Into the Tide

Cottonwood Cove Series, Book 1

By: Laura Pavlov

Narrated by: Connor Crais, Mackenzie Cartwright

Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

She’s my best friend’s little sister. Completely off-limits. But every man has his breaking point.

Lila James is my best friend’s little sister, and I’ve always looked out for her.
She's five years younger than me, and when she left for college, she was just a kid.
But now she’s home for the summer—and she’s definitely not a kid anymore.
She’s beautiful, smart, and everything I didn’t know I needed.
Dark eyes. Long wavy hair. And legs that are meant to be wrapped around me.
I'm the guy who likes to have a good time.
Keep things light.
When her brother asks me to hire her at my restaurant, it's a no-brainer.
There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
Until she asks me for one more favor.
She wants me to be her first.
Take her V-card.
Go where no man has gone before.
Her words, not mine.
And damn, if I don’t want to go there more than I’ve ever wanted anything.
She's only here for the summer, and she says it will be our secret.
It’s temporary.
We’ll go back to being just friends at the end of summer.
She promises that she won’t fall for me.
She knows better.
But Lila isn’t the one I'm worried about.

**This is book one in the Cottonwood Cove Series. Each one can be read as a complete standalone. A HEA is guaranteed!**

Cottonwood Cove Series:
Into the Tide
Under the Stars
On the Shore
Before the Sunset
After the Storm

©2023 Laura Pavlov (P)2023 Laura Pavlov

Hugh is dreamy

Overall: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 /5
Spice Level: 🌶🌶🌶/5
Recommend: Yes
Re-read/ re-listen: Yes
Trope: Brother's best friend/ Boss-Employee.
Narrators: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5. Connor Crais and McKenzie Cartwright

Characters:
Hugh Reynolds (cousin if Dylan from Honey Mountain Series) & Lila James (Travis James, little sister and Hugh's best friend)
Story:
Hugh Reynolds is super amazing. He puts his family first. He puts pretty much everyone he cares about first. He runs his family businesses and does not hesitate to include Lila in whatever she needs. He cares deeply about her. I mean, it's his best friends little sister. How can he not care.... Lila James doesn't know how to live in the moment. She is so busy on the go and running from how people perceive her, too busy proving she made something of herself, she has forgotten to live.
Favorite parts:
The family banter, I loved how effortless and how fun the Reynold's family is. It really makes me super excited to read the rest of the siblings. I loved the check boxes that Lila had. ALSO!!! the nick names. Sigh** Snow and Bear! Loved this. It was so sweet. I really do enjoy how Laura uses unique nick names for her characters
Thoughts:
This book was super sweet. I was a little iffy with it. I didn't immediately love it like the Honey Mountain series. Which surprised me. I really enjoyed the connection between all the characters, the chemistry thT built between Hugh and Lila. There wasn't a lot of conflict, which I appreciated. It honestly was a sweet, fun love story. I did get slightly annoyed with the constant reference of hears best friends sister and virgin. And at one point, I did not like Lila's friends. BUUUTTTTT I still highly enjoyed this book. I can't wait for the next one. I will be revisiting this town again.

Narrators:
The Narrators were excellent!!! they are so fun and listening to Connors voice is so dreamy. McKenzie has such a sweet voice. I have zero issues listening to these two. I hope you enjoy

A lovely small-town romance with a dose of humour.

This is a lovely small-town romance with a dose of humour too. Laura sets the scene perfectly giving us plenty of descriptions so we know just what Cottonwood Cove is like. I definitely felt transported there. She writes about a family who just loves and supports one another and another that is fractured and falling apart. Lila and Hugh have known each other forever and after a situation with Lila’s dad, she goes to live in Hugh’s Casita. She’s just back in Cottonwood for the summer and is determined to work her way through her “Snow Day List”. There are plenty of fun things to check off and she enlists Hugh’s help. After fighting their attraction they finally give in and there’s heat and feelings galore.

I loved the family group chats. This is fast becoming one of my favourite things in books. You get a sense of the family and often the banter is hilarious. Hats off to Connor who had to voice a bunch of different characters in quick succession. That is no easy feat but he does it well. Connor brings this big ‘ol teddy-bear feel to Hugh, and I enjoyed his performance thoroughly. Mackenzie gives us the headstrong Lila determined to lose her V-card. She is youthful and sensitive but also accomplished and we see her confidence grow as the book progresses.

This was a great introduction to Laura’s writing with performances from two narrators I love to listen to. I am definitely keen to hear about the others in the family, so will be sure to hit more in this series.

A great start to this series!

I love small towns and forbidden romance and this one checked all the boxes. Brothers best friend and a funny family in a small town? I loved it! This was the first Laura book I’ve ever listened too and it sparked my love for her books.

