Author: Tif Marcelo
Publisher: Montlake
Genre: Romance
Source: Montlake ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: From the USA Today bestselling author of In a Book Club Far Away comes a delightful installment in the Heart Resort series about finding love that’s been right in front of you all along.

As the oldest child in his family, Chris Puso has always taken his responsibilities seriously. He’ll do whatever it takes to ensure Heart Resort’s success. Four and a half years ago, that meant marrying Eden, a woman he admired but didn’t love, to access a family trust that benefited them both.

Eden Puso, a.k.a. romance author Everly Heart, believes in true love—in her novels, at least. But her marriage to Chris was more about funding her writing career and supporting her family than finding her happily ever after. And despite their mutual attraction toward one another, they stayed loyal to the contract…for the most part.

With six months until the end of their contract and with their careers taking off, their marriage of convenience has become, well, a little inconvenient. A competing resort threatens to usurp Heart Resort, and Chris and Eden band together to preserve its reputation, including doing a retreat themselves. But as the retreat uncovers their history and their hidden love for one another, can their relationship survive so their partnership reaches its natural conclusion?

Ope’s Opinion: If you liked Tif Marcelo’s other books you will like this one. It is the second in the series, but could be read alone. It is centered around the Heart Resort. This one is more about Chris and Eden, but the whole family is involved.

I enjoy the easy read of Tif Marcelo. I did like that this was a closed door romance. I also like the fake marriage that you know has more emotion behind it then either Chris or Eden are willing to admit. This would be a four chair, but the middle drug a bit for me.

Author: Camille Pagan
Publisher: Lake Union
Genre: Romance
Source: Amazon ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: Aly Jackson has waited her whole life to become editor in chief of All Good magazine. But six months into the job, she overhears her coworkers belittling her. Aly’s clapback? A very public, career-jeopardizing meltdown. To undo the mess, she agrees to a monthlong unpaid leave.

Reluctant but determined to turn misfortune into opportunity, Aly retreats to the Lake Michigan beach house her brother, Luke, left to her when he died nearly a year earlier. Except when Aly arrives, she discovers Luke’s slacker best friend, Wyatt, inherited the place, too.

Wyatt is unkempt, unmotivated, and totally uninterested in Aly’s desire to sell. Yet as battle lines are drawn, Aly wonders whether she and this wild card have more than Luke in common. But is she willing to swap her lifelong dreams for a shot at healing her broken heart?

Ope’s Opinion: I do not understand how Aly could have blackout moments and no one seemed to worry or question it except Harry – and he only mentioned that maybe she should see someone about it. I didn’t like the way the story started out at all, but I kept reading hoping for improvement.

I was disappointed that Aly didn’t seem to grow and change. She started out what felt like to me as weak, but I thought once she left her boyfriend and job, she would become independent and strong. I just found her whiney and irritating. She did have a lot to deal with, but it felt like there wasn’t any progress, then it was all better at the end.

Author: Liz Johnson
Publisher: Fleming H. Revell Company
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Christian
Source: Fleming H. Revell Company ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: When Eli Ross left Prince Edward Island to join the NHL, he left a broken family behind. More than a decade later, he’s broke and headed home to an uncertain welcome. He wants to make things right with the family he wronged, but his mom’s business partner isn’t making it easy. To top it off, the coaching job he’s accepted turns out to be far more difficult than he anticipated.

For years, Violet Donaghy has put everything she had into making Eli’s mom’s ceramics shop a success, and she’s not eager to forgive the man who hurt the family that’s taken her in as one of their own. But when the kiln at the shop starts a fire that nearly destroys the studio, she’ll need all the help she can get to save the business and their summer income.

Can these two strong-willed people come together to mend the broken pieces of the Ross family? Or will the ghosts of the past continue to haunt them?

Return to Prince Edward Island for a romantic story of family, forgiveness, and the power of love.

Ope’s Opinion: Liz Johnson knows how to write a great Christian fiction story. It is God centered, but not preachy at all. The characters are flawed and real. The story is very believable.

I really do enjoy the clean romance. The attraction is obvious without all the steamy details – my kind of romance.

The end of the story is exactly what you want and expect and the journey is amazing. Now we have to wait for the next one.

