Winner - - Moorewood Family Rules

 

The randomly chosen winner of 

a print copy of Moorewood Family Rules is:

Anne Golden

Congratulations!

Please send your full name and mailing address to:

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Winners - - Royal Caleva: Gabriel

 

The randomly chosen winners of

a Kindle copy of

Royal Caleva: Gabriel by Nancy Herkness are:

Sharlene

cheryl c

Shari

Congratulations!

Please send your email address to:

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Review & Giveaway - - Royal Caleva: Gabriel

Royal Caleva: Gabriel: Duke of Bencalor

by Nancy Herkness

Royal Caleva - Book 1

Publisher: Tabby Brothers Press

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

Honor, passion, danger. A modern-day duke and an American computer hacker must confront all three.

Honor. Gabriel, Duke of Bencalor, allows himself to be kidnapped to save his cousin, the Prince of Caleva. He pays a price—a mutilation that damages his brilliant career as a Flamenco guitarist—yet he would not hesitate to do it again.

Passion. Quinn Pierson is hired to track down Gabriel’s abductors. As she follows the trail, she and the sexy duke spend more and more time together until a spark ignites between them. Quinn fights her feelings every inch of the way because she knows there can be no future between a royal duke and an American commoner with an ugly past.

Danger. The criminal mastermind who carried out Gabriel’s abduction travels to Caleva to threaten Quinn. Yet even he is less dangerous than the mysterious figure who set the kidnapping in motion.

Opposites attract in Caleva, where the royals are hot and the criminals are twisted.

PJ's Thoughts:

If you enjoy fast-paced books brimming with danger, emotional turmoil, mystery, heart-tugging romance, and complex characters you can't help but root for, do not miss Royal Caleva: Gabriel, book one of a new series by Nancy Herkness. I couldn't put it down and these characters - especially Gabriel - are still lingering in my mind days after I turned the final page.

There are so many things I loved about this first book in the new Royal Caleva series. First is the worldbuilding. Caleva is a fictional island - I know this - but the vivid descriptions, geographic details, history, and traditions Herkness incorporated into this book are so realistic that I actually Googled the island to make sure it didn't exist. Full disclosure: I was hoping I was mistaken about its existence because I was already planning a trip in my mind.

Next are the characters and not only Quinn and Gabriel. The author has populated this story with a variety of well-developed, fully-dimensional characters that pulled me into their world and made me care about them. Secondary characters about whom I want to know more. And a complex, multi-layered main couple I can't stop thinking about. Especially Gabriel. This man. It's been a while since the hero of a novel has had such an impact on me. His strength, vulnerability, honor, anguish, and courage. How could I not root for him to overcome what was done to him and claim his happiness? How could I not love him as deeply and completely as Quinn, a kick-ass heroine who deserves happiness just as much - if not more - than Gabriel and is laser-focused on making sure the bad guys don't derail it.

And finally, we come to the suspense portion of the story. Herkness has created a fast-paced, twisty mystery of greed and betrayal that kept me flipping pages, all the while wondering what new twist was lurking around the next corner. Happy to say she kept me wondering until almost the end when all was finally revealed. I love it when that happens.

I've read pretty much everything Nancy Herkness has written and, for my money, this is one of her best. I can't wait to discover what she has in store for Caleva's royal family next!

Because I loved this book so much, I'm giving away three Kindle copies today.

Have you read any books by Nancy Herkness?

What's the last book that kept you guessing right up until the reveal?

What fictional location in a book you've read would you like to visit?

Three randomly chosen people who post a comment before Midnight (EDT) tonight (April 28) will receive a Kindle copy of Royal Caleva: Gabriel.

Update: Great news! Nancy Herkness has graciously offered a giveaway for The Romance Dish readers. One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, April 30 will receive a signed, print copy of Royal Caleva: Gabriel.

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Review & Giveaway - - Moorewood Family Rules

Moorewood Family Rules: A Novel

by HelenKay Dimon

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

One day a con man met an heiress, wooed her, married her, had two kids…and kept on conning. Jillian Moorewood is the oldest child from that meet-cute-gone-wrong marriage. The stable one. The sensible and dependable one. The one who protects and fixes. The one who went to prison to save their sorry butts. Now, thirty-nine months later, she’s out and she’s more than a little pissed.

