ARC Review: Big Pickle by J.J. Knight

Title: Big Pickle

Author: J. J. Knight

Release Date: April 4, 2019 (ARC Version)

Published By: J. J. Knight

Category: Contemporary – Romance

Type: Digital

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J. J. Knight Website

Blurb: 

He’s kind of a big dill.
An enemies-to-lovers, secret boss, gut-splittingly hilarious rom com from USA Today bestselling author JJ Knight

They call me Big Pickle.
It’s not what you think.
(Although that’s true too.)

I happen to be the oldest Pickle in the family deli business. And we have the best salami.

Take that one however you like.

But when my father announces the franchise will go to the most profitable of the three brothers, I learn that even though I’m the biggest Pickle, I’m dead last.

I hightail it to Texas to see what’s happened to my restaurant, only to find a sassy little spitfire named Nova Strong in charge.

She’s amazing. She’s sexy. She’s perfectly happy to call bullsh*t when she sees it.

But despite the way we nearly melt the permafrost in the industrial freezer, I have to control myself. Nova thinks I'm a new employee. She has no idea I’m only there to spy.

Or that I'm her boss.

As I get to the bottom of why my franchise is failing, I desperately need to know one thing:

Is Nova Strong everything wrong with my deli, or everything right for me?
___
Big Pickle is a full-length, 300-page standalone romantic comedy full of pickle jokes, giggle-worthy references to male anatomy, and more salty language than a jar of baby dolls. 

 By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, please exit this site.

Favorite Lines:

I would have copied the entire book here, so I left any out. There were so many hilarious lines … but I will leave them for you to discover yourself.

Excerpt:

          “Can I help you?”
          The man appraises me as he saunters from the door to the counter. “I don’t know you,”he says. 
          I plan to be friendly and say something cute like, “Tell me your favorite sandwich, and we’ll be best friends.”
          But the pickle thing has put me in a bad mood. 
          So instead I say, “You’re not from around here.”
          He takes a step back, an expression I don’t expect crossing his face. Concern? Was I too harsh? 
          I quickly correct myself. “Of course, nobody’s a stranger in Austin Pickle for more than a few seconds. Tell me how you take your pickle.”I slap on a smile so fake it could win a damn Oscar. 
          The man relaxes, and the moment passes. 
          That’s good. The last thing I need is a nasty review that gets Jace Pickle all over my case when I’m already struggling to keep his stupid deli going. 
          Truthfully, I’m counting on a promotion, or at least a good reference for another job. I need to get back to college, and some of the restaurants in town give scholarships to their employees. If this one goes well, I can use it as a leg up somewhere better. 
          The man leans on the counter. Every strand of his hair is in place, dark and cropped short. The stubble on his chin is perfectly clipped to the precise length to look brooding and sexy. His jaw is sharp enough to break ice. 
          In fact, the frozen parts of my anatomy are already beginning to thaw. 
          But he’s absolutely not my type. I like my men in jeans and flip-flops, graphic tees for local businesses, well-worn and no fuss. 
          I bet this guy irons his underwear. 
          “What did you say your name was?” he asks. 
          “Nova.”
          “How long have you worked here?”
          Why is he asking this? 
          “It’ll be a year this summer.” Last summer I’d run out of money, but stayed in my classes through the Fall semester. I’d only been working part-time, but when Susan took off and most of the employees got worried and quit, I found myself the senior member of the Pickle staff. So, I assumed her responsibilities. 
          I hadn’t thought it would go on this long. 
          “And your last name?” he asks. 
          Why does he need my last name? My neck tingles with alarm. 
          I go for the redirect. “Would you like to sample some of our pickles? We have twelve varieties. We’re not the sort of deli that slaps a random spear on the side of your plate. We take pride in the original flavors we produce.”
          “I’m actually here—” he stops talking when Lamonte emerges from the back room and opens the cash register. 
          “What’s he doing?” the man asks. 
          “Someone’s got to buy the pickles,” Lamonte says, lifting a stack of twenties. He fans them out in front of me. “You think this will do it?”
          I nod. “Get whatever you need.”
          Lamonte gives me his signature broad grin and claps me on the back. “I can always count on you. This will totally solve my problem.”
          He takes off out the front door. 
          “Did that employee document the money he took from the register?” the man asks. 
          He sure is pushy about how we run the store. 
          “It’s fine. We found ourselves in a pickle shortage and he’s grabbing some more. We do love our pickles around here.”I plaster on another fake smile. The man takes a step back from the counter, rubbing his hand across his cheek. He seems terribly concerned with what just happened, and visions of another type of online review dance in my head. 
          “You know,” I say. “You look like you could use a sandwich. How about one on the house? Can I recommend the pastrami and rye? It goes wonderfully with our bread and butter jalapeño pickle.”
          But the man doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to me. He circles the room slowly, occasionally touching a chair or gazing at a photo on the wall. 
          I start to worry he’s unhinged. I inch closer to the telephone in case I need to call the police. 
          “Are you okay?” I call out. 
          He moves near the door, and I begin to pray he will leave. I don’t have time for well-dressed weirdos, no matter how good-looking they are. 
          And with Lamonte gone, I’m alone until the cleanup crew arrives. 
          He notices the “Help Wanted” sign in the front window and picks it up. 
          Good Lord, please tell me he’s not here for a job. 
          I put that sign up yesterday, and two people have filled out applications. Neither one seems very promising, but compared to this crazy guy circling the store, they’re starting to look good. 
          The man turns around. “Who does the hiring for the store?”
          Oh, no. I knew it. 
          “Well, normally it would be our general manager Susan.”I hesitate, not wanting to give this lunatic her last name either. 
          “But…”
          “She’s on medical leave.”
          “So who is interviewing the people who come in to apply?”
          I do not want to tell him that it’s me. Maybe I should pawn it off on the owner. Yes. That’s exactly what I’ll do. It’ll serve Jace Pickle right for never being around. He can deal with this crazy man. 
          “You can contact the owner,” I suggest. “His name is Jace Pickle.”
          Shoot, he’s walking back to the counter. I lay my hand on top of the phone. One wrong move, buster, and I’m picking this sucker up. 
          “You haven’t had any new hires since the manager left?”
          I falter. “Well, sure, but…”
          “That other fellow seemed to act like you were in charge.”
          “Well, I have been, since Susan’s been out.”
          He stares me down. Who is this guy? We once had a couple of men arrive who insisted on speaking to the Pickles because they wanted to buy this building. But they hadn’t been as adamant and scary as this one. 
          “What position is open?” he asks. 
          “Just an all-around helper. Start on chopping and work up to the sandwich line.”
          When he frowns, I think I’m scot-free. Mr. GQ isn’t going to want to slap mustard on bread. Feeling bolder, I say, “And yes, I’m able to hire for that. But it’s clearly not your type of work.”
          And just like that, something in him changes. He taps the sign against his hand. He looks around the restaurant once again. Then he comes back to me. “Do you know Jace Pickle?”
          “I know he’s the owner. I’ve never met him.”
          He sets the sign on the top of the counter. “Well, I do. And he assured me I could get a job at this deli.”

