Old Fashioned: Becker Brothers, Book 4

Overall Grade: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write. Martin LutherReaders who have never read romance or people who seek to disparage it, to marginalize the readers of this genre, miss out on the depths of it. In many ways, it is one of the most inclusive communities, and it honors female empowerment in ways that other genres might not capitalize on fully. As the years have progressed, beyond empowering women in their $exuality, romance writers have the noted impact that literature in any form offers opportunities to tackle social justice issues. Entertwined in their stories of love, empowered writers of romance drop apt reminders of a world where everyone has a place, a voice, a power. Kandi Steiner is one of those writers.Confession: I finished Old Fashioned, the last book in Steiner’s Becker Brothers series over a week ago. If I had been a responsible blogger, I would have posted a review the same day. But I couldn’t. I had so many ideas running through my mind, and quite frankly, I had a BIG book hangover from this series. I hated that Old Fashioned brought the series end. Steiner crafted a small town fraught with unequal power constructs and a burgeoning scandal at every page. Yet, in that town, she offers up characters that felt like family. Each one of the Becker brothers and their heroines represented a type, a character that looked and thought and felt like any one of us. In doing so, she found a space for her readers to find themselves in these stories. She created a profound space of inclusion whether it was socio-economic, racial, cultural, or $exual. This world also included personalities that you couldn’t help but fall in love with. From the Becker Brothers’ mother to Betty Collins in the nursing home, it felt like you always had someone in your corner. For me, this inclusion is the reason I hated leaving this series. She found a space for you and me through connection with seemingly “real” people in the midst of her fictional romance. This is its profundity.And she increased this inclusivity in this final book. It would be easy to say that it is Old Fashioned’s story and the way in which she tied up all of the “loose ends” of the Becker Brothers’ father’s mysterious death (which she does so well) that makes this book the best one. Instead, Steiner’s choice to incorporate POC as her hero and heroine makes it the most compelling. In her final story, she challenges us to consider power and position. She flays the truths of unequal positions of power, $ex, and color throughout Old-Fashioned. From the mixed-race backgrounds of Jordan and Sydney where both of them struggled in the past to be accepted into a racial group to stereotyped constructs of gender and power through Sydney’s acceptance of a job “usually” filled by a male and the challenges of her acceptance of that position to the tenable hold of powerful individuals in their small community and the abuse of that hold, Steiner points a finger at inequality and asks us to open our eyes and fix it. In her story, she does that. She empowers the marginalized and provides them with the means to be heard. In doing so, everything is righted: Jordan and Sydney find their ultimate acceptance and place in each other, Sydney stands in the truth of her giftedness as a trainer and stands firm against stereotypes, and the “bad guys” lose in the end, upending the power dynamic of the community. In acknowledging these inequities, Steiner uses her power as a writer to right the wrongs of social injustice and show us that way for ourselves. Old Fashioned offers us a keen lesson in inclusivity, compassion, and change.Ultimately, Steiner does this well through the construction of Jordan and Sydney. These are powerful characters wrapped into gentle souls. Prior to Old Fashioned, Logan Becker had been my favorite Becker brother because his soul was compassionate. He has a tenderness that Noah and Michael lacked. After Old Fashioned, Jordan Becker claims my top spot because, like Logan, he has a tender heart, but he has a likeability that is sometimes lost in Logan. Logan tends to be a bit staid and tied-up, a bit too organized. Mallory has to “mess him up” a bit as a way to soften that side of him, but it still exists. Jordan is a quiet, gentle giant of a man. He has his moment early on when he illustrates his reductive thinking about Sydney; however, after being reminded of his narrow thinking, he acknowledges it and offers her an apology wherein he accepts his fault and asks for forgiveness. He is incredibly masculine, but also compassionate, sometimes to the exclusion of his own feelings. He is careful, thoughtful, and principled. He acts a true foil or opposition to Sydney’s ex.As a heroine, Sydney is strength personified. This is a woman who has taken on the burden of a past that could have destroyed her and transformed it into a purposeful present and hopeful future. She is the only person in this story who can stand toe-to-toe with Jordan and make an impactful change on him (well, except for his mother). Yet, as secrets are divulged in this story (and there are many of them as Steiner did not hold back on crafting a compelling, fast-moving story), it is Sydney who helps him find his resolve and his peace. She becomes his foundation because her strength, tenacity, and intelligence offer him a port as a calm in his storm.The story. The characters. The prose (there is such an ease to Steiner’s writing). All of these qualities of Old Fashioned conspire to offer you a top read for 2020. Honestly. It’s easy to throw that moniker around. But it’s true. Kandi Steiner took her purpose as a writer to voice the foibles of our world and laid it bare in the midst of her romance. Old Fashioned acts as a marker for change whether you are a POC, a woman, a person of a lower socioeconomic class, etc. It’s a challenge for readers to stand for the underrepresented, offering more of your voice so they can find an equal footing for theirs.Thank you, Kandi, for this series. I loved every page of every book, and I hate to leave the Becker family because they brought so many hours of smiles and tears and happily-ever-after sighs.

