Entretenido pero poca cosa más. Esta autora me gusta y me resulta fácil de leer pero este libro, aun lleno de buenas intenciones, me parece que se queda a medio camino de todo.
Tal vez es cosa mía porque pensaba que iba a ser algo más intenso por el punto de partida, la enemistad entre una chica y el hermano de su fallecido prometido, pero se queda en agua de borrajas ya que la enemistad no dura mucho y hay muy poco conflicto. Además, apenas hay guarrerismo en la página y eso para mí es criminal, CRI-MI-NAL 😆.
Pero vamos, he echado el ratillo.

An enemies to lovers roommate romance that quickly turns into a friendship that blooms through house renovation. A hopeful story of a widowed woman named Anneliese falling for her deceased husband’s brother while fixing up a house he’s left behind. Tragic and hopeful, this is an absorbing love story that surprisingly had little to no steam.

After being duped by her dead fiancé, Anneliese does the only thing she can with little to nothing left in her bank account. She returns to Donovan’s hometown in hopes of making money on the house they planned to renovate. What she’s doesn’t bargain for is his brother Lachlan claiming the house and also claiming a bedroom where he can help her restore what he once wished would burn to the ground.

This was a very sweet love story. The author takes two broken people, pushes them together in a way that helps them develop trust and admiration slowly. I guess I wasn’t expecting such little steam and a slow-burn quality, what with the cover being a shirtless guy, but I enjoyed this one despite it being an almost closed-door romance.

While I don’t necessarily love Second Chance romances. This one was done tastefully. The passionate, slow burn romance was so worth it.

I actually wanted to read the book because of the cover, but I'll say I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

It was definitely angsty and heartfelt. Anneliese's fiance passed away in a car accident, and all she wanted was to remodel the house to get her money back. However, when her fiance's brother showed up at the door and wants to tear it down, what can she do?

The build up of Anneliese and Lachlan's relationship was beautiful. Anneliese have been lied to by her dead fiance so it was hard for her to trust Lachlan, but the more time they spend together, the more she fell for him.

Can you move on in life, even with obstacles that seem insurmountable and come out the other side, with a stable fulfilling relationship. This book will answer that question and do much more.

I loved Everything about this book. From the horrible Donavan to the awesome Lachlan. Glad Annalise got her happily Ever after and Lachlan got closure.
I really loved Anneliese she was so sweet and just wanted someone to love her and treat her properly and when she went through what she did i really felt for her.
I was not prepared to become so emotionally invested in this story! Wonderfully told with rich description and a delightfully large vocabulary. I couldn’t put it down. All the characters were absolutely endearing (well, except one who shall not be named…) and came alive in the descriptions and text. The thought process and actions of the main characters were very realistic and believable and made it all the more immersive. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Winter Renshaw's writing is raw and emotional, capturing the heartache and trauma of the characters. The plot is well-crafted, with enough twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seats. The slow-burn romance between Anneliese and Tate is sweet, tender, and passionate.

Overall, Love and Kerosene is a must-read for fans of contemporary romance novels. It's a beautiful story of healing, forgiveness, and love, despite the odds.

Love and Kerosene was my first Winter Renshaw book and I can't wait to read more! I was pulled in by the cover and held captive by Anneliese and Lachlan. This was a sweet slow burn layered with angst and super cute moments. It was surprisingly not a steamy read, but overall I enjoyed it. I read it one sitting and felt connected to both characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

The first time I tried to read this book, I had to set it down because I wasn’t getting into the story plot. I’m so glad to give it a second chance.

This is a slow burn for sure. Anneliese is grieving the loss of her fiancé, and accepting the fact that he was incredibly dishonest with her. She’s left trying to continue to repair his childhood home with no funds and a broken heart.

Lachlan is his estranged brother, and he comes back to town with the simple goal of burning that home to the ground. He doesn’t know who Anneliese is it doesn’t realize she’s going to be a roadblock. He realizes it is going to take him some time to work his way through the courts and he needs a place to stay.

With limited options, Lachlan offers a deal with her. If she’ll let him stay in the house he’ll help her finish it. He still wants to burn it but if she can convince him to let her sell it, he will consider it. Anneliese needs a lot of help with the house and accepts his offer.

It takes more than half of the book to start to see the romance. It’s slow, it’s a little angsty, but it comes together in the end. It had a twist that I was not expecting at all (actually a couple of them) which made it even better. I haven’t read anything by Winter Renshaw yet, but I will definitely pick up another one. Thank you for the copy @netgalley #LoveandKerosene #NetGalley

Love & Kerosene is such a good book! I was hooked from the beginning & couldn't put it down. Anneliese is left with nothing but a run down house after her fiance cashed out her life savings & dying. Lachlan must return home to deal with the mess his brother Donovan left when he dies. He just wants to get rid of the mess of a house that is left & leave his past behind. Lachlan has to decide what to do with the house because Anneliese is also involved & has nothing. Will they fix the house up & sell it to split the money? I loved the emotions & story. I really liked the characters as well. I highly recommend this book.

