2020 in Reviews...Books I've Reviewed in September 2020

 

Publisher's Summary

Discover the magic of New York Times best seller Melissa Foster's writing and see why millions have fallen in love with the fiercely loyal and sassily sexy characters in the Love in Bloom big-family romance collection. 

Love in Bloom novels are written to stand alone or may be enjoyed as part of the larger series, so dive right into this fun, sexy romance. 

In Searching for Love: Zev Braden and Carly Dylan have known each other their whole lives. Their close-knit families were sure they were destined to marry - until a devastating tragedy struck, breaking the two lovers apart. Over the next decade, Zev, a nomadic treasure hunter, rarely returned to his hometown, and Carly became a chocolatier and built a whole new life across the country. When a chance encounter brings them back into each other’s lives, can they find the true love that once existed, or will shattered dreams and broken hearts prevail? Find out in Searching for Love, a deliciously sexy, funny, and emotional second-chance romance. 

Love in Bloom novels feature alpha male heroes and smart, empowered women. They're flawed, funny, passionate, and relatable to those who enjoy contemporary romance and women's fiction.

©2020 Melissa Foster (P)2020 Melissa Foster

 

My Thoughts…

Audiobook Review…I had just read the ebook format of Searching for Love at the beginning of September 2020 and now it is the end of September 2020 and I have just finished listening to the audiobook format.   Usually, I would say read the book!   Always read the book!   But with this one, I say LISTEN to the book!   The narrators, Virginia Rose and Brian Pallino did a phenomenal job bringing the story to life.   I loved the emotions that they brought to life as they told Zev and Carly’s story.    I found myself walking one more block just to listen to a little more of the story.     eBook Review…Let me just say the names…Zev Braden and Carly Dylan. Doesn’t that sound perfect together? Guess what, they are perfect together. They’ve been together since they were in elementary school, dated in high school, and then as they grew into young adults and life threw them some curveballs that they didn’t know how to handle so they fell apart. Yet, their love for each other never left them and when they meet again as adults, with their lives in order, the love they share comes shining through. Now, I say their love shines through but holy heat! The sparks were flying when their eyes met across the room and no matter how hard they tried not to recognize what was still between them the heat never let up. I really enjoyed that they had a happy history together. That they loved each other and had many happy adventures and memories. This helped them rebuild their relationship because they had such a strong friendship base. They did not forget what had happened in the past, but they talked about it, argued about it, and then realized that the past did not have to stop them from finding the happily ever after. Pick up this book, meet these amazing characters and their wonderful friends, and love the town of Pleasant Hills-Oak Falls. Searching for Love is the perfect book to fall into and never want to leave.

 

Purchase links

Amazon - https://smarturl.it/SFLa_Amazon 

Apple - https://smarturl.it/SFLa_Apple

Audible - https://smarturl.it/SFLa_Audible

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55008341-searching-for-love

It was like something out of a fairytale…

The grieving widower.
The motherless daughters.
A beautiful house in the woods.
And a nanny come to save the day.

So what if Lexi isn’t telling the truth about who she is? Escaping to the remote snows of Norway was her lifeline. And all she wanted was to be a part of their lives.

But soon, isolated in that cold, creaking house in the middle of ancient, whispering woods, Lexi's fairytale starts to turn into a nightmare.

With darkness creeping in from the outside, Lexi’s fears are deepening. Lexi knows she needs to protect the children in her care.


But protect them from what?

My Thoughts…

C.J. Cooke had me on the edge of my seat while reading The Nesting.    Lexi took a job nannying and now she must protect the children at all costs.   As she starts to hear noises, she sees ghosts that haunt her, and knows secrets that could cause her harm; she knows that nothing else matters but the children in her care do matter.   The Nesting is a thriller with twists and turns that kept me turning pages and hoping that all would end up okay by the end.  

The flashback of Tom and Aurelia were sometimes confusing, sometimes added extra detail to the story, and sometimes was so long that I got lost in the text of what I was reading.   I did not feel like the flashbacks were an overall good addition to the story, but I did not let it detour my reading. 

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Ben I know why I lost her. I was too serious. I was too practical. I was grounded when I should’ve been dreaming about forever with Jess.

Over time, this wore on her, all her big exciting ideas and all the ways I shut them down. No wonder she handed me my ring back and left town. No wonder she hadn’t been back in ten years. No wonder she’d married someone else, leaving me with memories of sunsets at the beach and the somedays we planned for the future we’d never live.

So, I built a lift without her. My father and I opened the second division of Sunset Builders in New York, and to my surprise, I stayed busy, almost busy enough not to notice the loneliness.

While I was on a job site, my little sister booked an appointment with a woman who lived on Madison Avenue. A quick bathroom and kitchen remodel, she’d said. I should have asked more questions because when I arrived and the door opened memories came flooding back.

Jessica had returned. If I’d learned anything in her absence it was that anything worth doing was worth being done well, and anything worth having was worth fighting for. Maybe by the time the condo was done, Jessica would give me a second chance.

Jessica All those years ago, Ben had been right to try to keep me grounded. I should’ve listened. The falls didn’t hurt as bad that way.

Instead, I wanted a bigger life in a bigger place and I never appreciated the beauty of living in a small town with a huge support system. So, I left town without so much as a goodbye chasing a

silly dream. I alienated myself, moved to a strange city where I knew no one, and chased after something that took me down a dark path.

I married the man who promised me the sun, moon, and stars, but delivered blinding blows. Sometimes, I thought I’d die before I escaped the nightmare. I knew my only way out would be to run...again. This took more years than I could count. Years of me squirreling away money, and years of me hiding in the dark so that no one would see my bruised face in the light of day.

Then my grandfather died. He left me money and a gorgeous condo in New York. While my husband was away on a month-long trip, my best friend drove me to New York. My plan: to upgrade the condo, sell it, and leave my current life behind.

Little did I know when I had called contractors to get some quotes that Ben would show up on my doorstep. He swore we could make more dreams real, but this time I was the grounded one. This time, I could only see how it would never work. I’d made too many mistakes. Love was terrifying. And I never wanted to tie myself to anyone ever again.

After all, 425 Madison is the perfect place to fall in love!

My Thoughts..

Ben and Jessica have history.   Ben never has given up, but Jessica has tried to live her dreams.  A single call to a contractor brings Ben back into Jessica’s live and a second chance seems to be happening.   Their story is not easy or uncomplicated, but it is strong, real, and true.   I loved seeing Ben struggle with whether to open his heart to Jessica again and quickly realizing that it is out of his control.   His heart knows that Jessica is the person for him.   Now to remind Jessica how good they are together and how much they love each other.  

Book 21 in a 3 season book series and I am entirely hooked!   The best part, you can read these books in any order!   They are entirely standalone books.   425 Madison is the perfect place to fall in love.

Read Sunsets & Somedays toady!

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