Finally home she finds the scheming clan in full family fleecing mode. They all claim they didn’t really agree to Jillian’s previous go-legit-or-else ultimatum before she went away. They viewed it as a “suggestion” then ignored it. So, business as usual. But Jillian is done with the lies and fakery. She demands the whole messed-up crew clean up its act, and this time she’s not kidding—she has the leverage to make it happen.

Problem is, her life is in shambles, but with the help of a great aunt (crooked but loveable), a bodyguard (who is a nice surprise after three years in prison), and a few allies (all working undercover), Jillian starts to put her life back together. She kicks out a few mooching relatives living under her roof, sets limits on everyone’s access to the money, ducks from their various attacks, and sees if that bodyguard is maybe interested in sticking around for a while. For the first time, she’s Jillian Moorewood, her own woman, and she’s ready to figure out who she is. 

PJ's Thoughts:

I gobbled up this book like a bag of Peanut M&M's after a 40-day fast. Would I want to be part of this dysfunctional (dare I say, murderous?) family of con artists in real life? Absolutely not! But, in the capable hands of HelenKay Dimon, and a fictional story I happily immersed myself in, I couldn't get enough of them. These characters are fascinating. Each and every one of them has so many intriguing layers, keeping me off balance, wondering which - and on whose - side they would land. Some are obvious. Others, not so much. All of them keep the story moving forward at a brisk pace, skillfully guided by their creator through a myriad of twists and turns that kept me eagerly flipping pages to see what would happen next. And when I reached the end, somewhere around 3:00 AM? The first thing I wanted to do was go back to page one and read it all over again to soak in all of the clever lines, unexpected detours, and subtle nuances I may have missed the first time through. This is one I know I'll be reading again. It checked all of my happy reader boxes.

Moorewood Family Rules is quirky, twisty, cringey, laugh-out-loud fun. If you've seen Knives Out or Glass Onion (A Knives Out Mystery), it has that same vibe. In fact, the publisher describes it as "Knives Out and Ocean’s 8 meets The Nest." I would agree. 

