small town

The Summer He Came Home by Juliana Stone

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Summer He Came Home (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake, #1)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Bad Boys of Crystal Lake #1
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
384 pages

Cain Black was one of the Bad Boys of Crystal Lake. He left town ten years ago to chase his music dream. He’s back now for his friend’s funeral. His future looks pretty good considering his band is about to make it big. He recently got out of a disastrous marriage and was just looking to pay his respects to his deceased friend, then he was moving on. At the funeral reception he sees Maggie and it was love at first sight.

Maggie is a single mother with a young son, Michael. They don’t have much money but she does have a BIG secret. A dangerous secret. She makes her bills by cleaning houses. She lives in a little bungalow that’s perfect for her and her son. She sees Cain and at first she’s frightened but also attracted. She has no time for a relationship with a rock star that will soon be leaving town. She has a son to protect, she tells herself.

I read the second book in this series first and LOVED it. I truly enjoyed this one except for one thing. She’s married. Granted, she’s on the run from her abusive ex but I don’t like to read about adultery. At all. Honestly, it changed how I rated the book. I’m telling you this as a warning if adultery is a hard limit for you as a reader.

Otherwise, this was a great and very sweet book. Their relationship building was fun to read. There’s humor, suspense, sadness and some steamy sex in this story. I would recommend this series to anyone who believes in the healing power of love and I’m eagerly awaiting the next book.

Half Moon Hill by Toni Blake

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Half Moon Hill (Destiny, #6)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Destiny #6
Genre-Contemporary
Reviewed by Kay
384 pages

Anna Romo is the sister of Mike and Lucky. She disappeared when she was young and reappeared some twenty years later, trying to reconnect with the family she lost. She was kidnapped by a woman who wanted a child so badly she was willing to steal someone else’s. We first met Anna in the last book, when she tried to take Amy’s man. She bought an old Victorian style house on the outskirts of Destiny. She has plans to turn it into a bed & breakfast. She has done all the interior work herself but needs to start on the exterior, where she’ll need some help.

Duke Dawson is her brother’s best friend and she finds him living in the woods by her home. Duke is an ex-biker with baggage and a very noticeable scar. He agrees to help Anna do the exterior and the unlikely couple start a physical relationship. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s in Destiny and she helps him keep his secret.

I had to make myself get into this book and I’m glad I did. I love the other books in this series but I really didn’t like Anna because of her behavior in the last book. I wasn’t crazy about Duke either in this one because he was kind of an ass and a pussy. He treated Anna badly I thought, regardless of his reasoning. Their love built slowly and the love scenes were steamy. But in my opinion, the real love story was between Cathy and Robert. Cathy was the girl who grew up in the house Anna bought and Robert was her first love. I was transfixed by their story with its innocence and purity. When I found out what happened to each of them, I bawled. Tears just rolled down my face. So to make a long story long, I ended up really liking the final book in this series. Anyone who loves small towns and the stories that come with them, should read the Destiny series. It’s with a heavy heart that I recommend it, as I am very sad to see it all end.

                       


Love Overdue by Pamela Morsi

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Love Overdue

Grade: C-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary
Published 8/27/13
Reviewed by Anne
427 pages
DJ is a librarian, recently hired to take over a library in a small town in rural Kansas.  Scott is the pharmacist, long time resident.  DJ  is shocked to recognize Scott as her one youthful indiscretion – a spring break fling back in college.  She’s even more shocked when Scott doesn’t recognize her back.  
OK, so let me start by mentioning that this is a 427 page book.  So, it’s longer than I normally read.  But, hey, it’s about a librarian, and it’s about small town Kansas, so these factors work in it’s favor and I decided to read it.
 
And it’s pretty good.  Not fabulous, but it gets better as the story goes on.  Watching Scott work hard to pursue DJ is pretty fun.  He has no idea why she has such a negative opinion of him.  DJ is so conflicted.  She hopes he’ll never remember it was her (I guess because she’s worried about the repercussions in this small town?) but at the same time she’s offended that he can’t remember her!
 
There’s also a secondary storyline involving Scott’s mother. His father passed away about a year ago and she’s acting ok to the outside world, but inside she’s really suffering.  Her story, along with all the other small town residents is really well written.  The book as a whole is really well written excepting some really detailed pages on wheat farming and pharmacy that weren’t necessary to the story.
 
So, it’s a pretty good book.  And then it ends. And the ending is horrible!  It’s the emotional equivalent of shutting the bedroom door after a whole book’s worth of foreplay.  And it made me want to howl!  Why in the world would we bow out of this story just as the main characters we finally making an emotional connection???  And mom’s storyline is at a pretty critical juncture, too.  Wham.  Book is over. 
 
If you’re interested, I’ll explain below, but beware as it is spoilerific!
 
I just can’t believe the book ended this way.  I invested over 400 pages and never got the emotional payoff.  I feel robbed.
 
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DJ kept a momento from her fling. A belly chain Scott bought for her.  Throughout this story, DJ never tells Scott that she was his fling.  He thinks she reminds him of the girl from the fling, but never figures out it’s really her.  Then she decides to tell him, and in that same moment he finds the belly chain in her jewelry box.  Wham.  Book is over. (Well, there’s an epilogue that lets us know they’re happily married and having great sex 8 years later.  With children.)  And it’s the same thing with Scott’s mom.  She’s been considering SUICIDE throughout the book.  In the final chapters she cooks herself a botchilism pie (no, really) but when the dog eats it instead, she induces vomitting in the dog and decides she wants to live.  Wham. Book is over.  (Well, she also appears in the epilogue.  So we know she never killed herself.)