E-galley Review: All Joking Aside (Slippery Slopes #2) by Piper Sheldon

I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

All Joking Aside by Piper Sheldon
Series: Slippery Slopes #2
on May 23, 2025
Genres: Adult Contemporary Romance, Adult Romantic Comedy
Pages: 346
Source: the author
Format: E-galley
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Also by this author: My Bare Lady , The Treble With Men , The One That I Want
My Rating:

Blurb:

My reputation hangs on by a thread and only one man can help me before it’s too late. Too bad we can’t stand each other.

As long as I’ve lived in Slippery Slopes, I’ve done my best to be a model citizen in this quirky small town. After a little misunderstanding grows wildly out of control, I need to act quickly to preserve my perfect image.

And unfortunately for me, there’s only one man for the job.

Despite my attempts to stay away from Miles Asher’s distracting allure, I hate to admit he does have a way of getting me out of my head. It should be simple; he needs my help to finish his job so he can leave as soon as possible and in exchange he coaches me into the person I hope to be. We can absolutely ignore this undeniable attraction between us.

As we work together, those pesky feelings I’m desperate to tamp down reveal more than I’m ready to admit, especially when keeping our hands to ourselves feels impossible. He gets under my skin and forces me to face uncomfortable truths about myself and this town I love. But he has no plans to stick around to see things through.

I’m desperate to be perfect but Miles has a way of making me want to be bad…

ALL JOKING ASIDE is a dating coach small town romcom. If you are looking for hilarious angry chemistry between an optimistic perfectionist and the sarcastic loner who loves to rile her up, head down to the weirdly wonderful Slippery Slopes, New Mexico.

My Review

I wasn’t able to read the first book in this series yet, although I wanted to because I really enjoy this author’s books! So when I was able to fit this one in, I jumped at the chance to read it. First of all, a town with wild guinea pigs? Um, how do I get there? I love those little animals!

Then we have our couple, the banter between them was so much fun, so many times I giggled aloud as I was reading. Since I didn’t read the first book, I guess I might have missed more about what happened to make Natalie dislike or be mad with Miles. I mean it was basically explained that he not only left and never contacted her even after she reached out, but that he supposedly took credit for something of hers. That’s how we start the story. But Natalie didn’t quite see things clearly, she worried the people in the town would not want her if she continued to be a burden as she felt she’d been since her parents died and she ended up kind of stuck in town. So she wants to date the mayor’s son, who everyone thinks she saved, but she knows it wasn’t really her, and we don’t find out more about that till about 3/4 of the way though.

Then there’s Miles who seems like the type of guy that just isn’t going to be around. He even says he doesn’t stick around. But we can totally see how much he is interested in Natalie, and how much she grows on him as they spend more time together. The things he does for her, how he cares for her, and is there when she needs someone. As angry as she is at him, she is still able to open up to him in ways that she isn’t able to do with other people very easily. So when he asks for her help with what he is back in town for, she asks him to help her get the date with the mayor’s son, something her shyness just doesn’t seem to let her get done on her own.

Of course the more time they spend together the more they realize how they feel about each other. As you would expect. And of course the town really does love Natalie. Another sweet love story, with a bit of spice from Piper Sheldon.