What Janine is Reading: Claire Kingsley’s Bailey Brothers Series, Part I
Back in April I took advantage of my free Kindle Unlimited trial membership to speed through Claire Kingsley’s Bailey Brothers series, which follows the romantic relationships of five brothers in a small (Oregon? Washington? I already forgot) town. The books were recommended here by commenters DiscoDollyDeb and commenter/former reviewer Rose (I may have forgotten someone else, and I apologize if so). These contemporary romances are nothing spectacular IMO, but they are addictively breezy and I surprised myself by speeding through the whole series. This is the first part of a review of all six books. –Janine
Protecting You
This is a novella that is basically a long prologue to the first full-length novel in this series, Fighting for Us. Grace and Asher are literally the boy and girl next door. We see them play together as kids, become more distant when Grace goes off to college (Asher is afraid to pursue a relationship because Grace is so close to the family), then reunite. There is also some setup about the town they live in; it’s established that the Baileys are feuding with the Havens, another family, and have been for roughly a century.
Late in the story something horrible happens to Grace and Asher steps in to protect her, earning himself a prison sentence (I don’t consider this a spoiler because anyone who has read the blurb for Fighting for Us will know this).
If I hadn’t known this novella was going somewhere dramatic then I might not have stuck with it because it felt slow and bloated for such a short work. About 20% of the words could have been trimmed and it would have been a stronger book. Asher is one of five brothers who are so obviously sequel setup that it feels a little trite, but I did like the loving dynamics between them, and between their grandmother and them as well.
Gram, the boys’ gentle but firm grandmother is (and this applies to all the Bailey books) your basic Magical Negro stereotype except that she is a Native American/indigenous version. I didn’t warm to Asher much (the MMA fighting was a turnoff to me, especially since he seemed to have aggression he needed to get out) but I did like Grace a lot.
The ending, being full of actual plot, was the best part. But then oy! The epilogue was awful. I don’t think I’ve ever read more blatant prequel and sequel baiting in my life. Nothing happened except for Grace’s numerous relatives showing up with spouses and cute babies to look at a house she bought and then Asher’s brothers showing up and meeting them. That was literally it.
Since I hadn’t read any of the Miles family books before reading Protecting You, I was not the least bit interested in any of them and frankly resentful that the author was taking up my time with them in such a deceptive way (calling it an epilogue when it was actually an advertisement). By the end I felt like she should be paying me for reading that epilogue and not the other way around. By itself it knocked my grade down from a C/C+ to a C.
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Fighting for Us
This book is about Asher and Grace’s reunion after he has served out a seven-year prison sentence. Asher has avoided contact with Grace and his brothers during his sentence and when he is released early thanks to a new governor’s unexpected pardon, he’s blindsided. Everyone is happy to see him but he doesn’t know how to behave around them, and especially around Grace, whom he’s sure has moved on. But she hasn’t. She’s determined to resume their engagement and he’s determined that he’s bad for her. Cue passionate if repetitive arguments.
I’ve heard a few people say this is their favorite Kingsley and I can kind of see that because it’s the one that goes the deepest, but I feel the execution is uneven. The beginning is very strong; the characters are equally determined to wear the other down and each is acting out of love. But by the second half I got tired of the rehashed conflict.
I liked that Kingsley wrote a more realistic take on the ex-con hero than you see in most ex-con romances, with some thought given to the aftereffects of a seven-year prison sentence, but I felt that Asher’s decision not to talk to most of his family while he was in prison was an obvious contrivance to create his and Grace’s stark and complete separation and not something that anyone in his position would have done for seven years. I also didn’t buy that a new governor would come in and pardon Asher’s crime (in a state where there was no time off for good behavior) without being lobbied by his lawyer or anyone else, no matter how understanding he might be.
I still wasn’t a fan of Asher here but I had more sympathy for him because he’d suffered so much. I liked Grace even more than before; her commitment to Asher was unshakable and that was both romantic and heroic. Her quirky best friend Cara was a blast.
I had some problems with the writing. Once again, bloat, though a bit less–only 10-15% needed to go. There were also so many short sentences that they created a metronome sound effect and that can make me zone out sometimes. Gram got even more stereotypical here. She’s a lovely person but that doesn’t change that fact.
A silly running joke subplot about the shady squirrels in this town was introduced and that didn’t fit with the very serious tone of this story either.
