Series:
Valley Ridge Wedding (Book 4)
The whole town's in on this Christmas secret!
Maeve Buchanan isn't the jealous type. But with another Valley Ridge
wedding approaching, she's feeling a twinge of envy. Everyone seems to
be finding "it" -- except her. Not that romance is high on her priority
list! Inspired by the arrival of a homeless family one snowy night,
Maeve -- Valley Ridge's own George Bailey -- is determined to give them a
permanent home by Christmas.
To make this surprise happen, fiercely independent Maeve is going to
need a lot of help. Particularly from the irritating newcomer Aaron
Holder, who thinks Maeve is just too good to be true and suspects her
motives. Working together won't be easy. But it'll be worth it…in so
many ways!
Very good book. Maeve feels a little envious of her friends who have found true love in the past year, but she isn't going to let it get her down. She finds the perfect distraction in a homeless family that arrived in town during a snowstorm. She is determined to help them get back on their feet and has found the perfect way to do it. Aaron is in Valley Ridge to run his uncle's store while his uncle is in Arizona where it's warmer. He feels like his heart is as frozen as the rest of him until he meets Maeve. He doesn't understand her at all, as he's not used to people who don't have ulterior motives for everything they do. He finds himself unable to resist the need to figure her out and ends up learning about himself too.
"I can't save the world, but I can try" is Maeve's motto. She and her mother had found themselves in need of help when she was younger. Now she works very hard to make sure that she is never in a position to need that kind of assistance again. She is very independent and doesn't like to ask for help from anyone. While she is friends with many people she is also a private person. She doesn't really talk about her past. Maeve loves to help her community and the people in it and she does it without asking for assistance. When a homeless family appears in Valley Ridge she wants to help them. Her initial attempts bring her into contact with Aaron who is pretty cynical. She tries not to let his attitude get her down. I loved her idea of how to help the family and her determination to make it happen. It bugged her that she had to rely on Aaron for help in getting it done, but working with him caused her to change her opinion of him. She wasn't interested in getting involved with him but she also couldn't seem to stay away. She attempted to keep things on a friends only basis, especially after she learned of the reason he wasn't able to date. I loved the way that their friendship grew even as they fought any stronger feelings. Opening herself up to Aaron also showed her that she had been holding herself back in her other friendships too. I loved seeing how her project to help the Myers family also showed her how important she was to the other members of the community.
Aaron had come to Valley Ridge to help out his uncle. He is a computer nerd whose work can go where he does, so he doesn't mind helping. His first meeting with Maeve doesn't go that well, as he makes a comment about her red hair. He can't deny his interest in her but isn't planning to get involved with her. As he sees her trying to help the Myers family and learns about her other good deeds he is puzzled. In his experience no one is that good to other people without expecting something in return. I loved seeing him get to know Maeve and how her outlook on life rubbed off on him. The more he got to know her the closer he wanted to get, but he also had to deal with something from his past first. I loved that conversation and how it opened his eyes further to his feelings for Maeve. I loved the Christmas Eve scene and the comparison to A Christmas Carol.
One of my favorite things about this book is the small town setting. I loved seeing the couples from the previous books shown in a logical way, not just jammed in to have them there. I enjoyed all the ways that people let Aaron know they were watching him in regards to Maeve, but also that they welcomed him as part of the community. I also loved seeing the various ways that the Myers family was helped in big ways and small ones by the town and how they all came together to work on the house.
Series:
A Valley Ridge Wedding (Book 3)
Speak now...or forever keep your secrets?
Colton McCray's an "I do" away from the perfect life. He's got a
prosperous farm and he's lucky enough to have fallen in love with a good
woman like Sophie Johnston. What more could a man who loves the simple
life want?
Certainly not a teenage wedding-crasher who's Sophie's biological daughter and only one of Sophie's secrets!
Marry a woman he doesn't really know-or take a chance and trust her? No
way! Though the harder Colton tries to cut Sophie out of his life, the
more he wants her...complications and all. When he finds out she's
pregnant with their baby, it's impossible for him to stay away. But
first, he must forgive her past in order to rebuild the future they were
meant for....
Wow - just wow. This was one of the most emotional books I have ever read in this line. Sophie is about to marry Colton when the wedding is crashed by a teenager who turns out to be Sophie's daughter. Colton is stunned to find out that the woman he thought was his perfect mate has secrets that she never shared with him. He calls off the wedding and tries to cut Sophie out of his life. Meanwhile Sophie is trying to adjust to seeing the baby girl she was forced to give up and get to know her. Just as she starts to build a relationship with Tori she discovers she's pregnant with Colton's baby.