I don't know if Dimon plans to write any more books in this vein but I can guarantee that if she does I'll be first in line to buy them. Moorewood Family Rules is one of the most entertaining books I've read this year. I enthusiastically recommend adding it to your summer reading list. And, for you happily-ever-after romance fans, yes, there is a love interest for our heroine. And he's pretty yummy. 

~~~~~~~~~

Because I've gushed so much about this book and want to share it with everyone, Avon has very generously offered a print, trade-size copy of Moorewood Family Rules for today's giveaway. So, tell me...

Have you read anything by HelenKay Dimon?

Do you enjoy twisty, quirky stories that bring the suspense but also keep you laughing?

Have you seen any of the movies referenced above?

What's the most entertaining book you've read so far this year?

One person, randomly chosen, who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, April 29 will receive the print copy of Moorewood Family Rules. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Review - - Mermaid Beach

Mermaid Beach

by Sheila Roberts

Moonlight Harbor - Book 7

Publisher: MIRA

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

Bonnie Brinks and her all-woman band, The Mermaids, are the pride of Moonlight Harbor. They’re the house band at The Drunken Sailor, and that’s just the right amount of fame for Bonnie. A lifetime ago, she went to Nashville to make it big, but she returned home with a broken heart and broken dreams. Now she’s got a comfortable life and a brilliant daughter, Avril, who plays for The Mermaids alongside Bonnie and Bonnie’s mother, Loretta.

Avril has big dreams of her own. Her life in Moonlight Harbor is good—she loves singing and playing guitar with The Mermaids, and she has the sweetest, most loyal boyfriend a girl could ask for—but it all feels so…small. She can’t help wondering if there’s something more out there for her. And she doesn’t understand why her mom won’t support her going to Nashville to find out.

Meanwhile, Bonnie threw in the towel on her love life long ago, but Loretta sure hasn’t. She’s determined to be swept off her feet, and she wants the same for her daughter. When the hunky new owner of The Drunken Sailor turns the tables on the band and Avril announces she’s leaving Moonlight Harbor, Bonnie’s comfortable life seems to be drifting away. Will these three generations of Mermaids find their happy endings on the Washington coast? Or will the change in the winds leave them all shipwrecked?

PJ's Thoughts:

I've read every book in Sheila Roberts' Moonlight Harbor series. Mermaid Beach is my favorite. I laughed, cried, sighed, and laughed some more. These characters were so easy to root for and all three Brinks women - at various crossroads in their lives - took me on a satisfying, heart-tugging journey I wouldn't have wanted to miss.

The multi-generation family dynamics in this book are realistic and very relatable. Roberts has created these women in such a way that I was able to identify with daughter, mother, and grandmother as well as the challenges looming in each of their lives. I loved their bond, the complexity of their family relationships, and the growth of each of their characters as they stepped out of their comfort zones and forged unexpected paths to new adventures, love, and happiness. 

The musical nods in the book - both onstage and behind the scenes - had me tapping my toes and singing along while the scenes in Moonlight Harbor as well as those in Nashville lend an undeniable air of authenticity to the characters' experiences. 

Citizens of Moonlight Harbor float in and out of the story, adding texture and richness to the book without taking attention from the main characters. For fans of the series, it's always fun to catch up with a character from an earlier book but for those readers new to Moonlight Harbor, Mermaid Beach is a great place to jump in without feeling lost or confused.   

If you're looking for a heart-tugging story of three generations of women with complex, relatable family dynamics, chasing dreams at a variety of ages, humor, emotional depth, romance, and hard-won, happy endings, I highly recommend Sheila Roberts' Mermaid Beach. It's a wonderful book to add to your summer reading list. 

Winner - - Return to Hummingbird Way

 

The randomly chosen winner of 

a print copy of

Return to Hummingbird Way by Reese Ryan is:

TrishJ

Congratulations!

Please send your full name and mailing address to:

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Review - - How to Best a Marquess

How to Best a Marquess

by Janna MacGregor

The Widow Rules - Book 3

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

Beth Howell needs to find her dowry, post haste. After her good-for-nothing first husband married her—and two other women, unbeknownst to them all—she’s left financially ruined and relegated to living with her brother, who cares more for his horses than he does his blood relatives. If Beth fails to acquire her funds, her brother will force her to marry someone fifty years her senior and missing half his teeth. She’d prefer to avoid that dreadful fate. But her now-deceased husband, Meri, absconded with her money mere days after their illegitimate marriage. To find it, Beth will have to leave town and retrace Meri’s steps if she’s to take her future into her own hands.

Julian Raleah, Marquess of Grayson, cares not a whit for social norms and generally growls at anyone in his path. Grayson has had a heart of stone ever since his engagement to Beth Howell went down in flames—long before she married that cad, Meri, and sealed her own fate for good. But now she’s on his doorstep, asking for use of his carriage and accompaniment on the hunt to find her lost dowry. Surely Grayson cannot go on the road with the woman who has occupied his thoughts for the past decade. Yet, knowing she needs him, how can he resist helping her this one last time? And maybe that’s just enough time to change the ending to their over-too-soon love story.

PJ's Thoughts:

How to Best a Marquess brings to a conclusion MacGregor's trilogy about three women who, following his death, discover they were all married to the same man. Of course, only one of those marriages was legal. I've enjoyed getting to know these women and following each of their journeys to love. 

