Sharla Lovelace

THE REASON IS YOU is an impressive debut novel about love and loss, family bonds and family secrets, redemption and starting over. Oh, yeah, and also ghosts!

The last place Dani Shane wanted to end up was back in her hometown of Bethany. But that’s exactly what happened when she lost her job at a Dallas design firm. She and her teenage daughter, Riley, had little choice but to move to the sleepy river town where Dani takes a job at the local bait shop.

Growing up in Bethany, Dani was treated show more like an outcast, and twenty years later, nothing has changed. Dani has the ability to see and talk to ghosts, and only a small handful of people know her secret. Most of the town considers her a “freak” who talked to people who weren’t there.

Dani becomes very concerned with she sees Riley talking to Alex, her best friend from her teenage years, and also a ghost. This is the first time that Dani noticed Riley shared her special “gift,” and she is scared for her daughter. Dani only wants Riley to have a normal life, something she never had. Dani’s situation gets more complicated when she falls for her new boss, Jason, a man whose emotional baggage rivals her own. And, Dani finds out that dead-for-40-years Alex’s connection to her goes so much deeper than what she thought.

Ms. Lovelace has an amazing voice, and I loved her writing style. I was completely absorbed in this story, and I felt like I was wrapped up in the lives of the characters too. At times this was a heartbreaking story, and it definitely stirred up my emotions. (I shouldn’t have read the last few chapters in public! *tears*) Though, it wasn’t all sadness; it was also funny and uplifting, with witty dialogue, like when Jason and Dani would playfully argue about who had the biggest sob story from their pasts. I also loved Dani’s sassy friend Miss Olivia. She had me grinning many times. The characters were intriguing (both living and dead), and the dynamics between them were beautifully written. I think the book wrapped up with the perfect, bittersweet ending. I would highly recommend THE REASON IS YOU to fans of romantic women’s fiction.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

Carmen Frost has always lived in Charmed, Texas, but wants to travel. Circumstances have forced her to stay in town, but now she's ready to leave - just as Sullivan (Sully) Hart, a carny who broke her heart many years ago, finally returns for good.
This is just a terrific book. The writing is excellent with some very funny parts as well as sexy times. The secondary characters reinforce what small towns are about. This is a second chance romance at its best as Carmen and Sully navigate their show more past and grow in the process. They are a good match, each not afraid to acknowledge their own insecurities and bringing out the best in the other.
I received this book from the author and I'm giving an honest review on my own. show less

3.5 stars

Jules Doucette aka Julianna hates the Winter Carnival held annually in Copper Falls, her small Texas town. Twenty six years ago, about this time, her world fell apart.
Now a single mother, she’s living with her daughter, Becca, in the house she grew up in and is the owner and manager of her mother’s bookstore. Not exactly the life she’d envisioned at seventeen sitting on a park bench with Noah Ryan. Not even close….

DON’T LET GO is a second chance romance that’s anything show more but easy. There’s more than the past between Noah and Jules.
Part of the appeal is the age of Noah and Jules; they’re in their forties now. Both have a done a lot of living, or at least a close approximation thereof.
The complexity and realism of the characters, their relationships, and interactions would be next. How should you react, what do you say, and do with yourself when the love of your first seventeen years waltzes back after twenty-six years? Let’s face it, that young love would have had to be pretty intense to overcome a twenty-six year separation.

There’s a lot to thoroughly enjoy about DON’T LET GO and I did, wholeheartedly. However, there was a fly in the ointment. Yes, your first, in almost anything, often holds an undeniably special place in your heart and memories. But, is it reasonable to expect Noah and Jules, beyond the initial attraction and draw from their past, to still feel the same or even stronger? Is it realistic to expect their love to have survived all the water under their bridges? This gave me some pause. As much as both have grown and gone through, should they, would they, or could they even have held on to that love?

Sharla Lovelace imbues her stories with hope, faith, love, belief, and no small amount of effort on the part of her characters. She has a quiet way of reminding me to take the time to look around at the small, seemingly commonplace, miracles that surround each of us every day.
These are the qualities that draw me to her books time and again, allowing me to ignore that little niggle and lose myself in the place and people she introduces.

3.5 stars Reviewed for Miss Ivy’s Book Nook TkII, Manic Readers, & Novels Alive TV show less

Allie Greene and Bash Anderson have been best friends since high school, but lately Allie has been having sex dreams about him which is seriously messing with their relationship. She has a teenage daughter who is growing up a little too fast, and her diner is in some financial difficulties, so she doesn't have time for this. Bash has always considered Allie and her daughter as family, but he has his own issues with finances in his bee-keeping operation which doesn't give him a lot of time to show more figure out why things are so weird between them now.
On top of it all, Allie and Bash have been nominated for Honey King and Queen; the prize money would go a long way to solving some of their money issues.
I loved this romance. Allie and Bash have the perfect best friends to lovers story. She's just trying to keep it all together while denying that her feelings for him are a lot stronger than she wants to admit. My one quibble is that we never got Bash's POV. I think that would have made this a 5 star instead of the 4.5 I'm giving it. Without his POV, it was hard to see how he felt about Allie and why he seemed to be hesitating. Still, I'm enjoying this series about Charmed, Texas. show less