Steamy summer romance at your fingertips. Loved the tension and angst present between Emily and Tanner.

Wow this is the first one I've had the chance of reading from Nina and I must say I'm hooked.....

You have the town bad boy and the town good girl who in one night find each other and things break out into amazing things from that point forward. The story is beautiful and really makes you want more from Nina and the crew she introduces you too in this book.

I want to spill everything about it to you but that would spoil the love story that's there. Though I will hint and nudge for more from the Sadler cove group.

I can't wait to see what may come next from Nina

Emily has had the hots for Tanner. But in all her twenty-four years she never had the courage to do anything about it. He’s the baddest man in town so it’s obvious that he’s never going to want nothing to do with her.
Tanner has had the hots for Emily. But in all his twenty-six years he never had the courage to do anything about it. She’s the sweet first-grade teacher so it’s obvious that she’s never going to want nothing to do with him.
Until they’re in the same room and end up with a baby on the way!

Why “Handle with care”? Because everyone thinks that Emily is a sensible and fragile woman who needs to be handled with care. Well, she’s not. She’s just afraid of taking risks after her parents’ death which I think it’s fair. I liked her. It’s a pretty relatable character given her “normal” life.

Now Tanner is the opposite. He likes to take risks so everyone thinks he’s really a bad boy, even though he’s actually sweet and kind. He was in prison for two years and now everyone in town is judging him. So the tough appearance is his way of protecting himself. Warning: sometimes you’re not going to like him because he takes his bad ways way too far.

The storyline is actually pretty cool. It is more than just about Emily and Tanner. It is also about Mimi, Emily’s grandmother and how she finds love again at the age of seventy. And there’s also a lot about people that think they have someone figured out just because if their skin color.

Highly recommend the book if you’re a fan of baby love (the pregnancy part at least) and if you like to crack a tough guy like Tanner.

This book is a little hard for me to review because, for the most part, I enjoyed it a lot. I found it sweet. It was pretty low angst. The hero had been celibate for three years. The heroine wasn't a virgin. There was no OW drama. A little OM drama (but nothing bothersome). It was mildly spicy. It had excellent secondary characters. I especially loved Mimi and Josh, and their secondary romance. I want to read more about Tanner's brothers. I found the heroine quite likable. And the ending was sweet and had me shedding a few tears.

So why the 3-Star rating? Tanner...good lord the WOE IS ME attitude was strong in this one. And it lasts until 90% into the book. The chip on his shoulder was the size of the Titanic. Yes, he had a more than his fair share of shitty things happen to him. Yes, the town was made up of judgmental twats. But instead of working to prove them WRONG by being a decent human being, he spent YEARS acting like a douche. He was surly. He was arrogant. He was nasty. He was an a$$hole. He was a self-fulling prophecy. And...ultimately, for me, he was a giant whiny pussy right up until the END. Because of that, I just couldn't bring myself to give this a higher rating.

Safe. Sensible what a way to be described. It was true though, that's all she showed to anyone except him. He was angry, defiant, scared and the town bad boy. The problem is that's not who he is and why he came back. I have to say this was a well written story and yeah their story is a good one. I love that these two found what they needed and it really is a feel good story where you want them to succeed. This actually feels like a story within a story. The secondary story of Mimi and Josh is the thing that keep this story from dragging and being too long with the fight to be good enough between Tanner and Emily.

The combination of the two couples makes this a wonderful emotional story of recovery and love, forgiveness and healing for everyone. This is the great start of a series from an author I haven't had the chance to read before. I love her characters and the issues addressed, they are passionate and quirky and utterly real. I can't wait to enjoy more of this series.

Intetesting small town romance

Nina Croft's Handle with Care was a very enjoyable read.
I liked that Emily and Tanner were both strong characters with serious chemistry. They both had baggage they had to deal with before they got to their HEA. I thought the supporting characters added to the story especially Emily's grandmother Mimi. This is the first book I've read by Nina Croft and I look forward to reading more of her work.
I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley.

This was an enjoyable read. That had enough about it to hold my interest and I liked the two main characters Emily and Tanner. Even if they did frustrate me, especially when it came to their relationship which had a will they, won't they quality to it and to be honest I'm not a huge fan of those. Plus, this one did drag on a little too long, particularly when one honest, proper conversation would have solved a lot of their problems.
Yet, the story itself was sweet, fairly angst free and I did particularly enjoy all the secondary characters including Tanners two brothers and niece. As well as the additional romance between Emily's grandmother Mimi and Tanner's friend Josh. And so I would certainly read more from this series in the future and I would recommend Handle With Care to others.

3 stars
A Story of the very good girl tired of being so very good...has naughty dreams nightly of the very studly town bad boy...When both cross paths and he tells her she is always sensible in every situation, it is like a red flag being waved...Naturally, she shows him she is not such a prude and a good girl gone bad... bad with him!

