Book Review: Love Flushed by Evie Mitchell

‘Love Flushed’ is the second book of Evie Mitchell’s ‘All Acess’ series, and was released in 2021. It is preceded by ‘Knot My Type’, which I reviewed previously, and will be followed by ‘Darn Knit All’, which, unfortunately, doesn’t yet have a release date.

You can read my review of the first book of the series here!

‘Love Flushed’ follows Frankie’s best friend Annie, a successful businesswoman, who has crohns disease, and takes place during the window that precedes the epilogues of ‘Knot My Type’, however it can be read as a stand-alone novel.

This book expands on the world of Capricorn Cove, allowing readers to get a different glimpse into the dynamics in the town. In this book, we see more about how the businesses and enterprises exist in the area, and get a glimpse into how influential the Garret family are, even though in the first book, they were barely mentioned, simply on the sidelines.

Annie’s business, conceived on the back of a toilet roll, was the product of her realising a gap in the market for single people like her. She launched five years before the start of the novel and business is booming. She is a successful, loud and proud businesswoman, but her competitors have decided to snatch her supplier out from under her nose.

Meanwhile one of the biggest employers in Capricorn Cove, Garret Paper is struggling to keep itself afloat, after its owner, Walter Garret supposedly invested company money, only to bleed the business dry. There’s a solution to be had, the only problem? The new owners, Walter’s sons, Theo and Lincoln are people she knows very well. Linc, in fact, is her ex-boyfriend, and while they might be the solution to each other’s problem, their history could flush their businesses down the toilet!

I absolutely adored this book. I was sceptical if I’d be able to love this book as much as I did ‘Knot My Type’ but I was very, very, wrong. I loved getting glimpses into the way both Linc and Annie think, as they grapple with their problems, as they attempt to keep business and pleasure separate.

Once again Mitchell’s character voices were incredible. You are quickly immersed into the story as if you’re drinking wine with Annie and her friends, or on the basketball court with Linc, Theo, Ren and Jay. I loved it. Getting to see not only how Annie grapples with the highs and lows of chronic illness and pain, and how her loved ones accommodate for her needs was refreshing and positive. I really enjoyed seeing how Linc goes from knowing absolutely nothing about how to help Annie, and making comments that weren’t well-received, to being mindful enough to get the supplies she would need for the morning after. I really enjoyed that character development. It was sweet and demonstrated a sense of growth and understanding, not a saviour-trope! We love when love can’t heal all traumas, illnesses and struggles in a person’s life, and Mitchell has done it in spades.

Annie is such a charismatic, upfront and funny character. She has a lot of baggage and anguish, and understanding her motives is incredibly eye-opening. It makes me want to reread the first book, knowing what I know now!

Then there was Theo. He is, unknowlingly a catalyst for a lot of what happened in the story, and I was eager to find out whether he would be deprived that insight into the financial implications of the accident that left him losing a leg. A very expensive procedure. But can you put a price on quality of life? American health care system or not! I loved getting to see Theo and Linc grapple with the implications of the accident on them as brothers, on them as businessmen and them as individual characters. It was very interesting to get Lincoln’s POV before Theo’s in the chronology of Mitchell’s series. I look forward to hearing how Theo sees things in the next book!

Once again, we have a body-positive, sex-positive, transparent, upfront story about life with chronic illness but also about falling in love. And I love a second-chance romance, so getting to watch Linc and Annie nurture their bond. I loved it, and would thoroughly recommend it. I cannot even begin to say how much I am looking forward to ‘Darn Knit All’!