Another thing that bugged me was how Asher kept saying that he had no regrets for killing the Grace’s assailant even though it cost him several years in prison. I would be 100% okay with no regrets for saving her, but it seemed to me that he could regret a little that he didn’t control himself a bit better and had only subdued the man. Even if the attacker deserved to die, surely, he has relatives? Parents, possibly siblings, possibly even children. They can’t all be the scum of the earth, so do they all deserve to suffer this loss? Asher’s insistence that he would do it all over again made him seem like an asshole.
Spoiler: Show
Still, as I said before, I really liked Grace. The dynamic of the Baileys was once again warm and appealing. The guys were so clearly young guys, I could feel the testosterone in the house. And Gram, however stereotypical, was respected as a figure of authority, and her gentleness made that just lovely.
There was another ridiculous “epilogue” here. This, and the epoilogues in all but the last book, are literally the prologues for the following book. This “epilogue” had nothing to do with the Asher or Grace and was solely focused on Evan, the next Bailey brother! That’s not the way I want a romance to end. I want to bask in the glow of the HEA and close the book smiling.
Nevertheless, Fighting for Us had some nice complexity and it felt unusual relative to most contemporary romances I read, so despite all my issues, I’m giving it a C+.
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Unraveling Him
This was one of the better books in the series IMO and also the funniest. When I went into it, Evan was my least favorite of the brothers. I’m not always a fan of grumpy/sunshine and based on the blurb I thought it sounded like the least promising book in the series, so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing Fiona, the heroine, disarm Evan.
Evan and Fiona meet when she and her father show up (from a neighboring town) at Evan’s body shop because her father wants him to work on a car. Evan knows Fiona’s father participated in a scam, and he calls him on it. Fiona gets angry at her dad and tells him so after they leave. She thought he had cleaned up his act but it’s now apparent he hasn’t.
Later on, Fiona overhears her father having sex with her roommate/co-worker (both she and Fiona work for him). It is clearly a long-standing affair they kept from her. Fiona leaves town. She lands on Evan’s doorstep with a business proposition for him; she can help him get a rare car that he can restore to compete for a spot in a car museum.
Grumpy Evan has been desperate to find something like that. When he and Fiona go on a long trip to acquire the car (she insists he bring her because the car’s owner loves her and she is persuasive) he is thrown into close quarters with her. He hates all women after a single one did him a bad turn so the more (unintentionally) charming Fiona is, the grumpier he gets, aware that she is sneaking under his armor and there’s nothing he can do to prevent it.
Spoiler: Show
Evan and Fiona’s dynamic was really cute and he turned into such a marshmallow around her that I quickly forgave him for giving up on most of humanity, especially women, simply because an old girlfriend cheated on him. Normally I would be ticked off but here it helped that his attitude was poked fun at rather than presented as rational.
I also liked Evan’s scary (except to Fiona) dog Sasquatch and I loved how Fiona went about making it possible for Evan to acquire one of the parts to restore the car. These two really felt like they belonged together. Fiona’s quirky conversations with her plants and Evan’s befuddlement over them were funny and sweet.
The shady squirrel theme was much more suitable to this humorous book than to the earlier serious ones and I actually really enjoyed it here, too (more hilarity).
Gram was still a Magical Negro, though, figuring out in advance that Fiona was Evan’s soulmate and naming her after an insect to add to the mysticism.
Unfortunately in the last third this book devolved into a mediocre romantic suspense and I really struggled to keep reading past this point. Only my affection for the characters made me keep reading on. With this book, too, I felt that some words could have been shaved, maybe 5%-10%.
The epilogue was even worse than most in this series since it was not only the prologue for book four and not focused on Evan and Fiona at all, but also focused entirely on Skye, a character who doesn’t appear until the next book. How anyone could call this an epilogue without feeling ashamed of themselves for making such a bald-faced misrepresentation is hard for me to fathom. B-.
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I think DDD and I suggested Kingsley when you were looking for contemporary romances without fake dating/enemies to lovers, and she has plenty of books that don’t rely on that. But I’m not surprised you weren’t a huge fan of the Bailey brothers books; FWIW, I share some of your issues with these books (the squirrels and other cutesy stuff, Gram’s role, the epilogues that aren’t epilogues) but I tend to mentally edit those out and focus on what works for me.
Kingsley hasn’t written anything that’s an A-range read for me, but I do find her books to be pretty dependably in the low to mid-B range. I like how she plays with tropes and character archetypes in her work, and that other relationships (friends, siblings) are also important to her characters.