Can’t wait to continue

This was my book club pick for the month of June and I’m so glad I got to start this series! I loved it and I can’t wait to continue on within the series!!

Good book

Very good story. Such a sweet storyline. I will definitely listen to the next book

Great small town romance

So Hugh is in love with his best friend’s little sister. Lila is back in town for the summer and together they embark on a summer bucket list. Loved this story and loved the narrators.

All the small town feels!

I loved Into the Tide, book one in the Cottonwood Cove series and am so excited for the rest of this series! The new cast of characters and the small town feel with the everyone knows everything dynamics definitely put a smile on my face.
This is Lila and Hugh’s story and these two characters were so easy to fall for. They have known each other for years since Hugh is Lila’s brother’s best friend.
Lila is in town after graduation before she heads into the city for her real job. She wants to help her dad get his life back on track and loves being back in her hometown. Hugh has hired her in the interim and has given her a place to live but the one thing neither of them expected to happen, did and it is easy to see that their chemistry is off the charts but their relationship is only supposed to be temporary and they don’t want to hurt her brother. However, the heart wants what the heart wants so, read, enjoy and see if they take the leap!
I also had the added benefit of listening to the audio version of this story and the narrators did an amazing job that absolutely added to my enjoyment of this book!

Small Town Excellence!

Small town excellence!

Into the Tide is the start of a new series in Cottonwood Cove. Hugh and Travis have been best friends forever and when Travis' little sister returns to town to help out their Dad feelings start to fly between her and Hugh.

There were a lot of things happening in this story. Lila in particular with her need to slow down while everyone else tries to push her to bigger and better things. She also is trying to give her Dad the push he needs to get and stay sober even when her brother has all but thrown in the towel with that relationship. When circumstances land her staying at Hugh's home she gets the idea for him to assist her with crossing off items on her bucket list, and the big one is losing her v-card. Even when you know it's going to happen the good feelings that come when these two get together were just perfect!

I loved all parts of this story and am really looking forward to all the other characters books! I was provided an audio of this book and Connor Crais and Mackenzie Cartwright did an amazing job!

Fantastic Story & Listen🎧 Charming & Heartwarming!

This small town, brother’s best friend romance is a fabulous start to a new series, the characters are amazing and the storylines not only captivated my attention the entire time but tugged on my heartstrings too. Laura Pavlov is a gifted author, I enjoyed her writing style and her descriptive details takes you alongside the characters and into their heads, enabling your to see what they are seeing, thinking and feeling. The characters are realistic, easy to relate to and connect with, they are easy to care about too. Hugh Reynolds is a busy man, besides running his own bar restaurant, he took over his family’s businesses too. Luckily his friend Travis’ sister, Lila James, who just finished college is coming home before starting her new job in Chicago in a couple of months. While home she will work with Hugh to help him organize and manage his business more efficiently. Travis has mixed feelings about her returning home, he is happy to see her but not happy she is staying with their father who drinks too much and has been down on his luck. Travis has given up on their father, but she hasn’t and she plans to get him the help he needs while she is home. Lila is happy to be home and see her friends and she has one more thing she wants to do before starting her new career and life in the city, to lose her V-card. When Hugh sees Lila, he knows he is in trouble, she is not that a kid anymore she is a beautiful woman, and she is also off limits. It was great to watch these two spend time together and get to know each other again. I thought they were perfect together and for each other. The chemistry between them is undeniable, and they could only deny each other for so long before giving in. They both knew her time was limited and she would be leaving, but they agreed to a temporary fling, enjoy each other’s company, and bodies, but keep it to themselves. I loved how everything played out in this book, it is a wonderfully plotted story and has the perfect balance of drama, charm, witty dialogue and humor, heartfelt emotions, and steamy romance. Besides the fabulous lead characters, there are some amazing secondary characters, including the Reynolds family, the banter between them is hilarious. Laura Pavlov, thank you for the wonderful story and emotional rollercoaster ride. 

🎧📚🎧 And for the fabulous narration, Mackenzie Cartwright and Connor Crais are the perfect cast to bring these characters and story to life. They had a complete understanding of who they were portraying, gave each a voice that fit each of that character’s persona and were believable in every role they played. Crais nailed it as Hugh, swoon worthy and all, grasping all sides of his personality, and Cartwright did the same for Lila, playing her role with perfection. Both were great performing the roles of the secondary characters as well. They set the perfect tone for the story, captured all the character’s emotions and projected them into their performance and had you feeling every single one. These versatile voice artists are entertaining storytellers and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for the amazing listen. 

Amazing Story

OMG, into the tide was absolutely amazing! Hugh and Lila are so adorable together and perfect for each other this is the perfect brothers best friend romance. I love every part of it. The narrations were perfect as well.