What I love about Winter Renshaw is that I never know what I'm going to get; each book is wholly unique, and the journey is always unpredictable. That's definitely the case with this one as well, which certainly didn't progress in the way I expected. The premise was engaging, the story moved quickly, and the audio made it perfect for bingeing. So I ended up devouring this in no time at all, even if the romance was a little unfulfilling.

The story follows Anneliese, a woman whose fiancé recently passed away in an accident. While she should be mourning, it was only after Donovan's death that Anneliese discovered that he had stolen her life savings - and he'd been love bombing and gaslighting her throughout their entire relationship. So when a stranger shows up at Anneliese's door claiming to be the brother Donovan never mentioned, Anneliese isn't sure what to think. Lachlan is the spitting image of his brother, but their personalities couldn't be more different. Not only that, but Lachlan's appearance complicates things further - he's claiming ownership of the house Anneliese was hoping to renovate in order to recoup her lost money. As these two wary strangers clash over their conflicting motivations, Anneliese can't help but wonder... what if she had met Lachlan first?

This was super fast-paced and such an interesting, easy read. I loved the fact that I didn't know where it would go next, and I also liked peeling back the layers of both characters. Anneliese fell hard and fast for Donovan and she's unwilling to make the same mistake twice, which added some friction. I really appreciated that Anneliese didn't have any (positive) lingering feelings for Donovan, and that Lachlan was so different. There's also a little bit of mystery that makes things move quicker, which was both good and bad. I thought the premise was great, but the romance itself was pretty bland. Things moved quickly and were somewhat glossed over, which left me feeling emotionally unattached to the relationship. With another 50-100 pages, I think it would've been an easy 5-star rating for me. As it is, this ended up making for a solid binge, but probably one that won't stay with me.

Audio note: The audio was good! The runtime is ideal for bingeing, and it made the story fly by. It's dual narration, with two narrators that I am semi-familiar with. I thought Lydia Dornet did a great job, though Nelson Hobbs was a little stiff for my liking. It worked well in the format, and the slow burn/low heat level made this a good choice for a workday listen. It definitely livened up my day, and I'm happy that I listened to the story. So a definite win overall.

What a heartbreaking read...heading into an amazing romance!

I loved this read! It was deep, the characters were wonderful, the angst and drama...wow!

Anneleise and Lachlan's romance was lovely!

An enthralling read with many unexpected moments. A second chance romance that was done well. While it was not my favourite, it was certainly entertaining!

Love and Kerosene is definitely not what I expected. Falling for your dead brother's girlfriend can be very sketchy and hard to navigate.
While I liked this book, It wasn’t what I expected. It was still a good read.

This is a second chance at love and life romance between Lachlan and Anneliese. These flawed but likeable characters, the strong connection, the combustible chemistry, and the unique plot make for an interesting read. What starts out as a compromise turns into something more. It is a slow burn love story with drama, humor, family dynamic, twists and turns, and engaging secondary characters to keep the reader interested. Seriously entertaining.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving my honest review.

Winter Renshaw you did this!!!! You made feel every emotion possible. The ending was amazing and it wasn’t rushed which I loved. Give me more of this. 10/10 recommend to anyone that loves romance and lots of feelings

Nope. This just didn't make sense.

In love and kerosene, Annalise’s fiancé Donovan is killed in a car crash. After his death, she finds out that Donovan’s whole life was a lie and that he stole the money she gave him to renovate the house.  She's shocked and heartbroken and if that’s not bad enough, she gets a knock on the door from a man that looks identical to her dead fiancé, a man who claims he is the brother who she never knew about. For whatever reason Donovan was hiding the fact that he had a brother named Lachlain. Since Donovan is dead, they would never know why he was hiding that fact but the more Lachlain tells her, the more she realizes that Donovan was stringing her along for her money and probably would eventually have left her when the money ran out. Something he has done time and time again with other women. Annalise has gone from heartbroken to feeling betrayed and used, but still determined to rebuild the house that was supposed to be their home, if only to sell it, reclaim her money and go home.

Lachlan only returned to town after he found out about his brother's death so then he could donate the house to the fire department so they could burn it down. Lachlain suffered a childhood trauma in the house which we really don’t find out until really late in the story but honestly, he doesn’t seem all that traumatized. Yes, his mother died when he was young and his father checked out on Donovan and Lachlain for a long time after her death. His childhood was screwed up and his treatment by his father and brother was atrocious, but is that enough to warrant burning the house down.

Annalise has been struggling to complete the renovations by herself and she convinces Lachlain to help her renovate while she also tries to convince him not to burn the house down. The funny part is as soon as he starts helping with the renovation, Annalise has to go help a friend and she’s not helping with any more of the work. It just seemed really odd since the point of the story was that they were supposed to be working together to get the house in shape so she can convince him to sell it but she immediately stops helping and leaves it all to Lachlain. There really wasn’t a great connection between the two of them.

