Savanna Fox

This book is a charming read. I like the island of Blue Moon Harbor. It is a place I would want to visit. The people and the atmosphere have a ease and pleasant aura about them that makes me want to be friends with everyone.

I do agree with another reader that I thought that Aaron came off a little too heavy in the beginning towards Eden. Yet, at the same time, I feel like it was the nudge that Eden needed to open herself towards possible love again. Which, speaking of the romance between show more Eden and Aaron. It was sweet. There was a connection that went beyond just sex. So for me it was the right amount for this story. Author, Susan Fox let the story be the main focal point and Eden and Aarons romance played out among it.

What I took away from this book is opening your heart to new opportunities, second chances, and family. This book is a nice start to this new series from author, Susan Fox. Readers of contemporary romance stories will enjoy this book. Blue Moo Harbor had me over the moon for more! show less

Come Home with Me by Susan Fox
Blue Moon Harbor #2

Not sure how I feel about this book. It definitely is not my usual go-to type of story but instead a more long and drawn out romance with the couple trying friendship and family dates with children before committing to actually “dating”. Both do communicate fairly openly and grow the relationship in the right way and this is something rather new and different for Miranda who has always jumped into a relationship with both feet and not much show more talking at all. Luke, on the other hand, met his true love early in life and never took his eyes from the prize and was rather devastated when she died too young.

Miranda Gabriel was a woman I had trouble relating to. I know she came by her low self-esteem as the outcome of her fractured family life but she was so very leery of relationships with anyone except her brother that at times it wore on me. How she could be strong in some ways and not so much in others was a bit of a mystery. She was always putting herself down, not thinking she was good enough, etc… And Luke, well he was warm and caring and came from a much different background than Miranda’s. I think that in some ways his interest in Miranda had more to do with his need to heal than a true soul connection. I guess I didn’t see what the two truly had in common but was glad they found one another and do hope they will be happy together. Perhaps I will learn more about how they grow together as the series progresses.

That said, I would like to read book three that is about Shy Iris and Musician Julian…that might be as hard to understand as this book, though. In addition to that love story I am curious about “Creepy Bart” the real estate salesman…is he a pedophile or sleaze of another sort? And, the murder mentioned…will that play a part in future books? And…will Glory get her partner to propose? Many questions…not answered…perhaps in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books-Zebra for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars show less

Nav has loved Kat since nearly the first day he moved into the same apartment building as Kat. But he is fed up with being the best friend and wants to take it to the next level. Kat has asked him to pose as her boyfriend when she has to go back home for her sister's wedding. Now Nav plans to try to move the relationship past the 'friend' stage when Kat decides to take the train back home, and Nav sneaks himself on the train (into her life) while attempting to pose as someone Kat would be show more interested in sexually.

I agree with many of the other reviewers that feel Kat was selfish and shallow, but I will take it further and say that I found Nav to be manipulative, pushy and totally unpleasant.

This was a very thinly disguised erotica trying to pose as a mainstream romance. The sex and the sexual innuendo is hot for this genre and some of Nav's ideas in how to trap Kat are very creative, but I found the whole thing to be too extreme and contrived. They were both people I would never want as friends and in the long run they deserved each other. show less

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

Love Somebody Like You is a wonderful story about a woman who had been trapped in a mentally and physically abusive marriage that only ended because her husband died suddenly. This book begins three years later as Sally is struggling with figuring out what to do now. The story was not at all what I expected from a romance simply because it gives a real glimpse into the mental wounds from abuse and its insidious nature. This isn’t a brush-over show more treatment but rather a deep look at the impact of abuse and how it can undermine a person’s confidence in their ability to make decisions, and recognize who is safe and who is not. The story isn’t about the abuse so much as the long-term effects of such, but it’s also about healing and relearning who you are as Ben helps Sally start to heal.

The story is slow paced, but it doesn’t feel that way because Sally’s dealing with some seriously heavy stuff. At the same time, you can see her core personality through all the wonderful things she’s doing at her riding stables. Ben fell for her years before when they’d both been on the rodeo circuit and she wasn’t married, but Sally had considered him too young back then. When she married, she’d vanished from the rodeo scene and everyone she’d known, including her family.

A chance encounter with Sally’s sister after Ben is injured during a rodeo leads him to check on her as he heads back home to rest and heal. All the feelings he’d had so many years before are just as strong as they’d ever been, but he can tell something is off. The Sally before him is nothing like the one he’d known, and not in the good ways maturity brings. She’s competent, driven, and caring, but she’s also skittish, untrusting, and vulnerable.

Where many would have taken her withdrawing as a sign to move on, Ben is concerned as a friend as much as he wants to be something more. He stands by her, helps as much as he can with one shoulder out of commission, and mostly restores her faith in the male half of the race all the while curbing his renewed attraction. He figures out the root of the issue, but not who, especially since everyone believes she had a perfect marriage.

This story has layer upon layer with her past only one of the struggles they face between her worries for her reputation and his plans to get back on the rodeo circuit as soon as he is well enough. Not only does it deal with real questions about abuse, but it also explores the balance of needs in a relationship, what’s important, and how to care for someone in pain without pushing.

The ending gets a little silly in comparison to the heavy weight of the beginning, but on the other hand, it makes sense, and it allows for some cute circumstances, too. It’s a good way to ease out of the darkness, leaving the lessons to linger but not the shadows.

There is explicit sex, but not as much as in most contemporary romances, in part because it occurs first as a healing journey or rather as a critical part of it.

I was surprised at the serious content, but the handling of that as well as touching on working with disabling injuries and several other important social issues impressed me. I found the characters complex and engaging. It might not have made me cry, though there were times that might have warranted it, the story kept me reading, and I definitely felt for the struggles they faced now along with what Sally had suffered before.

There are so many ways this novel could have glossed over the crises or minimized the impact, and I’ve read books that did just that. Instead, the treatment was both educating and delicate so there was no softening of what her husband had done or its impact on Sally, but at the same time, she wasn’t left to drown in that fact. For someone who went out of her way to help those in need, it was satisfying to see how she reconnected with Ben, and how he let her set the pace and had the patience to let her heal rather than worsening her fears.

It’s a good book with a lot to teach wrapped around an engaging, and oddly uplifting, story.

P.S. I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review. show less