Review: “Gold Rush” by Jenny Bunting

Series: Finch Family #2

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: April 12th, 2022

Add to Goodreads | Amazon.in (Available on KU)

Reid

I’m the calm and collected Finch son, until I’m near Whitney. My college nemesis, and the woman who can rile me with a single word. Now, she’s in my town and I don’t know how to feel; fighting with her only makes me want her more. I’m ready to be the kind of romance hero she writes about. But she won’t let me and I have no idea why.

Whitney

I’ve hated Reid Finch since college, ever since he critiqued my words. Now Goldheart is the only place I can find my inspiration and unfortunately, he’s everywhere. I can’t tell if our banter is arguing or flirting. He thinks he wants me, but he can’t.

I could fall in love with him. But I’ve made a choice and I can’t give him the family he wants.

 

These Finch siblings just keep getting better and better. How is that even possible? I absolutely loved Cameron and Annie in Fool’s Gold and now, Jenny Bunting has given us Reid and Whitney in Gold Rush and I don’t think I have enough words to express just how fantastic this book, these characters and this relationship was. It took me a few hours to actually write this, because I’m still processing the magic of this book. Everything from Whitney’s child-free life choice to Reid’s soft cinnamon roll personality getting a little hotter than expected and all of the Bad Biddies—Gold Rush is a book that will make you feel everything all at once.

“Whitney’s so exciting, so breathtakingly beautiful, so sexy, that I can’t let her get away. I can’t let her leave Goldheart without seeing if this could be something. If the chemistry I feel simmering underneath the surface could become a huge explosion.”

I’m not the biggest fan of the enemies to lovers trope, but when one of my favourite authors does it, I ignore all my issues with it. Especially since Reid and Whitney’s dislike for each other is so much more than ‘I hate her because I love her’. Having met in college, where Reid critiqued her work harshly and then Whitney returned the favour only to have this critiquing go on till Reid just stopped makes their frustrations with each other pretty amusing. And after that incident, they don’t see each other again till Whitney shows up in Reid’s hometown. And then they go through the motions of fighting their attraction to each other, while slowly falling down a hole together and it’s all kinds of fantastic.

Whitney is truly one of my favourite Jenny heroines. She’s witty, smart, sassy and basically my hero. As an author of dark romances, Whitney’s making tons of money and making a name for herself. Despite her damaged past and the struggles she’s had with her ex-husband, Whitney’s living her best life. I admired the heck out of her from start to finish. She’s such a strong character and her decision to live a child-free life is beautiful, and once you get to know her, everything about her decision and her choices becomes clear. I also desperately want to read Whitney’s books, so Jenny if you could please make this happen, thanks. But the star of this book is Reid. Jenny has a way of writing the most brilliant heroes who stick with you forever. Reid is a soft cinnamon roll, there’s no other way about it. He might have said some terrible things to Whitney when they were in college, but he’s none of those things anymore. Reid is kind, generous and so gentle. I love his relationship with his family, I love how seeing Whitney again rattles him, but not the way it did in college. This is a whole other level of rattling. And let’s not forget that he’s read her books and he’s learning dirty talk from her books because he’s never had to do that with anyone before. I mean…this man bends over backwards for Whitney, because he can’t imagine a life without her. What more do you want from a hero?

“He’s seen all of my ugly and hasn’t run away. He’s run toward me.”

Their relationship is fantastic. There’s lots of growling and snarling and snapping, and then all of that turns into hotter and heavier sounds. I love that Whitney disarms Reid constantly, because he’s never sure what she’s going to say. And she flusters him so much that he ends up saying things that he doesn’t mean or says it wrong and it just escalates into more frustrations. We get a good amount of their enemies situation, but I would like to call it a frenemies to lovers because that just seems more fitting. But their chemistry is off the charts! Let’s be very clear here, Reid is pining for Whitney and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win her affections. And like I said before, he studies her heroes and uses those tactics to wear her down. And the fact that it works on Whitney is brilliant. There’s so much teasing and sexual tension, so much build up of their feelings for each other that I felt like my Kindle was going to catch fire. 

It’s a Jenny Bunting romance, so you’re going to find yourself gigglesnorting quite a few times as you go through this book. The banter, humour and dialogue is so snappy and fun. I’m pretty sure if someone was watching me read, they’d say that I just had the happiest smile on my face the whole way through. While hilarious, Gold Rush also tackles some pretty heavy topics and I admired the way Jenny weaved that into the story about finding love. Whitney’s broken relationship with her estranged mother, the love she has for Reid, but the chaos she feels because they’ve always seen different futures for themselves—it’s all so relatable and heartbreaking. But Jenny writes it with care and I loved it so much. Between all of the laughing, I was definitely sobbing a whole lot. Because, so many feelings everywhere!

I cannot wait for Jackson’s book, because I am HELLA CURIOUS with all the little hints and teases sprinkled across the book. I also want to see what happens with Emily, because she deserves the world. In short, this book hit all the marks and made me all kinds of happy. I never wanted it to end and I’m sad to put Reid and Whitney aside till I can enjoy them again when I have the paperback in my hands.

Thanks to Jenny Bunting for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.