This is the eighth book in the series but Kate and Anthony were already an established couple with children in the first seven books. This story takes you back to how it all began.

Anthony is truly a great guy and boy does he love Kate. He has proven himself time and again. I think Kate had to experience some rough times to truly appreciate the love and support she has.

I am a huge fan of Lydia Michaels and this is another great edition to the series. I highly recommend giving her a read.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is a good book. The two main characters are Kate and Anthony. There is an instant attraction. They have known each other since high school. They each have issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

This was my favorite book in the series, driven by my absolute adoration of Anthony. His love and support was inspiring. His love and care for Katie leapt off the pages and I felt like I swooned every other page. I loved these two together and the book had me smiling so much. What a wonderful end to this series (although it happens earlier than the other books in the series), full of a fun and loving Irish family. I loved that this fantastic couple melded an Irish and Italian family, both full of loud characters who always placed family first.

Intentional Risk is book eight in the McCullough Mountain series and can be read as a standalone. This is a sweet and romantic story about a friendship that grows into so much more, and I adored this cast of characters from the beginning pages. Katie is the oldest of seven children in her family and she is getting ready to graduate high school when her world is upended and her plans for the future are changed.

Katie meets Ant (Anthony) by chance at school one day and he is instantly smitten. He makes it his life's mission to get her to spend time with him, and while she won't agree to go out with him because her life is complicated, they do form an easy friendship....even if there is a lot of underlying tension and chemistry. Ant will do anything to get Katie to see he is one of the good guys if she will just give him a chance.

I was hooked into this story line from page one. I adored Ant. He was all things swoony and romantic and chivalrous. I also really liked Katie's parents. Her parents were the perfect blend of no nonsense, stern, funny, and caring, but when it really mattered they were supportive. I found the book to be highly engaging and I would definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this book - and I liked it much better than the previous book. This is the story of Kate - who gets pregnant as a high school senior after her one and only time having sex. The father to be wants nothing to do with the baby and tries to get Kate to have an abortion. Meanwhile, her new best friend, Anthony, is growing more feelings for Kate & her unborn child.


I really enjoyed this book and watching how Kate’s family reacted to the news of her pregnancy.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions stated above are mine without biases.

Complementary copy provided by NetGalley and publisher for my honest review and opinion. I have enjoyed all of Lydia Michael's books in the McCullough series, but this one is my favorite. Kate has been in the background of the series so it was great to see her front and center.

Thanks to Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

Another McCullough book, this time Kate and Anthony. Haven't met them often in the books I've read so it was nice getting to know the eldest McCullough child. Anthony is delightful and exactly what Kate needed.

This was so sweet and emotional. It's pretty much YA since Kate and Ant are in high school. I think there needed to be more time, more moments (rather than summarizing), and more conversations between them for it to be more believable, but it was still so incredibly heartwarming and I enjoyed reading it.

Intentional Risk is both the last book in the McCullough mountain series as well as a prequel to it. It was a very very quick read and is the story of Anthony and Katherine; the oldest child who appears in the other books but we dont get to learn much about. I enjoyed their story and learning more about her, I wish it was a little longer and we got even more of an understanding about who she was. But I did really love Anthony.

Another hit out of the park for Miss Michaels on this entry in the series. Kate is the oldest of the McCullough siblings, regarded as the most level-headed , but made a mistake that changed the trajectory of her young life. Kate commits to wrestle with her new reality without involving anyone but her parents, but Anthony, the new kid at school is challenging her resolve. Anthony is a lovable, mild-mannered, caring person who makes it difficult for Kate to remain detached and soon there is a shift in their relationship, stoked by the heart-wrenching treatment he endured at her father's hands. His commitment to Kate was admirable and enduring and really leant a lot of heart to this book. I strongly recommend this book and all the others in this series.

Kate McCullough fell for the charms of her high school’s ‘bad boy’ Nick. Even though they used protection, their time together resulted in pregnancy. Being one and done with Kate, Nick had already moved on. When she told him of the pregnancy, he offered to take her to the clinic to take care of it.
Anthony Marcelli took one look at Kate and basically fell in love. She kept trying to keep him in the friend zone but he was determined to win her over until she finally told him of her situation.
After getting over the shock, her parents do whatever they can to help. Ant is by her side and wants to take care of her and the baby but she doesn’t want to take the chance of losing his friendship. He takes on both his and her crazy families determined to do what it takes to be by Kate’s side forever.
The McCullough’s have found their match with the Marcelli’s.

I have just loved this series, so it was great to go back to read about Kate McCullough, who is the eldest daughter in the McCullough clan. When she finds herself pregnant, Kate who has always been the ‘good girls’, finds her life in a spin. Yet her friendship with Anthony Marcelli, is the only thing keeping her stable. Anthony is captivated by her and despite her attempts to push him away, he is determined to stay by her side.
These are two characters, forced to mature at a young age. Ant is such a delight, and he shows a maturity that many older than him would struggle to emulate. His support despite the challenges, was admirable. I also enjoyed seeing how Kate’s family stood by her through it all. The McCullough’s and the Marcelli’s together show what family should be. Whilst being a novella, I found that it managed to explore this heart-warming story, with depth and sincerity.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lydia Michaels tackles teen pregnancy in this moving and inspiring story. When Katie finds out she's pregnant in her senior year of high school, she loses hope for all her future plans. When she befriends Anthony, young love begins to blossom. This powerful story shows the importance of family support and highlights what can happen when you take a risk on love.