Author: Susan Mallery
Publisher: HQN
Genre: Romance
Source: Justine at HarperCollins ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: Beloved bestselling author Susan Mallery brings readers an emotional, witty, and heartfelt story that explores the nuances of a broken family’s complex emotions as they strive to become whole in this uplifting story of human frailty and resilience.

Finley McGowan is determined that the niece she’s raising will always feel loved and wanted. Unlike how she felt after her mom left to pursue a dream of stardom, and when the grandfather who was left to raise them abandoned her and her sister, Sloane, when they needed him most. Finley reacted to her chaotic childhood by walking the straight and narrow—nose down, work hard, follow the rules.

Sloane went the other way.

Now Sloane is back, as beautiful and as damaged as ever…and she wants a relationship with her daughter. She says she’s changed, but Finley’s heart has been burned once too often for her to trust easily. But is her reluctance to forgive really about Sloane or worry over losing what she loves the most? With the help of a man who knows all too well how messy families can be, Finley will learn there’s joy in surrendering and peace in letting go.

Ope’s Opinion: I have not had a lot of experience with someone who is an alcoholic, so this story was not only interesting to me, but is was also informative. I enjoyed seeing the sisters relationship grow and change.

At one point I felt like there was a bit too much put on Finley’s plate. I know some times life does get hard, but this seemed too much for one person. I do like that although Finley was frustrated and angry, she didn’t give up thinking things could get better.

There was romance, just a little steamy, but this was not the focus of the story. It was mostly about Sloane being an alcoholic and her relationships with her family members.

Author: R.D. Kardon
Publisher: Acorn Publishing LLC
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: Acorn Publishing LLC ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: Never forget…

In September 2001, Tris Miles faces difficult choices. As Chief Pilot of Westin Charter Company, she’s mentoring Jannat, a brash young captain with limitless potential and a shocking secret. An offer to summit the peak of the pilot pyramid entices Tris to quit her job, but an old nemesis stands in her way.

Meanwhile, Tris juggles the men in her personal life. A friend-with-benefits pushes for commitment. An ex-boyfriend returns, still in love with her. Unexpectedly, Tris develops new feelings for someone who is already dear to her.

On September 11th, Tris and her crew depart Edinburgh for the United States. Just feet off the ground, they are mysteriously ordered back to the airport where they learn of a deadly terrorist attack on U.S. soil—using airplanes as bombs.

When Tris discovers that her best friend was a passenger on one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center, her world is shattered.

With a broken heart and her entire life up in the air, Tris doesn’t know where to turn. Can she find the courage to navigate her way home?

Ope’s Opinion: I do not recommend reading this one unless you have read the first two in the series. I did not read the first two and I was lost at the beginning of this story( almost quit reading ). I kept feeling like I was missing information ( I was! ).

The middle section of this book was setting up for the 9/11 flights. It was all about everyone sleeping with and lying to everyone else. I couldn’t find a character I could relate to or was rooting for.

In the end, everyone made amends to the people they were in a relationships with and told the truth, but it was a quick turn around. I may have been more invested and it may have been more believable had I read the whole series.

Author: Lauren Edmondson
Publisher: Graydon House
Genre: Fiction
Source: Graydon House ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: It’s the wedding of the season and all of Newport is abuzz in this funny, joyous, whip-smart novel about two modern-day society families and the summer wedding that has the whole town talking…

Despite its beauty, Newport is a place Cass Coventry would prefer to forget. But after an extended absence, she’s back in her hometown to celebrate her sister’s engagement—even if she’s marrying into the family that famously stole the Gilded Age Coventry mansion out from under them a decade ago.

The moment Cass pulls up to the estate, she’s in for one surprise after another. The bride-to-be is hiding a big secret. Her mother has royal-wedding aspirations. And, when the date is set for only three months away, a local gossip blog makes the two families its new favorite subject.

It’s not long before Cass’s weekend in town becomes a full summer of frenzied wedding planning and society drama—but also idyllic sails, starry nights, and a former love. As the grand affair arrives, along with new truths about her family, Cass must finally face her own thorny past in Newport and decide how to honor the Coventry legacy in all its chaotic glory.

Ope’s Opinion: A book about a wedding, crazy family and secrets should have been an amazing story, but I kept getting lost in all the details that didn’t move the story along. I had trouble getting involved with the characters. I also got lost as to why Cass left Newport to begin with and what happened to her next assignment – did I miss something?