This final book is a second-chance, road romance between third wife, Beth and the man who captured, then broke, her young heart years earlier, before her disastrous non-marriage to Meri. I love a second-chance romance trope, especially in a case like Beth and Julian where the earlier breakup was engineered by a third party and both Julian and Beth were left heartbroken. I was looking forward to these two finding their way back to one another as they traipsed across the countryside retracing the steps of Beth's late "husband" in an attempt to discover what happened to her dowry. Some of their experiences were humorous, and some poignant, while others presented complications and a bit of danger. All of them kept me curious as to what would happen next. 

The evolution of the romantic relationship between Beth and Julian was a slow, steamy burn that took a bit of an emotional roller coaster ride. My heart ached for the sheer yearning Julian felt for his Beth, a woman who had held his heart for so long. I was cheering him on from the start. Beth is a complicated swirl of hot and cold, acting much like a cornered porcupine - and many would say with good reason. She's blunt, opinionated, and has a boatload of built-up anger and bitterness to process before she reaches a point where she's able to accept that she deserves the love she craves. She definitely has the more complex growth arc. 

Two secondary characters were a highlight for me, threatening to steal every scene they were in: Cillian, Julian's less-than-proper Irish butler and the outrageous Duke of Pelham, who I was delighted to read will be featured in MacGregor's next series. I'm looking forward to it. 

Review - - The Lady Knows Best

The Lady Knows Best

by Susanna Craig

Goode's Guide to Misconduct - Book 1

Publisher: Zebra Books

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

 

Serving as the advice columnist, ‘Miss Busy B.’, for an often-subversive ladies’ magazine is the perfect outlet for Daphne Burke’s outspoken nature. But when she advises a young lady of the ton, to break off her engagement to a notorious rake, the consequences take Daphne beyond the page and into her real life.

Miles, Viscount Deveraux, sometimes known as “that devil Deveraux”needs a respectable bride by the end of the Season, and he’s bet a fortune that he can get one. Now, his fiancée has not only changed her mind—but done it publicly, in a letter to London’s most infamous magazine. With the stakes high and time short, it seems reasonable to him that the columnist responsible should come to his rescue and marry him instead.
 
Fortunately for Miles, Daphne is eager to escape the pressures of the London marriage mart. She agrees to a courtship. But at the end of two weeks, she intends to turn him down in a big, splashy, scandal that will ruin her reputation and set her free. There’s just one shocking wrinkle: Who knew being ruined by a rake could be so much fun?

PJ's Thoughts:

I've been a fan of Susanna Craig since reading her debut novel, To Kiss a Thief, back in 2016. Impeccably researched, Craig's books immerse me in historical settings and events that frame character-driven stories that keep me turning pages until well past the time I should be asleep. From London to Dublin to rural and coastal English villages, and even a Caribbean island, she creates atmospheric pictures with her words that are many times just as critical to the story as her characters. 

In The Lady Knows Best, Craig has brought together one of my favorite plot devices: a strong-minded heroine (with more worth than she believes) and a charming rake (with more depth than anyone believes), brought together in a courtship of convenience. Daphne and Miles both have their reasons for entering their devilish bargain, though it's clear from the start that love is not of interest to either of them. Of course, we all know that will change but it's how the changes come about that kept me turning pages. 

I adored these two. They are both much more than what they allow society to see and, in Daphne's case, what she allows herself to see. I was cheering her on as she finally began to realize her worth. She had so much to offer but was the last person to recognize that. I loved how Miles encouraged and supported her, how he saw beyond her mask to the full person within. And speaking of masks, Miles was so much more than society - and Daphne - first thought. He captured my heart as surely as he captured Daphne's. It was fun to watch these two slowly reveal themselves to one another, gaining respect, understanding, and love along the way. The epilogue, especially, cemented for me how well Miles understood, respected, and loved Daphne for all she was and how much Daphne had come to enjoy his rakish ways, now devoted solely to her. I see much laughter and joy in their future. I hope we see them again. I haven't had nearly enough of them. 

Secondary characters were delightful additions to this story, especially Miles' grandmother and his best friend, Alistair (Earl of Ryland). I do hope we'll be seeing more of him in a future book. As a fan of Craig's Rogues and Rebels series, it was a fun surprise to discover that the heroine of The Lady Knows Best is none other than Daphne Burke, the younger sister of the Irish Burke siblings who starred in the Rogues and Rebels books. It isn't necessary to have read those books to enjoy this one but following Daphne's journey to love - and catching up with her siblings and their partners - is a special treat for those of us who first met her as a little girl. 

Review & Giveaway - - Return to Hummingbird Way

Return to Hummingbird Way

Holly Grove Island - Book 2

by Reese Ryan

Publisher: Forever

Release Date: April 25, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

 

In this heartwarming small‑town romance, can three months, two planning projects, and a meddling grandmother finally make two high school hate crushes see just how right they are for each other? 