So I chose to read this book based on the synopsis and the cover of the book. Both looked/sounded great.
I like Tanner.... thought he was a wonderful character. A character who was a great guy, but because of certain things that happened was considered the town bad boy. Emily was boring and not at all I very enjoyable character in my opinion. Too square. I cannot see how Tanner was even remotely attracted to her. Because of this, I couldn't get into this book. I skipped to the end to see how it ended (sometimes this makes me want to go back and read what I missed - this book did not).

This was my first book by this author.

Cute
This is my first book by Nina Croft.

What I liked:
The writing style
The characters
 Several POVs
Part of a series: Saddler Cove
Standalone
HEA
Epilogue

I look forward to reading the other books in this series.

Emily and Tanner have both been fantasizing about each other for years, and when the opportunity presents itself to turn their fantasy to reality, they are all for it.
But their reality has repercussion, in the form a baby.
Handle with Care gives you 2 stories in one. The primary being Emily and Tanner and the second one is a beautiful surprise. Handle with Care is a perfect balance of steamy and fun and second chances ,forgiveness, and family. I loved the bond between Emily and her grandma and the one shared by the brothers and hope we get books about the brothers as well.

I'm a sucker for a romance with an unplanned pregnancy. I really liked how Emily needed to be convinced that she and Tanner were meant to be together.

4 - "Show me how wild you can be…" Stars!

Handle With Care takes us to the town of Saddler Cove and its residents. In particular the Tanner family, teacher Emily Towson and her grandmother Mimi Delaney. We are basically talking about your A-typical small American town, particularly when it comes to it's small-minded, judgemental bigoted residents, who have long memories and little to offer in the way of forgiveness.

She’d had secret fantasies about Tanner since she was old enough to know what boys were for…

On one hand this is your typical bad-boy sleeps with good-girl and oops! Knocks her up type of tale, but the author split the story into four separate POV’s by including Mimi and recently released from a forty year prison stint Josh Simpson’s story into its telling.

"You’re not the only one who has fantasies…"

I’ll be honest I wasn’t sure how I was going to get on with two OAPs opinions being put into the mix, but as the story between Tanner and Emily develops, the same thing happens for Mimi and Josh. All four of them are dealing with their own issues, and parts of Emily's story overlaps with Mimi’s as does Josh with Tanners, which connects everything up eventually.

Give it a go…

I think the best thing was the fact that Nina managed to give them all their own personalities as well so it was easy to move between each ones thoughts. The plot was pretty predictable in the course it took, and the actions that were taken as a result of what happened didn’t really offer up anything new either, but I liked the characters, and as I have come to expect with Nina’s writing everything flowed along beautifully, it kinda reminded me of Footloose the Kevin Bacon version obviously.

One little walk on the wild side... and she'd be paying for the rest of her life.

The fact that Tanner has two equally delicious brothers makes me think we will be returning to the town and its people again in the future too, and I look forward to it immensely.

OMG.....talk about Hot ! Hot! Hot!....who doesn't love a bad boy and the girl next door.type of character.
I feel in love with Tanner and Emily from the first chapter and all i can say is 'Thank you" Nina for getting me out of my reading rut. I devowed this book in 8 straight hours and one sleepless night...
Tanner made me swoon with his attitude problems and Emily made me want to shake her at times....I was completely enthralled.
Guess who cant wait for the next one is the series ? Me !!!!!
Perfect combo of attitude, interesting characters and hot sex....

Handle with care is a wrong side of the track romance. You have Emily who thanks to losing her parents at a young age plays it safe and is a good girl. Then there is Tanner who is the town bad boy. Hes an ex con, dirty mouthed, doesnt care what the town thinks, and enjoys riling the town up.

When one relationship goes south and Emily's grandmother makes a poor decision she will run right into the arms of Tanner and end ip dealing with the consequences.

It was good and if you can get over both of their I securities and enjoy the story you will really like this one. Not only are they dealing with a baby on the way, a new relationship, and their families, they also have to contend with the town and its opinion. All in all a decent book.

