Kris Bryant

When her great-aunt dies and unexpectedly leaves her everything, Grace flies to Dublin to sort out the estate and sell her aunt's flower shop. Alone because her bestie cancelled last minute, she intended to get the shop sold and everything sorted as quickly as possible, fit in a small amount of sight seeing, and be back at work in a week. Work is her life and this trip is just an annoyance she can't avoid.



Stepping off the pavement to take a photo, forgetting the cars are on the other show more side of the road, Grace causes a fiery redhead to drive into a bollard, and so set the scene for a less than friendly relationship with her realtor, Kerry. There is clearly more to the tension that a buckled bumper though, and as the story unfolds Grace gets to see how much the flower shop means to the local community. While she feels some guilt about the lost jobs and impact on Kerry’s family, ultimately Grace has every intention of cutting and running - just as soon as she has kissed an Irish girl.



This is a light and fun romance. The characters are endearing; Kerry’s family and the locals take Grace to their hearts in the way of welcoming small villages, especially as they loved her aunt. Grace is the archetypal workaholic who comes to realise some things are just more important. And along the way we learn a little of her great-aunt’s life and the impact the young Grace had on her when they met years earlier.



We get a great insight into the workings of a small Irish village, different in feel from so many American ‘Small Town’ tales, and the author clearly loved both the atmosphere, the community and the countryside as it is drawn with loving care. The village and surrounds play an important part in the story, grounding and solidifying the characters and sense of belonging, Kerry is very much a part of her landscape.



Ultimately of course the story is one of girl meets girl, resists because it's only a week, gives in and then we suffer the angst of whether they can make it work, how it will resolve. Its a very traditional tale, but with enough of a spin to make it feel original and engaging. The angst is real enough, without being too overdone, the attraction is palpable and there is a lot of very hot sex… after all it can only ever be a week long fling.



Kris Bryant always seems to find something new to say and a new way to say it, taking a very simple story and making it original and engaging. Definitely an enjoyable summer read. show less

An artsy age gap love story between two women who find love when they weren't looking.

Josie, a new college graduate, lands an artist-in-residence opportunity in a beach town where she can focus on her art for a few months before going into the real world. There she meets one of her art idols, Olivia, who is as gorgeous as she is talented. But will Olivia's tragic history get in the way of a new happily ever after?

I think Josie came across as an optimistic college graduate ready to discover show more what life has to offer, and that was done really well. I don't think Josie and Olivia's relationship had much substance on page. There was a lot of telling about what they did together or what Josie felt but not a lot of showing their relationship actually develop. I loved the support from the Wellingtons; their friendship seemed absolutely on point. Overall, a good read. show less

I liked a lot of this book, except for a few parts that really, really annoyed me.

Grace is a creative director of an ad agency in Dallas who is quite the workaholic. Her Aunt has passed in Ireland, leaving her flower shop to Grace. But Grace cannot figure out why at first. Her first meeting with Kerry is quite an explosive meeting as well.

Kerry is the real estate agent who is assigned to the flower shop that that Grace can sell it.

They don't really get on at first, for a bunch of reasons, show more but slowly they do get closer, but they have a humongous hurdle to get over. Grace lives (and her life is in) Dallas, and Kerry's life and family is in Ireland. So neither are really sure if they should start something that appears to have no way to flourish.

I liked the characters for the most part (would have loved to see more of Morgan, Grace's best friend) and the romance was well paced. But, honestly, the 'Oh my, how backwards and stupid are those in the US' schtick got really tedious. It was harped on repeatedly. The author doesn't have to go over and over that so many times. I get it. Irish are perfect in every way and the US are all idiots. The other thing that drove me crazy was how many times it was either implied or said outright that Grace was wrong to want to work hard at her job and have responsibilities other than her family. Again, we were bashed over the head with it repeatedly.

I have more complex emotions about the ending than usual for a lesbian romance than usual too. I knew that something along the lines of what was going to happen had to happen, and for the most part I guess it was okay, but, I guess how I read the middle of the novel impacted the fact that I didn't totally love the ending either.

It wasn't a bad novel at all, but, I do think that some of it wasn't my style/speed.

I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books. show less

I’ve got dyspraxia so sometimes when I get too enthusiastic about what I’m reading or when I’m tired, my eyes go faster than the rest of me and I end up spoiling myself by reading the end of the page before the middle. So I’ve learned to hide the lines below the one I’m reading with my hand (like little kids). I don’t usually need to do it all the time, except maybe with mysteries, but I ended up reading almost this whole book with my hand hiding what was coming next. I got so show more invested in what Shaylie was feeling that I didn’t want to miss even one word. I even almost had to take a break when I was two thirds in, there were so many emotions.

The premise for this novel is a lot of people’s worst fear, a plane crash. Shaylie survives. Piper’s best friend doesn’t, and neither does her fiancée. When Shaylie and Piper first meet at a support group for survivors, then a second time by chance, they’re immediately drawn to each other but at first they don’t know whether they want to be friends helping each other to heal, or more. Bryant dealt with that beautifully.

Like other reviewers, I could have had a bit more on Shaylie’s PTSD but I get why the author would want to focus on the good that comes from the bad. As I wrote above, there were already so many feelings coming from that good, I didn’t feel like I was missing out. And though I knew there was a HEA coming, I nevertheless sometimes had doubt as to whether Shaylie and Piper would reach it. They had a lot of heavy stuff to deal with, and as meant as they were to be together, it could not be easy.

Definitely one of my favorite books so far this year.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less