Thoughts:
You know that I enjoy all kinds of fantasy series. I believe in the vampires. I believe your story of werewolves. I believe your magical world, and your fairies and all the other things that make up fantasy stories. If I’m into the story, I’m very content to just go along with whatever you tell me, but the actual basis of the story has to make sense, especially when we’re talking the normal world of a contemporary story.

I picked up a copy of this story thinking that was very interesting premise about what would happen between these characters where she can convince him not to burn down the house but there were just things that didn’t make any sense to me. Actually, all of the story drama just didn’t make sense

There are two issues with this story that stand out. The first is the fact that everyone tells Annalise that she needs to prove that she gave the money to Donovan. In what backwoods are we not able to get copies of bank statements and checks? Yes the current bank account is in his name but she should be able to contact her bank in Chicago and get a copy of the check that was used as the deposit, or she can then start her her lawsuit, then get a copy of the bank statement showing that the initial deposit is from her check. She also kept records of all the things she bought for the renovations and everything was paid out of that bank account thereby proving that they were using the expenses on the house. They make it seem like there’s no way she would ever prove that the money she gave to Donovan was her’s and used for the renovation. She didn’t give him cash when she moved from Chicago and she would’ve had all her money drawn out in a bank check, more than likely in her own name unless she’s a complete moron. Maybe she is because she didn’t understand that you need to go to the bank when you open a new bank account and sign signature cards, etc. nor did she ask for copies of the bank statements so she could keep an eye on their spending. This whole drama made no sense, nor the fact that no attorney would touch the case and help her get her money back. Especially since Donovan was dead, and couldn’t claim that she gave him the money as a gift for renovating his house.

The second issue was Lachlain‘s desire to burn down the house. Now maybe when he still thought of his childhood house was falling apart since his father didn’t take care of it. You might think it must be a shack and you need to just burn it down but you'd be wrong.   And no matter what kind of childhood trauma he might’ve suffered in that house, the fact that it’s been renovated and the foundation was now solid, the kitchen was redone with custom cabinets and new bathrooms.  To me, once Lachlain installed custom made cabinetry in the kitchen, the question of burning it down was moot. Who would put that kind of money into a house and burn it down. Even if this is some backwoods town, a four bedroom, two bath house which has been newly renovated should get at least $300,000.00. The fact is that Lockland was just flitting around Europe for the last decade, wouldn’t it be better to sell the house and have $150,000.00 to live off of rather than doing odd jobs here and there off the books. In fact, that would be the best revenge against his father and brother, to live carefree with the profits of the house. Again, this makes no sense that she had to fight him about selling the house. I could see his initial thought of burning it down made sense when it was falling down, but once he saw the improvements, it was stupid to still discuss burning it down.

And I have to ask, was I the only 20-year-old worried about health insurance because Annalise’s job is thinking up baby names for a living. Yes, you heard me. People would pay her to think up the perfect names for their baby.  WTF?  And Lachlain is just wandering Europe and working odd jobs off the books. Neither one of these guys had a regular job, steady income or health insurance and a 401k. No one seems to be worried about those kinds of things? Really?

While the elevator pitch for this story held a lot of promise, the actual written story didn’t make sense and left me saying “What?” way too many times.

What a story. Lies, betrayal, serious drama, and in the end healing. Anneliese and Lachlan are both dealing with betrayals and struggle to find their way after they are thrust together. There is hope, loss, and lots of growth as these two come to terms with betrayal at the hands of his brother, Donovan. Twists and turns pulled me in with these two and left me wanting more.

A small town romance.

My heart just broke for Anneliese .., if she didn't have bad luck, she'd have no luck at all. Then there's Lachlan ... he endured so much pain and suffering in his childhood, now wonder he didn't trust anyone. This is a light and easy romance with a couple of twists and a little bit of steam.

Anneliese is such a trusting sole and her world came crashing down after the death of her fiancé. After Donovan was killed in a car accident, Anneliese finds out that he was lying to her and cheated her out of her money. The only way she can recoup any of her money is to finish renovating his childhood home and then sell it. But then Donovan's brother Lachlan (who she didn't even know existed) shows up demanding his house ... so he can burn it down. Lachlan has been travelling overseas for the last ten years ... anything to get away from his father and brother. But when he hears that they are both deceased, he goes back home so he can set fire to his childhood prison and that will hopefully heal his demons. But when he meets the beautiful Anneliese, he agrees to her plea to help her finish the renovations and then sell the house ... or still burn it if she can't change his mind in that time.

I received a copy courtesy of Montlake through NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

Why why why have I waited so long to try this authors work?!
Love and Kerosene had such an interesting blurb that I knew I needed to try it and I'm so glad I did. I love Annalise and Lachlans story. What started out as a bit of gate turned into friendship which blossomed into more and I love those kind of stories. There was a heartbreaking back story to Lachlan that hit me right in the feels. I did wonder if I was gonna find the romance a bit cringe with Lachlan being Annalise dead fiancé's brother but the story developed so beautifully that I loved the progression and was rooting for them. I will definitely be reading more by Winter