Highlight:

          We head to the counter where he’s been chopping onions. 
          It’s a travesty. I grab a glove and slide it on. “Well, this leaves a lot to be desired.”I lift a handful in my palm like an accusation. “There are no less than five distinct sizes in these onions.”
          “Lamonte tried to show me, but I think it’s going to take some practice,” Jason says. 
          I drop the onions to the cutting board. “We can’t have someone taking a bite of our classic chicken salad, which is where these particular onions are headed, and suddenly get a big honking bite of raw onion. The flavors have to blend precisely the right way.”
          For a moment, Jason watches me curiously. “You care about how things taste, don’t you?”
          “Of course I do. It’s Austin Pickle. We have a reputation to uphold!”
          “It’s pickles!”
          “It’s our twelve special kinds of pickles.”
          What kind of friend is he? I grab a spare knife and slice through the onions, rapidly mincing them to the fine bits necessary to make chicken salad work. 
          I move down to the jalapeños. “Lamonte didn’t show you anything? These are supposed to be super thin. The jalapeños are really potent.”
          “I tried to do what he was doing.”Jason sounds genuinely frustrated. 
          “I can’t use these. We don’t serve anything with chopped jalapeños, and the slices are way too thick.”I slide the entire set off the cutting board and into the compost at the end. “Show me how you’re holding the knife.”
          Jason lifts his knife parallel to the board. I pass him a fresh jalapeño. 
          He slices it down the middle and scrapes out the seeds. 
          “So far, so good,” I say. 
          He turns the jalapeño flat side down and lifts the knife. 
          I immediately say, “Stop!”
          He freezes his slice mid-air. “What?”
          “The knife should not be in the air. Keep the tip on the cutting board and bring it down like it’s one of those old-fashioned paper cutters from school.”
          “I remember those. My friend dared me to see if it would cut off my finger.”
          “And were you stupid enough to try?”I cock my hip, arms crossed. Surely, he isn’t that dumb. 
          “I was an eight-year-old boy! Of course I tried it.”
          I feel a laugh bubbling up inside me, but I squelch it down. “So how many stitches did you require?”
          “Three. But it was worth it.”
          Now I do have to laugh. “What made it worth it?”
          “Every girl in the class brought me cookies and cards.”
          That sobers me up. “So, you were a playboy even then?”
          His grin is slow and easy, and I’m reminded of when he turned on the charm yesterday after deciding he needed to switch tactics with me. 
          I go on alert. Snake oil. He’s laying it on thick now. 
          “Who says I’m a playboy?”
          I shrug. “I can spot them. I meet a ton of them at UT.”
          He sets down his knife. “You go to UT?”
          Heat rises from my neck. I really don’t want to go into this with him. “I did.”
          “You graduated but you work here?”
          I don’t know if it’s real confusion or pity, but I don’t like it. 
          “I haven’t finished yet,” I snap. “Let’s see if you can cut a jalapeño worthy of serving on our sandwich line or if you’re a complete waste of space.”
          He’s not bothered by my insult. His perfect eyebrows move together in concern. Hating him would be a whole lot easier if he wasn’t so pretty. 
          “I get it. You don’t talk about it.”He turns back to the jalapeño. He leans down very close to the green pepper. “All right, my friend. I am very sorry I have to cut you into pieces. But apparently, my unpaid position is on the line. So help me out and I’ll be merciful.”
          All right, I have to admit it. He’s funny. My shoulders relax. “Just get on with it,” I say, but my tone doesn’t have the bite like before. 
          He grins at me, and my belly flips. Stop it, traitorous stomach. 
          “So, I keep the tip on the counter and then I bring it down.”He slices the first cut. 
          “Perfect. Curl your left hand so you’re not putting your fingers in the line of fire. I won’t be bringing you cards and cookies if you need stitches.”
          He grins at me again. “You sure?”
          “Positive. Make a claw.”