Intentional Risk is the eighth and final book in the McCullough Mountain series, this is Kate the eldest daughters story.
We already know where Kate ended up from reading her siblings book, this is how she got there. I would have never expected that Ant Marceli would be the amazing man he is. We rarely see him in the previous books, but he took on so much more than a barely legal adult would normally. An unexpected pregnancy and dealing with the future not what is expected, but taking the risk on the unknown with only love and determination. A quick read for the last McCullough story.

Quick Summary: A sweet, hope-filled romance overflowing with enduring love

My Review: Intentional Risk was such a wonderful McCullough Mountain novel. It featured the love story of Anthony and Kate. What made this particular romance so special was the purity of heart displayed by Anthony and Kate. Their romance was atypical, beginning in the middle but ever progressing forward. I love that they cherished each other. I also loved how the families remained supportive of them, despite the situation.

My Final Say: This was a beautifully done love story.

Rating: 3.5/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: NA/A

Thanks to the author, to the publisher, and to NetGalley, who provided a digital ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review. The words I have shared are my own.

* A Goodreads review has been posted.

What a nice and delicate gem of a love story, blossomed in an intricate situation! A narrative well thread, with strong yet graceful characters.

Intentional Risk by Lydia Michaels is book #8 of the McCullough Mountain book series: it is actually a prequel to the series, telling the story of how young Kate and Anthony fell in love.
It was my first book by Lydia Michaels, so I was not familiar at all with the McCullough Mountain book series: it has been a really lovely and unexpected surprise!
The story is set in the 90s, during the last year of high school of Kate and Anthony. Kate is the first born in large Irish family, as is Anthony in a smaller Italian family. They are both good teenagers, with a great heart, strong wills and extended caring meddling and loving families. One bad choice on Kate’s side lands her in troubleland and she finds herself trying to sort it all out, in the middle of senior year with all her plans for her future ready to take off.

I loved the incipit! “Shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit – shit!” is a bold and brilliant start. It gets you right into the troubles Kate is facing and how lost she feels. And nicely and slowly, Anthony comes along, sticks around, finds out what’s on the other side of Kate’s defences and still sees it through.
Kate’s father did get quite intense: I bow to Anthony for how he handled the whole McCullough clan. As Anthony said, his Italian family is just as loud, so he is not easily discouraged, but still Kate’s dad overdid it!
I am Italian, and I am usually superpicky with Italian characters and stereotypes. I will not get drawn into the “sauce” versus “gravy” argument and I will give some leeway on some eccentricities of the Marcelli family which seem at least a century old (as I am not sure they are due to the Author’s stereotyping or to some Italians abroad really fitting the stereotype). All in all I was pleased with the depiction of Anthony’s family, I could relate to some of its traits, and I strangely had nothing to fault Lydia Michaels on her Italian characterization (which is quite rare for me!).

I don’t want to spoil the book, so I won’t tell much more about the story. This book has been a great summer read, pages flowing quickly wanting to find out what is going to happen next: as much as the ending is easy to guess, how they find their way there is intriguing and not so obvious, at least to me. The main characters were perfect as were their dynamics and slow burning relationship. The side characters were also well portrayed, making me curious about how they will be developed in the other books in the series. I still find myself smiling when I think of Kate and Anthony: such a great match, splendidly narrated by Lydia Michaels.

Thank you NetGalley and Bailey Brown Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

In this one we get to know the oldest sibling in the McCullough family and how she met her husband Ant. It was a bit short but it still spoke to me.

Intentional Risk can be read before reading the first one that is called Almost Priest or as the last one it really doesn't matter.

It contains pregnancy, though feelings for Kate, love and a prick of a guy but also the trope friends to lover.

I really enjoyed this one and it was a fast read since it was so short but never mind that since I didn't felt like I missed so much of her story. In the other books she hasn't have a huge part like her other siblings for some reason. The writing is good and I feel like it was a good end to the series.

I can't believe I am done with the McCullough Mountain serie. I feel a bit sad because oh how I have loved reading about this crazy Irish family.

Thank you so much for letting me read this book.

This book is the story of Kathrine the eldest of the McCullough children. Here you see how her life is changed while in the last year of high school, that the boy who is the father does not step up to the plate but it is where she meets Anthony and how they become close and how they fall in love. In one part of the story, you also get to see a change in Anthony when he goes from a boy to a man. Frank her father leaves Anthony out in the woods and now he must find his way out, four hours later dirty, bitten by mosquitos and other bugs he actually makes it there home and yells for her crazy father to come out and stands up for himself to her father. He changes from that moment. He also stands up to his parents when they want to belittle her for being pregnant. The story is really a story of two people having to grow up quickly and standing together and choosing each other a story that is close to my heart and one I could relate to. A wonderful story like the other ones.

I really love Lydia Michael’s, and this one was no exception! I love how much depth she has to her books. Highly recommend.

This book is the final book in the McCullough Mountain series but in actuality it probably should have been in the beginning. This is Kate's story. She is the eldest daughter and is always mentioned alongside her husband, Anthony (Ant) in the previous books. This book explores how she and Anthony met and started their relationship but it takes place years before the other books started. This book deals with teenage pregnancy. It filled in the missing blanks in the development of this series.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.