Four couples, four stories: Darien Francis and Richard Li meet during a bank robbery, but she's afraid to love again. Shane Kenniston and Beth Parker are reacquainted years after she had a crush on him, but she is a recent widow, and Shane's life was upended by a false accusation. David Early and Kate Howard meet in the laundromat, but her life is consumed by the needs of her disabled child, and David isn't ready for the responsibility. Realtor Frank Ellison meets Kayla Barnes at an open house, but a mistaken first impression derails any chance of romance. Can they all overcome the obstacles to love?
Genre: Contemporary Romance
“So, you don’t smoke, you don’t drink, and you don’t do Halloween? What do you do?”
“Whatever you’ll let me do, I guess,” he said. He hadn’t used that old line since college.
She was surprised, but she didn’t seem upset. She gazed at him speculatively for a few seconds and then leaned towards him. He didn’t want to take anything for granted, so he waited for her to kiss him first, but he responded without hesitation. She tasted of beer and cherry-flavored lip gloss. “Oh, gosh,” she said. “Wait till I tell Patty I kissed Mr. Kenniston.”
MY THOUGHTS
It is when Darien visits the bank in a rush that things go horribly wrong. There is a robbery, one that she ends up in the middle of, and she watches as the cute security guard gets shot trying to save her. Afterwards, she feels obligated to go and visit the security guard in hospital, not knowing just where it might lead. Darien was greatly affected by the robbery, and getting to know the security guard, Richard, seems to be all that is keeping her together. She is busy with work and doesn’t have time for a relationship or love, but Richard doesn’t give her much choice. Richard is an absolute sweetheart, and I loved watching Darien find security and safety with him as she gets to know him through his recovery. Their relationship comes easily, and it was absolutely lovely to read about. They are both wonderful characters who slot together perfectly to become a pair. I was rooting for their relationship the whole time I was reading, and couldn’t wait for the moment I knew was coming eventually, where they would get together!
Beth already knew Shane Kenniston from when her sister used to be a part of the youth orchestra he ran, so when she found out he was living in the apartment building she was moving into, they started talking immediately. But she soon finds out that Shane has a past he is keeping hidden from her, and there might be too much for them to move past. This book is a strange one, for due to the nature of the accusations against Shane, I struggled to bring myself to like him too much, regardless as to whether all the accusations were true or not. This does show how much his life was affected by the accusations, with people not believing him and assuming the worst, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for him. I did really like Beth, she’s kind, welcoming, and friendly, although I didn’t get on with their love story too much, because I liked Beth and didn’t like Shane.
David is one of the few men who goes to the laundrette, so he is not involved in too much of the conversation there. But Kate catches his eye, and he can’t stop from speaking to her when he gets the chance. But Kate’s daughter is very unwell, and she is the most important person in Kate's life. Kate doesn’t have time for dating, or friends, because Chris needs her. Not that Kate minds, for she loves Chris from the bottom of her heart, but she can’t manage to shake David. I loved David, he tries his best to involve Chris in his and Kate’s relationship, making sure he’s not imposing himself into the family, and ensuring Chris likes him before he and Kate commit to anything. I also admired both Kate and Chris, they are both dealing with Chris’ illness, and it changed both of their lives forever. They are a team, though, and work together to push through the obstacles. I liked how easily David managed to slot himself into their lives and how much he really seemed to care for both of them.
Frank is running an open house when he meets Gia and Kayla. His first impression is not a good one, Kayla can’t find anything in the house she doesn’t want to critique, and he slowly grows more and more irritated with her. But when Gia calls him asking him to help her find a house, he can’t say no, and begins to find friendship with the two women. This story comes across as an incredibly real love story, Frank and Kayla become friends before anything more, and everyone has their flaws. There is detail enough about each of the characters that they are very realistic, and I loved getting to know them. I think this was my favourite story of the whole book, with how real it seems, and I loved the characters – it wasn’t just Frank and Kayla, but also Gia, and Gia’s wife, and Frank’s daughter. Everything was fleshed out perfectly, and I couldn’t stop reading it.
This is a great book, four stories all following people who are not necessarily ready for love, but whose hearts don’t give them a choice. If you enjoy a good love story, but don’t necessarily have the time to read a full length novel, this one is perfect. You can read one story, and leave the rest for another time, or plough through them all in one day!
I was born and raised in San Diego, California and earned a BA in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I began my career as a reference and collection development librarian in the Art and Music Section of the San Diego Public Library and then transferred to the Literature and Languages Section, where I had the pleasure of managing the Central Library’s Fiction collection. Although I also enjoy reading biography, memoir, and history, fiction remains my first love. In addition to the three R’s—reading, writing, and research—I enjoy Scrabble, movies, and travel.
My earliest ambition was to be a “book maker” and I wrote my first story, “Judy and the Fairies,” with a plot stolen from a comic book, at the age of six. I broke into print in college with a story in the San Diego State University literary journal, The Phoenix, but most of my magazine publications came after I left the library to spend more time on my writing
My stories, in every length from short shorts to novellas, have been published in numerous journals, including Eclectica, The Binnacle, The Nassau Review, Orbis, and Thema Literary Journal, and I have six novels available from the Wild Rose Press.
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What a lovely review! Thank you so much!
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