          “Like this?”He rolls back his fingers. 
          “Yeah. And push the pepper with your thumb.”
          He still doesn’t have it, so I pick up another knife and show him the motion. 
          “All right,” he says, but he still lifts his knife in the air. 
          I put my hand over his wrist. “Like this,” I say. “Tip down, rocking motion.”
          We slice the pepper together. Our hands are covered in plastic, but our arms are bare. My skin brushes against his, and the touch is electric. I quickly step away. 
          “Did I do something wrong?” he asks. 
          “No. I think you’ve got it. Those slices are good. Carry on.”
          I back out of the kitchen as quickly as possible, bumping into a rolling cart as I go. 
          He doesn’t remark on that but continues his slow methodical slices. 
          As I whirl around and blow through the door to the front of the deli, my face flames. 
          What the hell was that? 
          A spark? A silly, ridiculous spark? A romance novel, sappy Hallmark movie, gross cliché spark? 
          I rip off the gloves and rub my arm as if it’d been burned. 
          I’ve had boyfriends before. I know what it’s like to be interested in someone. 
          It’s nothing like what just happened. 
          Those guys were normal. They wore regular clothes. Had average jobs. Real problems. They didn’t demand positions at deli counters while wearing designer clothes. 
          And they didn’t talk to jalapeños. 
          That was a hate spark. Or static electricity. 
          Or maybe a warning shot from the universe to stay away from that guy. 
          But I know for sure it’s definitely not what it seems. 
          It is not a spark of attraction.

Review: 

Nova is up to her eyeballs in responsibility. Between her party-animal mother, making sure her sister is taken care of and acting as manager for a deli of which she is NOT the manager, she’s taken on about all she can handle. She knows things are off with the deli and that the owner is nigh impossible to reach, so with little other choices she begins to snoop around where she can. Attempting to discover where the problems exist, while singlehandedly trying to keep the business afloat won’t be an easy task. Her goal is to go back to college and if she loses this job, she loses her dream right along with it. When the ridiculously hot Jason shows up looking for a job, claiming to have been sent by the family and knowing zilch about the deli business, she is suspicious. After a while, he seems to be putting in a good effort. They share some sexy friendly banter, he shows some endearing sides of himself, and the reasons to keep her distance from the guy making her melt with desire don’t seem so prevalent anymore. Together they end up getting to the bottom of the deep deception within the business as well as growing their new relationship. But suddenly all of the truth comes out, putting their fledgling romance at risk and exposing Jason’s deception as well. Nova has some life-altering decisions to make and Jason might not make the cut.

Jace has been living a carefree, playboy lifestyle and not really given a second thought to the well-being of his deli business. When his father announces a competition between the brothers and their delis, Jace discovers that his deli is barely hanging on by a delicate thread. With no other choice, he heads to Texas to check things out and quickly devises a plan to act as an employee in order to ferret out the truth of what’s been occurring behind his back. What he isn’t prepared for is the animosity directed toward him since he’s been an absent owner for so long. He’s not entirely convinced that Nova doesn’t have something to do with his failing business, but his attraction to her is also something he isn’t able to ignore. As their emotions become more entangled and their working relationship strengthens, he is reluctant to tell Nova the whole truth. Fearing the truth will end their fragile connection, he puts it off as long as he can, knowing he’ll have to come clean soon. But waiting too long forces him into the truth and immediately pushes Nova away. Knowing she needs time, he keeps his distance all while setting things right for the deli and its staff. With one last chance to try and get Nova back, he acts, but it seems as if he might be too late to rekindle that flame.