Emily and Tanner. Miss perfect school teacher and the town ex-con bad boy. Set up by her Gran Mimi, when she wants Emily to stop playing safe and start living life, Mimi goes to town to buy and Harley from Tanner. Tanner and his two brothers own a shop in town, selling and restoring old hogs.
Tanner is bitter, having served time for killing his best friend when he was younger in a car accident.
Didn't help that the golden boy came from the most elitist family in their tiny town. The Conner brothers didn't have an easy time growing up, their dad was the town drunk and they got no help from anyone in the town. Tanner is the brother with the attitude. Reese recently found out he's a father to a sweet little first grader who happens to be one of Emily's pupils. Emily the epitome of school teacher, even dresses like one. Her Gran runs a ranch where she lives. Em lost her parents in a plane crash and she's lived with Mimi since then. Mimi is the best character ever. She runs an equine program for Vets with PTSD and others who need it. When Emily catches wind that her 70 year old Mimi has just bought a Harley she goes to town to give Tanner a piece of her mind and the two end up in a molten meltdown of steamy sex that melted the words of the pages. When Emily finds herself pregnant she goes to Tanner and his response was honestly the best. Not what I expected but he wanted to do right by Emily and his child. The two decide to take is slow and become friends to get to know each other going on dates. Meanwhile her ex tries to win her back... what a loser. You have to read the book to get the back story on that one, but being deemed wife material because you're sensible doesn't hit my checklist. Tanner's insecurities play into their story heavily and his doubt whether he's good enough for Em and their child. But he is determined to be their for them, no matter what. The story takes a number of twists and turns and though they've kept their impending marriage on the quiet side, they decide to go public. Bringing a whole new set of problems to these two. Tanner has also brought onboard a friend from prison who did 40 years and Josh and Mimi become close friends, causing yet another stir. No one dares say a word to Mimi who has lived in town her whole life and has her own secrets as well. Everyone in this story has a secret. When they come out, it puts yet another spin on things. After a night out together as a couple and an altercation with an old friend, Tanner makes a major decision, serving absolutely no purpose other than making him a miserable sob. Tanner is stubborn and digs in for the haul. Fool.
This is a good read. I enjoyed it because despite Tanner's attitude about the people in town, he does everything he can for Emily. There was no question that Tanner was going to not be there for her.
Emily made Tanner happy and Tanner helped Emily get back out there and live. The rest of the story you have to read. I hope we see more from this little town and the brothers.

advanced reader copy from NetGalley and Entangled for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Saddler Cove Series

Well, it happened again! I found another new to me author to stalk! 

Handle with Care is the first book in a hopefully new series.  This book is a fantastic introduction to the people of Saddler Cove. Small town drama and small town living.

This story is more than just the love story of Tanner and Emily.  It's so much more! I loved the multiple POV's and the secondary romance that was going on!

Emily is a fantastic character! I loved her honesty.  I enjoyed the fact that she was forthright about her feelings and she didn't stew long about issues that were plaguing her!

Tanner is the ultimate alpha.  He has dealt with bad luck and judgemental people in his past.  It explains why he is the way his is today. 

The chemistry between Tanner and Emily was amazing! I loved the whole dichotomy between the characters! It was a great telling of the "good girl" "bad boy" scenario.

The secondary characters were fantastic and I am so hoping to read more about them in the future!  This is a definite must read!

I am so glad to have had the opportunity to read this! Thank you for your words Ms. Croft! I cannot wait to see what you come out with next!

I couldn't resist this book after reading the premise, the supposedly good girl in town hooking up with the bad boy? I just had to read, and it didn't disappoint.
Both Emily and Tanner see themselves in certain way and try to project that to everyone else but they have so much they're keeping inside, their past experiences have left a deep impact in both of them and they carry all that weight but while being together, they start to discover new things. Neither of them think they're good for the other, they should be complete opposites but what's between them goes much depper than just chemistry and attraction. I admit there were times I wanted to shake some sense into them but it's all part of the story, they have to deal with their own issues to figure out what they really want.

There's also kind of a side story focusing on Emily's grandmother which was nice, I liked her character and it's a nice representation of older romance but you start to read this thinking the story is about Emily and Tanner and while it's a nice addition I don't think it really adds to their particular story, it would have still worked witout it.

Overall it was a very enjoyable read and I do look forward to more stories from this series.

4.5 Touching Stars
Review by Elizabeth
Late Night Reviewer
Up All Night w/ Books Blog

I’m sad that this is my first time reading Nina Croft's words, because she is too good not to have been on my TBR before now. Handle with Care is somewhat emotional –I cried— romantic and just utterly splendid.

Emily is the town’s good girl and a first grade teacher. She never does anything out the ordinary or risky until she clashes with Tanner, the town's bad boy and an ex-con. Tanner decides to ‘sell’ Emily’s grandmother a hog, or motorcycle, and Emily flips.

Her moment of adventure is put to the test when an unexpected surprise comes into the picture. Emily is nowhere ready to be a mother and Tanner is not ready to be a father. These two share so much passion and chemistry its downright wow!

I love how Nina has developed her characters! Emily is a sweetheart and Tanner is broken but Emily is his savior. Of course, Mimi, Emily’s grandmother, is amazing! I am definitely looking forward to reading more from Nina.

**ARC provided for honest review**

I loved this book! Tanner and Emily both think they don't deserve each other. It is mentioned throughout the book but not in an annoying way. Tanner is the bad boy of their small city and Emily is the sweet, beautiful, innocent first grade teacher. When they unexpectedly end up together, no one can believe it. The best character in this book is really Emily's grandmother. She speaks her mind and isn't afraid to tell anyone how it is! There were a few laugh out loud moments. This was a wonderful read by Ms. Croft. I can't wait for the next Saddler's Cove book!