Book Review: Big Pickle by JJ Knight
Happy Thursday friends! Two reviews in a row, what an exciting week for me here at HDB. Thanks for your endless support for our little blog. Life gets crazy at times but I love engaging with my fellow readers and sharing recommendations and reviews. If you haven’t followed @Boutofbooks on Twitter, I highly recommend doing so. We’re in the middle of a bonus quarantine read-a-thon and it’s definitely motivated me to crack open more books this week. Now, onto the review!
Title: Big Pickle
Author: JJ Knight
Published by: Self Published
Pages: 300, ebook
Publication date: April 4th 2020
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance
Recommended to: readers who enjoy a good laugh and lots of pickle puns.
He’s kind of a big dill.
An enemies-to-lovers, secret boss, gut-splittingly hilarious rom com from USA Today bestselling author JJ Knight
They call me Big Pickle.
It’s not what you think.
(Although that’s true too.)I happen to be the oldest Pickle in the family deli business. And we have the best salami.
Take that one however you like.
But when my father announces the franchise will go to the most profitable of the three brothers, I learn that even though I’m the biggest Pickle, I’m dead last.
I hightail it to Texas to see what’s happened to my restaurant, only to find a sassy little spitfire named Nova Strong in charge.
She’s amazing. She’s sexy. She’s perfectly happy to call bullsh*t when she sees it.
But despite the way we nearly melt the permafrost in the industrial freezer, I have to control myself. Nova thinks I’m a new employee. She has no idea I’m only there to spy.
Or that I’m her boss.
As I get to the bottom of why my franchise is failing, I desperately need to know one thing:
Is Nova Strong everything wrong with my deli, or everything right for me?
___
Big Pickle is a full-length, 300-page standalone romantic comedy full of pickle jokes, giggle-worthy references to male anatomy, and more salty language than a jar of baby dills.
What a fun, lighthearted story this is. The puns, oh the many many pickle puns, really just made me laugh out loud. Big Pickle was just the pick me up I needed during this stressful pandemic life.
By far, the best part of this book is Nova. She is just a delightful firecracker. Continually stepping outside her comfort zone for the good of her deli team, Nova steps up when the manager takes off and leaves them without proper guidance or instruction. Nova builds a tight knit team to keep Austin Pickle in business. She’s keeping things functional but based on their accounting numbers something is still amiss.
Enter Jace, or Jason, coming to find out what’s going on at the deli he’s ignored for several years. When the new girl in charge doesn’t recognize him, he decides the best way to figure out what’s going on is to pretend to be a regular worker. Secret boss immediately gets under Nova’s skin and she hassles him as much as possible.
As Jason and Nova work together and get to know each other, their walls come down and they realize they are on the same team. Trying to figure out why the deli is in financial trouble is no easy task, but working together proves to be easier than fighting. What started as a hate spark quickly turns into something hotter.
The truth has to come out eventually though, and instead of coming clean when he had the opportunity Jason continues the charade of lowly worker sleeping with the boss lady until it’s too late.
I really enjoyed the family dynamics among the Pickle dynasty. The camaraderie between the brothers, despite the competition was thoughtful and definitely added to the story. Grammy was definitely my second favorite character in the story. Smart, witty, and definitely in charge. Really all the characters were well rounded and I would love to read more about them.
I recommend this book to those romance readers who are ready for a good laugh and a happily ever after.
JJ Knight is the USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic comedy.
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