I enjoyed the Bailey Brothers books far more than you did—PROTECTING YOU and FIGHTING FOR US were two of my favorite books read in 2021—but agree that the squirrels and the escalating pranks seem as if they belong in another genre altogether. I binged on Kingsley’s books last year: in addition to the Bailey Brothers, I read the Miles Family series (which is tangentially connected to the Bailey Brothers), the Jetty Beach series, the Whiskey Springs series (co-written with Lucy Score), and a couple of her stand-alones (thankfully, all are available through KU). I like her semi-angsty/semi-melancholy style and how characters deal with the obstacles in their lives. As for the epilogues, I really think Kingsley uses them more as segues into the next book rather than a wrap-up of the current book’s MCs.
Somewhat o/t, but Kingsley’s husband passed away unexpectedly when she was finishing the last Bailey Brothers book, REWRITING THE STARS. I wonder if she plans to continue publishing. RTS looked as if it was setting up the heroine’s brothers for their own series, but after such a tragic loss, Kingsley may be rethinking her future plans.
@DiscoDollyDeb: Kingsley wrote on her Goodreads page fairly recently that she has plans for the Haven brothers. I think this is her next book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60202761
One thing I really appreciated about Fighting for Us is that the happy ending involves both Grace and Asher seeing therapists (and Cara is very open about getting therapy, too). Too often an HEA seems to wave away existing issues as if romantic love solves everything.
@Rose: thank you for the update. I don’t follow any authors, so I often just stumble over their latest releases through blogs or when my Kindle pops up with recommendations. Based on her Goodreads page, it looks as if Kingsley has several upcoming books in the works. One is the first in a series called Gentleman Scoundrels which sound very Regency to me.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I suspect that the regency-sounding title is some kind of error. But the Dirty Martini book and the Christmas one do appear on her website.
@Rose: “FWIW, I share some of your issues with these books (the squirrels and other cutesy stuff, Gram’s role, the epilogues that aren’t epilogues) but I tend to mentally edit those out and focus on what works for me.”
Isn’t it interesting how we edit out stuff that doesn’t work for us in books we generally like? I’ve done that too. Jennie and I are working on a joint review of a book where she liked the heroine more than I did and I liked the hero more than she did. We both set aside flaws we are acknowledge are there in the character we liked better and pointed out the flaws in the character we liked less, LOL.
I agree that some of the secondary relationships, familial and otherwise, were well done. Good point about her playing with archetypes although I feel that was only the case in some of the books, not all of them.
One thing I didn’t mention is that after finishing the series I had the distinct sense that the author’s worldview was very different than mine and that in elections, her characters probably vote for candidates I have a low opinion of. That kind of thing bothers me more now than it once did.
@DiscoDollyDeb: While the idea of a family feud in this day and age (with relentless pranking attached) felt off to me overall, I did think Kingsley used the pranking scene well in Fighting for Us–it was a good way for Asher to bond with his brothers again; it took their reunion to a deeper level and (though I can’t recall if this was verbalized or just subtext) allowed him and the reader to see that the things he loved doing with them were still there. And also to see that while his old life couldn’t be completely resumed, pieces of it could be revived.
“As for the epilogues, I really think Kingsley uses them more as segues into the next book rather than a wrap-up of the current book’s MCs.”
IMO a segue would be ending with a scene with Grace, Asher, and Evan hanging out somewhere and Evan teasing Asher and Grace about how in love and gooey they are. Something like that might end the romance on a proper note while still pointing us toward Evan and his book. To me, the epilogue was an excerpt, a word-for-word sample, not a segue. Many, many books include an excerpt from the next book in the series at the end of the book, they just don’t have the gall to call it an epilogue.
@DiscoDollyDeb: I saw that about her husband passing away (maybe it was in an afterword in the last book?). It’s very sad. I’m glad she still has the bandwidth (emotional and financial) to keep writing.
@Rose: It used to be very rare for the main characters in a romance to see a therapist (even at the end of a book much less in the middle of one), and I was really impressed with authors who included that. But in the past five years or so it’s become quite common.
Looking through my reviews jogged my memory about such books by Helen Hoang, Ben Aaronovitch, Rachel Reid, Brandy Colbert, Tiffany D. Jackson, Cara Bastone, Gregory Ashe and Allison Montclair that I’ve read just in the past two years. These are about 25% of the books I read in that timeframe that were set in the 20th century or later, when therapy becomes plausible. Likely some of the other 75% also included main characters in therapy (there were a few where I thought that might be the case but couldn’t recall the particulars) so the actual percentage may be higher. I still like that a lot but fair or unfair, I don’t give as many brownie points for it as I used to. Therapy and other mental health treatments have become normalized a lot over the past ten or twenty years.
