoming growth LaRynn allows herself, the French/French-Canadian (not specified) grand and her solid advice, the support LaRynne and Deacon give to each other as their relationship redevelops.
I plan to read more of Ms Dewitt’s stories.