Contemporary Romance published by Montlake 08 Feb 22
A wonderful second-chance-at-romance, feel-good book. Liddy Bryant has spent her entire life in the small beach town where she was born. She thought she had an idyllic life until her only daughter unexpectedly committed suicide and her husband left her within the year of the event. Determined to pick up and move on with her life, she buys the only bookstore in town, bringing not just the bookstore but herself back to life and open to romance.
Tuck Shelby is a wonderful man. When the town skank decides to make a move on the handsome man, Liddy is galvanized out of her friends-only zone and into making a move to respond to Tuck’s subtle overtures. Then suddenly her ex-husband Jim is also making noises about wanting her back. When a woman is popular, she’s definitely popular.
I love the strong friendship between the three school friends and how they are back to practicing the rituals that they once performed, even as their children are grown up. Liddy’s friend Maggie has found her high school sweetheart again and it looks like Maggie’s daughters are finding their own happily-ever-afters. The question that continues to haunt Liddy is the reason behind her daughter’s suicide, and when she gets some answers from the most unexpected quarter, she is devastated but can also begin healing from those wounds.
Ms. Stewart is an expert on delivering the day to day of a small beach town and the strong relationships that exist between people in those small towns. This story has a slow buildup but delivers a strong emotional punch in a lot of ways.
Grade: B
Summary:
In the wake of her daughter’s unexplained suicide and her husband Jim’s sudden abandonment, Liddy Bryant is determined to move on and make some positive changes in her life. In her hometown of Wyndham Beach, the neglected and shuttered bookstore is also in need of renewal, and Liddy recognizes an opportunity to get herself and the bookshop back on track. With a little help from her friends, she’s well on her way.
Local contractor Tuck Shelby has been a friend of Liddy’s forever. He’s made himself indispensable in the rehab of her shop—and in her life—but now he wants out of the friend zone. Then Jim returns with a long-overdue apology, hoping for forgiveness and a chance to start over, and Liddy has a life-changing choice to make.
Into a year when Liddy’s faced changes and the shocking truth of a well-kept secret comes not only a second chance at love, but a second chance at life.
No excerpt available.
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