I have to say that I had pretty high expectations for this book. Between the cover and the blurb, I knew it was something I wanted to read. Luckily, I was gifted an ARC and allowed to participate in the review tour. I say luckily because … dang … it exceeded my expectations! First, there are a ton of pickle jokes, references, innuendos – whatever you want to call them. Some had me groaning, others full out LMAO! It was almost too much, but also welcomed and enjoyable. I loved how even the deli itself made so many clever plays on its menu items. For example, they create a bread with pickles in it and call it dill dough! I mean that humor is right up my alley. This book is definitely current contemporary including references to things like the Witcher, which I believe also helps with the pickle innuendo. You couldn’t have had a setting with so much double entendre bordering on lascivious without being a modern time read.

Nova is fierce and isn’t afraid to take charge when necessary. Her mother has been basically absent, struggling with alcoholism, leaving her to care for her sister. It even stretches to the point of Nova being the one to provide the apartment they all reside in. It’s a pretty messed up situation, but Nova does what is necessary to take care of her sister and mother. The same rules apply to the deli. She knows things aren’t adding up, but she doesn’t have access to be able to dig in and go through documents to find out where the problems actually lay. Unable to contact the owner – ever – and having no ability to right the wrong, she does whatever she can within her means to keep things running because she needs the job so badly. She’s actually pretty amazing. Top that off with wanting to finish her college degree she had to abandon to take care of her family and you’ve got a very strong female lead. What I also enjoyed about Nova is that she also recognizes when it’s time to kick back and allow herself some fun; even if that does involve hooking up with an employee. But it also seems as if there is more to their relationship than just a fling, so in the back of her mind, though she’d never admit it out loud, she was also hoping for more with Jason. I might have also enjoyed Nova not giving Jason the slightest break in training just a bit more than I should have.

Jace is completely opposite Nova. He’s got money and he isn’t afraid to spend it. Completely oblivious to the danger his deli is in, he shoves everything off on to his assistant and pretty much leaves the deli to its own demise. What was wonderful to see unfold was the complete 180 that Jace performs; transforming from sexy, rich playboy to a responsible business owner who is irrevocably in love with his employee. He goes from not so much as lifting a finger, to jumping right into the fray of things in the deli and performing any and all tasks each day. It’s pretty fantastic! But as all these romances commonly contain, there must be a woman who motivates Jace to be a better man. Had Nova not been part of the equation, Jace likely never would have been inspired to make the necessary changes to morph his business from a failing mess into a thriving hotspot. Basically, he needs a swift kick to the butt and Nova gladly supplies the cowboy boot. An added benefit to this salty story is the toggling points of view. Each chapter switched back and forth between Jace and Nova, allowing the reader to see things through the eyes of each of the lead characters. I didn’t use to be a fan of this style of writing, but I seem to be enjoying it more than ever as I come across so many books that make use of this writing tool. Ultimately, the feelings of each character can be conveyed on a deeper level when allowing the POV to switch. That said, each change is clearly made and did not create any confusion as the chapters began and concluded.

This book is deliciously dirty as indicated by the blurb. Really, just read the blurb and if you are not okay with some of the suggestive material it exhibits, then don’t read the book. It’s a rather tame preview if I might say so myself. I’d hate for anyone to review BIG PICKLE badly because the content is too strong for their liking. There are swear words included and the sexual content is stupid hot. (I mean that is the best way possible.) Descriptive is putting it mildly and as far as locations … it definitely occurs in the workplace. 😉 While I enjoyed their undeniable attraction and scorching encounters, I also very much loved the family dynamic at work. For the Pickles, a family is everything. The love between the family as a whole is adorable. Exactly the kind of family everyone wants to be a part of. From the immediate family members and extending even out as far as cousins, they would all have one another’s back in any situation. In short, because of a nudge from his father, and then Nova herself, Jace discovers that the deli is everything he ever wanted. He ran from his legacy for so long, seeking his own life, when it was sitting under his nose the whole time just waiting for him to realize it. Definitely an HEA here! I absolutely adored my time spent with the Pickle legacy and all of their endearing friends and family members. Nova and Jace were a joy getting to know as their own transformations occurred. The steamy sexy content, friendly banter, and pickle entendres successfully kicked my enjoyment up several notches. I remained engaged from the first page through the last; the story in constant motion, never stalling. With so many Pickles appearing in this story, I have no doubt that more stories will soon be coming to life. I for one would love the opportunity to revisit the Pickle family again in the future. I’m sure that those who enjoy unexpected romance, hilarious humor, and burning desire will as well.

Kindle version provided by Xpresso Book Tours/Author in exchange for an honest review.