Ambitious real estate agent Sinclair Buchanan is ecstatic to be her best friend’s maid-of-honor—until she discovers the best man is Garrett Davenport. Sin and Rett’s mutual hate crush ignited when they were teens and hasn’t let up since . . . except for that one extremely hot (and extremely regrettable) night they shared five years ago. 

Nothing gets Rett fired up like going toe-to-toe with Sinclair. She’s as infuriatingly stubborn, and as absolutely gorgeous, as when he fell for her back in high school. Working together to plan their best friends’ last-minute wedding is one thing, but when his matchmaking grandmother gets involved Rett knows he’s in deep. Attraction has always simmered between them, but this time, they’re both in danger of losing their hearts.

PJ's Thoughts:

I am thoroughly enjoying Reese Ryan's Holly Grove Island series. She has captured the vibe of a small Outer Banks town that makes that area so popular to visit but it's her characters who really shine. I love the friendships at the center of the stories, both male and female. The family relationships add an extra layer of depth - and conflict - to the main characters' journeys. Even the secondary characters add a richness that only makes the read that much more satisfying. In this book, it's Mama Mae, Rett's irrepressible, matchmaking grandmother who won my heart with her cooking, her humor, her wisdom, and her unconditional love for her grandson. 

Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite romance tropes. Couple that with Rett's and Sin's "hate crush" from their high school years, a secret hook-up five years ago, unwelcome attraction today, and a total misperception about one another's wants and goals and, what can I say, I was hooked. I liked the complexity the author created within both Rett and Sin. These characters had layers, fears, vulnerabilities, and family issues that were not easily overcome. I loved the chemistry between them (yay for sizzle) but I also appreciated the emotional work they put in on themselves and their relationships - both with their families and one another - in order to grow while remaining true to their core values and desires. The evolution they each experienced, both as a couple and individually, over the course of their story was realistic, relatable, and crucial to the viability of their romantic relationship. 

Return to Hummingbird Way stands well on its own but readers should be aware that the main couple (Sin's and Rett's best friends, Dakota and Dexter) from book one, Second Chance on Cypress Lane, are featured prominently in book two. If you're a series purist, you may wish to read the two books in order. For more information about Dakota and Dexter, click to read my review of Second Chance on Cypress Lane. 

Have you read Reese Ryan yet?

How do you feel about enemies-to-lovers romance?

Have you ever been to the Outer Banks? Do you enjoy beach towns, either in real life or in the books you read? 

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, April 23 will receive a print copy of Return to Hummingbird Way. 

*U.S. only

*Must be 18

Review - - The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason

by India Holton

Dangerous Damsels - - Book 3

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: April 18, 2023

Reviewed by Nancy

 

 

Two rival spies must brave pirates, witches, and fake matrimony to save the Queen.

Known as Agent A, Alice is the top operative within the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, a secret government intelligence group that is fortunately better at espionage than at naming itself. From managing deceptive witches to bored aristocratic ladies, nothing is beyond Alice’s capabilities. She has a steely composure and a plan always up her sleeve (alongside a dagger and an embroidered handkerchief). So when rumors of an assassination plot begin to circulate, she’s immediately assigned to the case. 

But she’s not working alone. Daniel Bixby, otherwise known as Agent B and Alice's greatest rival, is given the most challenging undercover assignment of his life— pretending to be Alice’s husband. Together they will assume the identity of a married couple, infiltrate a pirate house party, and foil their unpatriotic plans. 

Determined to remain consummate professionals, Alice and Daniel must ignore the growing attraction between them, especially since acting on it might prove more dangerous than their target.

Nancy Says: 

Although The Secret Service of Tea and Treason is number three in a series, it generally works as a standalone. The premise, secret agents posing as household servants in Victorian England, is brilliant, and I loved the callback to the old Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV series in the secret headquarters entered through a shop, the A.U.N.T. acronym, and the gadgets, both magical and not. I really wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get there. There were a great many things I liked about it, though, so let’s look at those first. 

The main characters are charming. The heroine, Alice Dearlove, is clever, loves books, and can hold her own in a fight. She prides herself on being a professional woman. The hero, Daniel Bixby, is smart, strong, bookish, and equally able to hold his own in a fight. Both grew up in orphanages run by A.U.N.T. and so were trained from childhood to be effective agents for the organization. It has shaped their lives so it is their main focus, and their superiors are determined that nothing will distract from that. When this policy leads to conflict later in the book, it’s believable and is handled well. 

Also handled well are the attraction and resulting sexual tension between Daniel and Alice as they pretend to be married. They’re determined to maintain a professional demeanor, focusing on the mission, but that pesky attraction draws them steadily closer. Because of that attraction, they both grow and change. They’re each in an emotional place at the end of the book that’s very different from where they are at the beginning. The character arc was engaging and believable. 

The book has a large supporting cast, so it’s natural that some would be drawn in more detail than others. The A.U.N.T. head scientist is an inept version of James Bond’s Q, and I would’ve felt sorry for him had he been a little less pushy and annoying to Alice and Daniel. 

