My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Clean Romance, Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Content: Clean
Abby Archer's life has rarely been better. As a newlywed, she and
Steve have things just as she wants them. But when a big surprise leaves
Abby confused, can she trust Steve to do things the way she needs them handled?
Amanda
Brooks' business had a rocky start, but she and Mandy are more
energized than ever. Eddy's back too, and they're trying to navigate a
new way forward. Work and love are both shaping up nicely when disaster
strikes. Can the new presence in town wreck all their plans, or will
Amanda square her shoulders and persevere?
Donna has finally
accepted her feelings for Will, and she's enjoying her job too. But
working far from home has its own share of difficulties, and eventually
her current job will end. When the retreat is built, will Donna find
that tiny Manila is big enough to fulfill all her dreams?
Return
to Birch Creek to see how your favorite friends are navigating career,
family life, and love with a little bit of laughter.
I enjoyed being back in Birch Creek with these characters and I thought
there was some good character growth in this book, especially for
Amanda Brooks. I liked the way her story has ended up playing out, bumps and
all. I felt for her so much when she was going through her grieving
process in this book. I've been there. I loved reading about how she
came to realize certain things about herself and wanted to change those
things.
I also enjoyed reading about Donna, her struggles, and
how things are working out for her. I really wanted to see her ex
husband get what he deserved. I loved how Will was such a sweetheart to
her, even when Donna was struggling. She also had some great growth in
this book as she was able to self-reflect and realize she wasn't seeing
some things clearly.
It was fun to see Abby and Steve as
newlyweds. I liked the playfulness in their relationship. I missed the
day to day stuff about the ranch and the kids in this one, but the focus
had to shift to other things at some point. I love the way these women
have come to lean on each other through troubled times. And it's always
fun to read when Abby goes into lawyer mode to help Donna.
There were some things I wasn't crazy about in this book and they involved Amanda Sadler, Abby's sister, and Abby herself.
First,
I thought Amanda Sadler went way too far. I don't want to go into
details because of spoilers, but I would have had a much harder time
forgiving her than the characters in the book did. It seemed pretty
cruel to me, but maybe that's just because of a recent experience of my
own that I won't go into here, again because of spoilers.
As for
Abby's sister, she is way too over the top for me. I don't particularly
enjoy reading about people with loads of money who try to control
everyone around them with it. I don't think she's supposed to be a
likeable character at this point, but I thought the circus thing was so
over the top and didn't fit the tone of the books. The one thing that
made me like her a bit, was what she tells Abby about the secret she's
keeping, and how she gets her to do something about it. She said
everything to Abby that I was thinking the whole time.
Abby
herself annoyed me when she kept some things to herself and acted in a
completely emotional way instead of using her head. It was basically the
trope in romances when people don't talk to each other and just assume.
I wasn't completely sold on the way Abby reacted over this thing that
happens and everything that happens afterwards, simply because it was
something she didn't really want to begin with. It all also happened
really fast, and I think I would have liked for things to have
progressed at a slower pace.
In the end though, things worked
out ok, and just like all the others in the series, I had a hard time
putting this book down. So, while this wasn't one of my favorite books
in the series, I still thoroughly enjoyed most of it and am looking
forward to reading the next one.
Thanks to the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.
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