@Janine: I haven’t read anything by those authors except Reid’s Heated Rivalry (which, unlike seemingly everyone, was just okay for me). While Fighting for Us is by no means the only romance novel I’ve read in which characters are in therapy, I liked how it was an important part of the HEA and that they are both still dealing with their issues at the end of the book – contrary to what you wrote, while they discuss having a baby, they don’t actually do that right away.
The epilogues, like DiscoDollyDeb noted, are really just segues into the next books – possibly the prologues? I found it weird at first but it’s no different than having an excerpt at the end of a book, just with a different label.
I don’t know where Kingsley stands politically and don’t recall anything explicitly political in any of her books that I’ve read. She’s written some female characters who point out patriarchal bullshit, but that’s about as far as I’ve seen her go. Whether this is intentional or more generally not her thing, I don’t know. Characters whose worldview differs from mine don’t necessarily bother me, but the lines I draw in this area may differ from those of a US-based reader.
@Rose: “I haven’t read anything by those authors except Reid’s Heated Rivalry (which, unlike seemingly everyone, was just okay for me). While Fighting for Us is by no means the only romance novel I’ve read in which characters are in therapy, I liked how it was an important part of the HEA and that they are both still dealing with their issues at the end of the book – contrary to what you wrote, while they discuss having a baby, they don’t actually do that right away.”
Since you mention Heated Rivalry—my opinion of it rose after I read The Long Game because the second book adds so much. And in The Long Game therapy is also an important part of the HEA (and has a more central role than in Fighting for Us, I would say), and Ilya is still dealing with his issues at the end of the book, very much so (and that too is shown in more depth and detail). Plus it has the single best portrayal of depression I have come across in a romance (or in any genre novel, really). Not sure if that will make you want to read it, or not. There’s also therapy in Reid’s book Tough Guy (in this case for anxiety) but I don’t recommend that one, it’s awful.
Re Asher and Grace not having a baby right away—yes, but I put that down to the fact that it takes at least a year to plan the average wedding as well as time to get pregnant once you start trying. So it wasn’t at at all clear to me to what degree the delay was voluntary. Even if it was, that doesn’t change the fact that Grace was intensely baby focused in Fighting for Us and it seemed like putting unnecessary pressure on their relationship and on Asher.
To me a segue and a prologue are very different things. And yes they are the prologues / first chapters of the following books, word for word. There were no changes made, and they are duplicated in the next book, so if you read the series in its entirety, you read them all twice.
“it’s no different than having an excerpt at the end of a book, just with a different label.”
Well, I object to that label. It’s deceptive. An epilogue is a part of the book I paid to read, whereas an excerpt from the next book is something I look at as an advertisement; its meant to tantalize and hook you into a new story. When an excerpt is clearly labeled as such I have no issue with it, I’m clear on the fact that I didn’t spend money on it and that it’s up to me whether to look at it or not. When it’s called an epilogue it feels like a trick to make me look at the first page and also, like I’m being cheated of a proper epilogue.
I like for romances to end on a romantic note, so that the love between the characters lingers with me after I close the book. An excerpt labeled as an excerpt doesn’t prevent me from basking in the HEA. I just put the book down there and don’t read it if I don’t want to, or if I do want to, I can read it right then or come back and read it later (sometimes I prefer to wait until a few weeks before the next book is released, so I won’t be in suspense too long).
An excerpt disguised as an “epilogue” forces the issue and spoils my enjoyment. And why? So that the author can sequel-bait further, as if she hasn’t done so enough earlier in the book. So she can profit off my freely given time and attention by tricking me into giving them. She doesn’t seem to realize that for some readers, it’s a beautiful, romantic ending to the romance that sells the next book better than anything else.
Re politics. Well, every single couple in these books is baby-focused, sometimes in ways that don’t make sense (I had a similar problem with Gavin announcing to Skye that they would have kids the minute she accepted his proposal rather than asking her if she wanted them).
My biggest issue though was with the anti-abortion/pro-life stance in Logan and Cara’s story. If there was ever a situation that called for considering the option of getting an abortion and a character you’d think would weigh it (especially since she thought she would make a horrible mother), it’s Cara and the circumstances of her and Logan’s pregnancy. Yet even when she was waiting for the pregnancy test results with Grace and truly dreading the possibility that she might be pregnant, she told Grace that she would keep the baby if she was. And when she told Logan that she was pregnant and, in practically the same breath, that she would have the baby, he was immediately relieved. And his relief wasn’t framed in his POV as something noteworthy for him or Cara-related. I felt he viewed it as the obvious feeling to have.
I think there was some other conservative stuff in one of the books. Maybe in the last one, with the Haven brothers? I don’t recall the details anymore, so it’s possible I imagined that.