I really wanted to get lost in this book, but I found myself not really being drawn back to read it – maybe that is why I felt like it moved so slow.

The picture attracted me to this puzzle because as you know I love books and book shops!

The poster is small, but helped while doing the puzzle.

Another puzzle done!

Author: Alys Murray
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Romance
Source: Bookouture ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: Can you ever really forget your first love?

It’s been eight long years since May Anderson’s high school sweetheart Tom Riley drove down Main Street in his truck, leaving Hillsboro—and May—in his rearview mirror. Now he’s back and, try as they might, the pair can’t avoid each other.

As Hillsboro prepares to host the prestigious North West Food and Wine Festival, Tom and May are reluctantly called in to plan the big event. Tom needs May’s help to repair his bad-boy reputation and, with the whole town counting on them, May and Tom need to learn to trust each other again.

May is determined to protect her heart, but a lot has changed since high school. She can’t help but notice how the skinny boy she used to know is now a man who perfectly fills out his button-down, and Tom can’t seem to tear his gaze away from May’s sweet smile. It’s clear old feelings are surfacing again, but there is a secret keeping them apart and, until they find the courage to face it, their second chance summer will be only that…

Ope’s Opinion: The story idea was great, the execution, not so good. One of my frustrations with this story was the lack of communications between May and Tom. If they had each said what they were thinking, if they were honest, it would have been so much better. Another frustration was the constant repetitiveness of information. Over and over we were told how May let the whole town believe a lie, but she didn’t do anything about it.

The end was too fast. They couldn’t trust and believe each other through the whole book, then at the end they did.

Author: Phoebe Mills
Publisher: Forever
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Source: Forever ( Netgalley )

Goodreads: A busy single-mom. A laid-back bachelor. One unforgettable night that changes their friendship—and their lives—forever . . .

Single-mom Rebecca Hayes has been so focused on raising her daughter and building her finance career, she’s not sure she even remembers how to date. The only man she’s been out with is Jackson, her very close—and very attractive—friend. But Becca isn’t getting her hopes up after they crossed the line one memorable night—she knows Jackson too well. So when she discovers she’s pregnant with his baby, Becca isn’t sure she can count on Jackson anymore . . .

Fatherhood isn’t something Jackson Lowe saw for himself. He figured he’d just keep working at his family’s landscaping business, surfing and being a happily unattached bachelor. But in his heart, he longs to build a family with Rebecca—his secret crush and the real reason he never settled down. He’s got a lot of work to do before she’ll believe he’s all in. He’s been the man Becca wants. Now, Jackson has to prove he’s ready to be the man she needs.

Ope’s Opinion: This was so much fun to read! I enjoyed seeing some of the characters from A Wedding on Sunshine Corner. This is a series. I did not read the first one ( might go back to do that ), but each one can stand alone. I actually liked this more than the second one.

I like the friends to lover trope. It is one of my favorites, especially when the friendship is from when they were young. This one had a few little conflicts, but the couple kept communicating so they could work it – I like that. It frustrates me when I want to yell at the book ” just talk to each other” – there was not any of that in this book.

I would like to read more of Phoebe Mills books. She is easy to read and has great characters that feel real.

Goodreads: A busy single-mom. A laid-back bachelor. One unforgettable night that changes their friendship—and their lives—forever . . .

Single-mom Rebecca Hayes has been so focused on raising her daughter and building her finance career, she’s not sure she even remembers how to date. The only man she’s been out with is Jackson, her very close—and very attractive—friend. But Becca isn’t getting her hopes up after they crossed the line one memorable night—she knows Jackson too well. So when she discovers she’s pregnant with his baby, Becca isn’t sure she can count on Jackson anymore . . .

Fatherhood isn’t something Jackson Lowe saw for himself. He figured he’d just keep working at his family’s landscaping business, surfing and being a happily unattached bachelor. But in his heart, he longs to build a family with Rebecca—his secret crush and the real reason he never settled down. He’s got a lot of work to do before she’ll believe he’s all in. He’s been the man Becca wants. Now, Jackson has to prove he’s ready to be the man she needs.

This looks like a really cute read.

My review coming soon….