A few of the pirates and other supporting characters are developed in individual scenes, but most have brief introductory appearances that give the reader an idea of their characters. This is one spot where having read the prior books might have helped by supplying a fuller picture of them. A bit more about those the hero and heroine knew before would’ve been helpful to me as a first-time reader. When Daniel turns to a particular character at a moment of crisis, I would’ve liked just a little about how he feels about his reaction and why he trusts this individual. 

I also have trouble with the idea that pirates and spies travel by magically flying houses (vaguely reminiscent of Baba Yaga’s chicken-leg but non-flying house and her flying mortar and pestle), yet the government wasted about twenty years without managing to figure out how that’s done. This means the pirates have free rein for raiding, not that much of it occurs in this book. This may work for some readers, but I just didn’t buy it. If pirates are a problem, someone who wants them stopped will figure this out. If A.U.N.T. can do it, so can someone working for the government. 

The overall plot involves Alice and Daniel searching for a weapon that’s to be used to assassinate Queen Victoria. A.U.N.T. finagles their attendance at a pirate house party so they can find and destroy or steal that weapon. While I liked the idea, I didn’t feel any sense of urgency about it. Alice and Daniel do search various parts of the mansion, but there’s no ticking clock, no feeling of an immediate threat. Because I didn’t feel anyone was in serious peril, the book sometimes felt slow to me. 

While the pirate houseguests are a threat to everyone around them, stealing from each other and their hosts and vandalizing the house, they don’t seem to be much of a threat beyond their group. They’ve stolen various valuable objects, and one of them fires on the A.U.N.T. flying house, but they don’t seem generally menacing. Even when they chase Daniel and Alice, they don’t seem serious about catching them. 

I also don’t buy that anyone who knows how these people behave would invite them to a house party and tolerate their vandalism and stealing. They play games that damage the house, and I have a hard time accepting that any host would put up with that, let alone invite in a group they know are prone to such behavior. 

In summary, I loved the setup, the emotional arc, and the main characters. The overall plot didn’t work for me, but I realize not everyone cares about that as much as I do. Based on the setup and the strength of the romance, I recommend the book.

 

3.5 stars

 

~ Nancy

 

Review - - Home to River's Edge

Home to River's Edge

by Nan Reinhardt

The Weaver Sisters - Book 1

Publisher: Tule

Release Date: April 18, 2023

Reviewed by PJ

 

She’s determined to start a new chapter, so why is she still drawn to a man from her past?

When Jasmine Weaver, the chief of staff to a powerful D.C. congresswoman, chose integrity, she didn’t anticipate ringing in the New Year disgraced, unemployed, and sleeping in her childhood bedroom. Now back in River’s Edge, Indiana, identical triplet Jazz has her sisters’ support while she plans her next steps. She agrees to lead the committee for their high school’s fifteenth reunion, never dreaming that her co-chair is the man who broke her teenage heart.

As the new CEO of Walker Construction, Elias Walker has taken the family business to new levels of success. He’s buried himself in work to ease the grief of losing his fiancé several years earlier and wants nothing more than to be a carpenter again. Elias grudgingly agrees to co-chair the high school’s reunion committee, but when Jazz Weaver blows into town, suddenly anything seems possible.

These high school sweethearts have lived half their lives apart. Can they reinvent themselves back in the town where it all began?

PJ's Thoughts:

I love River's Edge. It's become one of my favorite fictional places to visit. Reinhardt has created a wonderful, vibrant community and filled it with interesting characters who engage my emotions and make me want to be friends with them. It's a long-running series but you don't need to start at the beginning to enjoy current books (though I do recommend all of them). The author has cleverly created trilogies and quartets within the framework of the series that focus on sets of siblings. Even though some characters from the earlier sets weave in and out of current books it's done in such a way that readers should not feel lost or confused, making it easy to step in at any point of the overall series and have an enjoyable experience. 

Home to River's Edge is book one of the Weaver Sisters (triplets) trilogy so if you've yet to visit River's Edge this would be a great place to start. It's a second-chance romance that touched my heart and had me cheering so hard for Eli and Jasmine. The author really uses a sensitive hand with these two, especially as it pertains to the love Eli shared with his late fiancée and the grief he's still experiencing alongside his reunion with Jazz and the gradual emotional reawakening it's causing. It's refreshing to experience the blossoming of a new love between characters without minimizing the love one of them shared with a deceased partner. 

In addition to romance, both Jazz and Eli are at professional crossroads as well which gives an added dimension to their journeys. It was satisfying to watch them navigate life's potholes while each finding and settling into their true calling. 

As always, the citizens of River's Edge provide a colorful secondary cast, with appearances by familiar faces and introductions of new characters (Jasmine's sisters in particular) whose stories are yet to come. Now that I know the sisters a bit better I'm even more eager for their books...and very curious to discover if a certain nerd turned hunk who returns for their 15th high school reunion plays a role in one of them.  

If you enjoy contemporary romances set in a close-knit community with plenty of humor, heart, and happy endings at their core, I enthusiastically recommend taking a trip to Nan Reinhardt's River's Edge.