What a way to end the Becker Brothers Series! Old Fashioned is Jordan Becker's story and oh what a story it is! Filled with angst, twists and turns,  and full of answers!Jordan is the eldest Becker brother and the silent and quiet one of the group. He always thinks before he talks, and seems to always have more sense in him, well more than the others. As the head football coach of the 2 time state football champs, he has a lot riding on this season, so he's a little weary of Sydney joining the team as the new personal trainer and how the team is going to handle having a woman on the staff. Something about Sydney takes him off kilter and it's quite hilarious to watch Jordan off his game. Sure he's kind of a jerk to her, but Sydney definitely holds her ground against him. Sydney is the ex-wife of the chief of police, and is trying to make place for herself in a small town. She doesn't need Jordan Becker and his attitude pushing her around. All she wants to do is work at a job she loves and take care of her daughter, but there's something about Jordan that she can't keep away from, and it cause a fun and angsty love story between them. Jordan and Sydney have differences of opinions on what they want, but Jordan goes with Sydney's decisions to see how everything plays out, and I adored watching their story play out, even if it was frustrating at times. Seeing Jordan with Sydney's daughter was amazing and I loved that relationship as well. Not only did we have the twisted tale of these two, but we finally got answers on Jordan's real parents, answers as to what was on the hard drive regarding the boys father and their death, and so much more. This book held so many answers and brought some tears, some WTH moments, and some happy tears as well. I hated seeing how some parts of this book played out, but loved that everything played out for all of the brothers and especially seeing Jordan get a HEA after everything was said and done in this book.If you've been following this series from the beginning, or are just looking for an angsty small town read, I highly suggest one-clicking Old Fashioned by Kandi Steiner today!

Everything is well at the end of this last book of the series. The suspense was as good as the romance.Everything was perfectly balanced. A great read !

This book was everything you wanted it to be and more! Finally getting to know the person Jordan truly was a joy to read, he is a brooding master piece of a character who you fall for immediately. Sydney is a strong as they come finding herself again after years of being in an abusive relationship with all the odds against her to begin with, her and Jordan together were perfect and his relationship with her daughter was fantastic. Throughout this series you can imagine how their Dad died and see how maybe the truth will come to light but still there was so much that's happens that didn't even cross my mind giving the shock factor. This book was a roller coaster of emotions and events that were the perfect ending to what has been a truly wonderful series.

This book was the book I've been waiting for and let me tell you, it did not disappoint! This book was absolutely fantastic and I could not put it down! Jordan blew me away, he has easily become my favourite Becker brother! Sydney was just perfect for Jordan and I loved their push and pull at the beginning, they're relationship was what you hope for. Paige, Sydney's daughter was feisty and I loved her enthusiasm for life and football. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of football, but that did not stop me from loving this book. With Jordan being the high school football coach, yes there was football but it was the perfect amount and only added to the story. So, if you're like me, don't let not liking football stop you from reading this story! This book also wrapped up the biggest mystery that has spanned four books and man oh man, it was wrapped up perfectly. The whole second half of this book had me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails! I loved this book and I am sad that the Becker brothers' books have come to an end but they were all amazing and I loved every second of them! More books by Kandi that have become favourites!

I love how Kandi does emotions and drama just like the beautiful Tennessee mountains. You know there is pain,betrayal, hurt,love,forgiveness but it's so beautifully done and so smoothly.EQ is so high its unbelievable. Loved the ending although sad about Betty Collins but it was to be expected.I wish Paige gets her story and her chance to play for NFL. She is unbelievable!!

This story feels like the author bit off alittle more than she can chew. It’s got the element of small town romance with the head coach (Jordan) of a football team and his female athletic trainer (Sydney) having tons of chemistry. But quickly adds a lot of different elements, the mysterious death of Jordan’s father (which has been a theme throughout this series), abusive exes (who also happens to be the police chief of the small town), worries of winning state. I felt not enough depth was added to the story to make it have true emotion. It’s entertaining enough.