Gifts by Brynne Asher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

No one would say Keelie Lockhart isn’t determined.  Taking on the role of both mom and dad to her two young kids, she’s managing life the best she can.  Saddled with a century-old dilapidated farmhouse she can’t afford, a bevy of goats, two dogs, and a geriatric donkey, the last thing she has time for is a man—even if that man is a knight whose shining armor comes in the form of worn-in jeans and work boots.  

Controlled, methodical, and focused—Asa Hollingsworth takes charge of everything in life.  Working close to home after years away, he finally has the time to focus on his kids.  Little does he know, a chance meeting with a petite, strawberry-blonde stranded on the side of the road, would intertwine their lives in a way he’d never want to untangle.  

But when school bullies turn into something much worse, Asa starts to dig around.  He never dreams the troubles lurking in the hallways of the local high school would shake his family to its core.  With drug dealers lurking, bullets flying, and threats coming from every angle, Asa must do everything he can to protect the ones he loves.  

Because in the end, there’s nothing more precious than the gift of life.  

Gifts

Heartfelt Chaos and Healing Laughter

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 🖤💙❤️💚
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪🧪
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 🙃🙁😀😋🥰
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration

🧡 The Heroine – Keelie

Keelie lives in a crumbling Virginia farmhouse, slowly breathing new life into its 92-year-old bones. Widowed two years ago, she’s navigating single parenthood while coaxing a reluctant heart back into the dating world. She still sends texts to her late husband—though they bounce back undeliverable, it’s part therapy, part heartache. Once a sharp lobbyist in DC, she now channels her empathy into guiding teens as a high school counselor. Her son, Knox, is a gifted student, while her daughter, Sailor, is just discovering the magic of reading.

💪 The Hero – Asa

Asa is a former mercenary (read: government assassin), now turned trainer for elite operatives. Divorced and unexpectedly thrust into full-time fatherhood, his teenage kids Levi and Emma chose to stay with him rather than follow their mother cross-country with her new husband. It’s a redemption arc wrapped in domestic chaos—Asa’s past may be shadowy, but his commitment to his children is unwavering.

🍷 The Storyline

A chance roadside encounter brings Asa and Keelie face to face: her date’s useless during a tire mishap, and Asa steps in with rugged charm and practical hands. Sparks fly, but Keelie’s romantic reluctance runs deep. Their worlds collide again at a school meeting—Keelie as counselor, Asa as concerned father—and this time, he doesn’t hesitate to ask her out. The budding romance unfolds against the backdrop of teen turmoil: Asa’s daughter has withdrawn socially and academically, and there’s unsettling mystery surrounding locker-room drug discoveries.

🔎 Highlights

• The subplot involving Asa’s kids and the locker mystery adds genuine suspense and emotional urgency, giving the story more than just romantic fluff.
• Asa’s honesty about his past—a rare, refreshing level of transparency in romance leads—builds instant trust and complexity.
• A hilariously chaotic Sunday brunch where Asa meets Keelie’s extended family delivers heart, humor, and one particularly judgmental donkey. Yes, a donkey.
• Baby goats. Enough said.

⚠️ What Didn’t Quite Land

Keelie’s continued emotional paralysis over her husband’s passing feels slightly overplayed given the two-year gap. While grief isn’t linear, her resistance to intimacy at times stalls her arc rather than deepens it. A bit more internal reckoning might’ve made her growth more satisfying.

🎧 Performance Matters

Kit Swann narrates Keelie with warmth, nuance, and a touch of whimsy, seamlessly shifting into male voices without missing a beat. Jason Clarke’s performance is all velvet gravel—his voice embodies Asa’s stoic charisma and emotional grit. Together, they create a rhythm that elevates romantic tension and delivers poignant contrast. It’s a narration duo that turns a solid listen into a memorable one.

Blog|Goodreads|Facebook|Instagram|Twitter|BookBub

View all my reviews