A Fearless Memory by Marie Johnston
POV: Dual 1st Person
3rd ACT BREAK-UP: YES
TROPES: Small Town; Hidden Relationship; Single Mom; Working Together; Spin-off Series; Best Friend’s Sibling; Slow burn; Floof in Charge; Close-Proximity
SERIES: Oil Knights book 4
TYPE OF SERIES: Series of Standalones
RELEASE DATE: May 16, 2024
PoP: 64%
“The only thing I admire more than the old farmhouse next door is the guy who owns it. My best friend’s brother.“
A Fearless Memory brings us back to Crocus Valley in this next edition in the Oil Knights series. We get the story of Vienne Ives and Austen Knight in this story about finding yourself when you find the other half of your soul. While their story isn’t smooth sailing by any means, these two aren’t fooling anyone with their sneaky ways. The book opens with a bang, and starts a flirtation that doesn’t stop.
Vienne is a woman who is trying to make a name for herself, while also moving past some poor decisions of her past. Austen is a man who is trying to adjust to civilian life after twenty years in the military. Together they find that sometimes what you never thought you needed is right next door. These are two characters that are trying to forge a new path in their lives. Vienne with a new business, and Austen with deciding what he truly wants to do. He is moving to Califorinia to open a security firm with some of his friends from his military days, but doesn’t seem trilled about it.
He is the Knight who is kind of on the outskirts.
As the story unfolds you realize that he unintentionally put himself there, and is having a hard time closing that gap. Vienne is working towards her own design business, but creating a business in her small town with people who don’t necessarily take her seriously because they knew her as a teen doesn’t alway work in her favor. Until Austen needs help rehabbing the house that he is currently living in…
A Fearless Memory works in all the right ways. I adore the way that Johnston creates the stories of these characters, and the maturity that lives within them. That isn’t to say that they don’t make boneheaded choices, or flounder in their thoughts/feelings. Because honestly, what human being doesn’t. She makes them real. She gives them real doubts, real fears, and real insecurities. If you haven’t added these stories to your TBR, please do. You will not be disappointed.
The worst thing about having a hot neighbor was how often I caught myself looking out the window, hoping for a glimpse of that shirtless god.
