By the Numbers

Title: By the Numbers

Author: Nicole Dennis

Publisher: Totally Bound Publishing

Publisher URL: www.totallybound.com

ISBN/BIN: 978-1-78430-031-9

Genre: {M/M} Contemporary Series

Rating: 4 Nymphs

Literary Nymphs Reviewer: Dragon Minx

The renovation and repair plans for the Southern Charm have been approved and contractor Sullivan ‘Sully’ Tarleton is ready to start work, giving the local landmark a second chance at life. Since he’s already going into town, when Sully learns his friends need their accountant picked up at the airport he volunteers. He just doesn’t know how one new person will impact his life.

Chandler Braddock suffers from severe OCD and doesn’t like being in unfamiliar surroundings, but his best friend Sam need his help, so he heads to the Southern Charm, knowing how difficult it will be. Numbers and organization make Chandler feel calm. The mess at the Charm does not. The biggest surprise… his attraction to the sexy carpenter who turns his ordered life upside down but who makes him feel safe while letting him be himself. Without judging. Can they make a life together? Will it work?

By the Numbers is the second release in the Southern Charm series by Nicole Dennis. This new book follows shortly after the first left off, so you need to read them in order.

I like Chandler. He’s a unique guy and not one you’d usually expect to find as a main love interest in a romance…not with his severe OCD. That’s one of things that made him so appealing. He’s real, with all the problems a person with this condition would have. I appreciate all the details of OCD the author wove into the plot, and the history of what was behind it and how it affected Chandler’s life is good background. There are a few inconsistencies between his disorder and how he acted. For example--A guy using lots of hand sanitizer isn’t going to kiss a stranger, even on the cheek, on first meeting.

I liked Sully when he was introduced in the first book. He’s a friendly guy, responsible, hard-working and caring. And the t-shirts with the crazy sayings made me chuckle. They might have been a little unrealistic for a businessman but in the book…they worked for me. I also love how he let Chandler be himself…and helped him deal with the OCD and never belittled him. The author did a nice job with his personality and developing his relationship with Chandler. 

The descriptions of what was happening at the Charm are vivid, all of the secondary characters are nicely woven into the story line, the plot flows evenly and there’s just a hint of what I expect to be a romance between Reece and Mal in an upcoming book. My biggest complaint—the still dangling threads of the poisoning and the missing money.