Lisa Kleypas writes wonderful historical romances so when I heard about her newest release a chill went down my spine. Was another wonderful romance author moving away from romance into the realm of women's fiction or historical fiction or mystery? Visions of Candice Proctor (now writing as C. S. Harris) sprung to my mind. So I waited for the reviews to roll in but unfortunately they were a bit mixed and no one was answering the question foremost on my mind.... did it have a HEA? I had no choice, no choice people, but to find out for myself. So when I finally got my copy, the first thing I did was read the last chapter.

The good news is .... yes, it has a HEA, so it didn't feel exactly like women's fiction... more like a like a hybrid cross with a contemporary romance. But it is written in first person like most women's fiction. The bad news is ... there is a love triangle and I'm not especially fond of them. But I still greatly enjoyed this book.

Liberty Jones is an interesting and complex character and I admired her strength and determination to make a better life for herself and her baby sister. The story, as told by Liberty, begins when she is 11 years old and moves into a trailer park with her mother, Diana, in Welcome, Texas. She meets a boy named Hardy Cates and develops a serious crush on him. But Hardy has ambitions and burns to get out town as soon as he graduates. When he leaves town to make his fortune on an oil rig, Liberty is crushed and I started to have doubts about finishing the book. Hardy was a huge disappointment and I wanted to kick and scream at him. I had to remind myself that this was not a 'true' romance and I knew how it ended so I bravely continued on. :)

When Diana becomes pregnant, she tosses her lazy boyfriend out on his ear. She has a baby girl that Liberty names Carrington and Liberty is completely devoted to her. In fact, she's more of a mother to Carrington than Diana. Life is not easy for them. Diana struggles to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads and clothes on their backs, but occasionally some extra money will 'luckily' land in their laps. But life becomes even harder when Diana is killed in a car accident and Liberty, who has just graduated from high school, is given custody of her baby sister.

Liberty moves to Houston and gets a scholarship to a beauty school. After she graduates she gets a job at a ritzy beauty salon. There she meets a wealthy tycoon, Churchill Travis, who takes a fatherly interest in her and eventually offers her a job as his personal assistant. But she and her sister must move into his mansion. It's not what you think...there is no intimacy between Churchill and Liberty, they become very close friends, almost like father and daughter. But Churchill's son, Gage, doesn't believe that and he is angry and suspicious. But he eventually figures things out and they fall in love.

Then lo and behold in walks Hardy back into Liberty's life and now she must make a decision. I won't spoil the ending but some secrets are revealed and Liberty ends up with the right person.

I'm not sure I can recommend this book to everyone. Some reviews I read really didn't like the book or were disappointed in it. I can see their points but I really enjoyed it. If you don't like love triangles or first person POV (or kids), stay away. It's not a 'true' romance, but more of a life saga with a romantic ending. Of course, if you are a huge LK fan and read everything she writes then you'll probably enjoy this one. Her characterization is excellent and the story moves quickly. It took me a while to come up with a grade. But the characters and story are still fresh in my mind even though I finished it months ago. So must be a keeper for me. GRADE: A- ( )

An enjoyable read, but without what I'd consider the traditional romance book structure. Normally, a romance will start with the female protagonist meeting the guy she's eventually going to have the happy ending with, while it this case it starts with Liberty's childhood. In the end, it almost felt like two separate books - a coming of age novel and then a romance tacked on. That's not to say I didn't like the book - I loved Liberty's voice and character and her interactions with the others. I've read the lastest in this series - Smooth Talking Stranger - and that's what influenced me to read this book. On the whole, the other is much more polished and traditionally "romance-y". ( )

Liberty Jones grew up in a trailer, with her beloved mother, who did not always love wisely. there's a lot of time and detail spent on the years 14-18, and a lot of attention given to Hardy Cates as a romantic figure. And then in the last 70 pages or so, Liberty is suddenly 24, her sister is 8, and she moves into a millionares home to be his personal assistant. It's told in the first person and I guess that's why the second romance with Gage didn't work as well for me. He may have been very aware of her, but we only get her perceptions and she only notices him 50 pages towards the end. I liked this book, it was by no means a wall banger, but it felt oddly rushed towards the end. I think it was weighted too heavily towards her early years and there should have been more time and attention given to the later ones, to make this a really outstanding book. That being said, Liberty has a very clear voice and I enjoyed spending time with her. ( )

This one really comes before #6 and it was good but not quite what I was expecting. I think I liked 'Blue-eyed Devil' better as in more likely to reread. Both would be recommended though for readers of contemporary romance.

Liberty Jones grows up in a Texan trailer park with her single mom and her mom's many (useless) boyfriends. When her mother dies, she has to raise her sister Carrington on her own. Life is hard with no money and hardly any education, but there seems to be an anonymous benefactor who helps Liberty when she really needs it...then there's Hardy Cates, whom she fell in love with when she was a teenager and whom she meets again when she's grown up. But she also has a budding relationship with mega-rich Gage Travis. Now she has to choose between two lovers.
Liberty's story is easily readable and very entertaining, but also a bit shallow. Liberty is hardly ever really desperate, which she should be, considering her circumstances. At the end of the story, she's in a loving relationship and incredibly wealthy, but all of this happened without her contributing very much to her success. Still, Liberty is a likable protagonist who cares for her young sister and doesn't forget her friends from the trailer park, even when all her new friends are millionaires. There was something I wondered about though: there are no really mean characters in the book. It is fiction, of course, but even in fiction, the protagonists usually have to defeat a villain before they can have their happy end. ( )