Happily Ever Alaska
by Patience Griffin
Sweet Home, Alaska - Book 3
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: December 26, 2023
Reviewed by PJ
Lolly Crocker bakes up warm desserts in her chilly Alaskan town, but can she handle the reigniting of an old flame?
Whenever things get too serious, baker Lolly Crocker knows it’s time to break it off with a guy. Without fail, her gut would tell her that the man she was dating was not Mr. Right.
The one exception is Shaun Montana, her high school sweetheart. With Shaun, life felt complete; but her mother convinced her she was too young to be tied down, and Lolly broke up with him the night before she left for college.
While Lolly keeps every relationship light, Shaun is never less than fully committed—and still somehow his romances have all ended badly. When he comes back to Sweet Home, his attraction to Lolly is as fiery as ever, but he's determined to keep things casual for once...just when Lolly is finally ready to risk her heart on a second chance with the man she loved so long ago.
PJ's Thoughts:
Griffin takes readers back to her fictional small town of Sweet Home, Alaska for a second-chance romance that has the entire town taking sides. I enjoy Griffin's stories, her quirky side characters, sense of community, and depth of emotion. She gives her main couple a difficult path to happiness but with a satisfying emotional payoff in the end. I may shed tears on the journey but I'm always smiling when I turn the final page.
As with the earlier books in this series, there are multiple relationships at play in this book. In addition to the primary romance, a secondary couple whose relationship has slowly progressed through the first two books hits a potential bump in the road. Shaun's relationship with his mother is another focus, as is his mother's broken friendship with Lolly. Then there's the owner of the local general store who in addition to being the ringleader of the community quilting group also has her nose in pretty much everyone's relationships. I enjoyed seeing the personal growth of this particular character in this book.
As for Shaun and Lolly, they say you never forget your first love. That certainly holds true for this couple but considering how their teenage romance ended, forgiveness might be a stretch too far for Shaun. I appreciated the time the author gave them to rebuild their relationship once Shaun returned home. It felt realistic, especially with the push and pull between them. My heart was flipping back and forth right along with the two of them. There were endearing moments when I could feel the love between them pushing for the surface but then something would happen to cause doubt and there I was fretting again. It left me eagerly flipping pages right up until the end, wondering how it would all work out...or if it would. Spoiler alert: it's a romance, it works out, but you'll need to read the book to discover how. ;-)
If you enjoy second-chance romance, small-town Alaska settings, a strong sense of community, quirky characters, and emotionally satisfying happy endings, give this one a try. I also recommend the first two books in the series: One Snowy Night and Once Upon a Cabin. Click on the titles to read my reviews.
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Have you read Patience Griffin?
Do you enjoy books set in rural areas? Griffin has this series set in rural Alaska along with books set in a tiny coastal village in Scotland.
Are you a quilter? Griffin is and quilting features prominently in all of her books.
One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, January 5 will receive a print copy of Happily Ever Alaska.