There was so much going on in this book. Sophie never expected to see the child she gave up when she was a teenager. Her parents were very status and appearance conscious and having a pregnant daughter didn't fit in with their expectations. They sent her away until the baby was born and refused to allow her to keep it. She wasn't even allowed to hold her before she was taken away. The only control she had was being able to pick the couple that would raise her. As soon as she graduated she left home and cut her parents out of her life. She never forgot the baby she gave up, but was so traumatized that she couldn't talk about it at all, even to Colton. When Tori showed up, Sophie was thrilled to be able to get to know her. I loved the way that Sophie made it clear to Tori that while she was Tori's biological mother, her parents were still her parents. I loved Tori's parents and how they made Sophie part of their family and worked with Sophie to give Tori what she needed. Sophie was devastated by Colton's withdrawal and the way that he refused to even talk about it with her. It reinforced her feeling that there was no one that could offer her the unconditional love that she needed. When she discovered she was pregnant Colton wanted to marry her because of it. She refused him on the grounds that she wasn't going to go into a marriage that was only out of obligation. She wouldn't keep him from the baby but she refused to risk her heart again on someone she couldn't trust to stand by her no matter what happened. I loved the growing relationship between Sophie and Tori. I also loved the way that Tori's parents were so supportive of Sophie and how they included her in what they were doing with Tori from then on. When it came to her relationship with Colton, I completely understood Sophie's attitude. She had wanted support and he abandoned her when she needed him most. She was very adamant at the beginning that they break things off completely, but once she found out about the baby she had to make adjustments. She and Colton had to redefine their relationship and decide how to move forward. Sophie knew she still loved him but she had to decide whether she could trust him. Her growth from the woman who had been hiding from her past to the one who accepted it and embraced it was very intense.
Colton had been an interesting character from the beginning of the series. He's not talkative but shows his love for Sophie in many small ways. It's pretty obvious that he has a picture of Sophie in his head that has put her on a pedestal. When Tori shows up it blasts away his image of the perfect Sophie and he doesn't know how to cope. He sees it as showing that he never knew her at all and how could he trust someone that kept a secret like that. He comes off as being very judgmental and inflexible. He tries really hard to cut Sophie out of his life entirely but he can't do it. When he finds out that she's pregnant he wants them to get married anyway and is surprised when she flat out refuses. She accepts that they will have to stay connected for the baby's sake but he realizes he wants more. Thanks to a couple of confrontations with Tori he starts to accept that he had been a jerk but he doesn't know how to fix what he had screwed up. I liked him a lot better once he accepted that he'd been wrong. I liked his persistence and the way that he tried to work himself back into Sophie's life. I liked the way that he really began to understand Sophie's devastation when he found her reading the yearly letters from Tori's mom. It took awhile but he was finally able to see things from her point of view and it made a big change in his attitude. I loved the way that he showed Sophie just how much he cared.
Series:
Valley Ridge Wedding (Book 2)
Rainbows don't come without rain
The world you want isn't always how the world is. Former Marine
Sebastian Bennington discovers that upon his return to Valley Ridge for a
friend's wedding. Even his grandfather's health isn't what he's
expecting. Nor is the interference from his grandfather's young business
partner, Lily Paul.
Even more aggravating, Lily seems to know everything about Sebastian,
thanks to his grandfather. But Sebastian can't get her to open up about
anything. Is she using all that merry sunshine to hide something deeper
and darker? He's determined to find out, as long as their crazy
attraction for each other doesn't get in the way....
Very good book. Sebastian has returned to Valley Ridge for his friend Colton's wedding before moving on to figure out his future. His return isn't what he was expecting. He is recovering from injuries that have ended his career in the Marines and is trying to decide who he is now. He expects the peace of home to help him. When he arrives he finds out that his grandfather's health is failing and his business partner is a young attractive woman who attracts and infuriates him. He doesn't want to accept Lily's concerns and is pretty rude to her at first. The fact that she knows so much about him because of his grandfather's stories is unsettling to him. I really liked the way that he soon realizes that Lily was right and he begins to spend more time with her as they care for Hank. He grows closer to her but sees that she has secrets behind her sunshiny personality that she won't share. He wants her to trust him and open herself to a future with him. I also enjoyed the way that in spite of his plans to leave after the wedding he gets more and more involved in the life of the town. His initial anger and guilt over his circumstances begin to lift as he feels more in control and useful. I loved the gentle way that he helped the old ladies and the way he helped young Joe by giving him a job helping with house repairs. I really liked the way he refused to give up on a relationship with Lily.
Lily had moved away from home to escape, though she stayed in touch with her mother. Lily's personality always seemed to be of the eternally happy, though we eventually get to see that she sometimes has to work at that happiness. When she came to Valley Ridge she immediately felt at home. I loved the way that she's more than just a home health nurse, that she gets involved in doing more than just nursing for her patients. She has gotten closer to people there, making good friends like Sophie and Mattie and feeling like part of Hank's family. Sebastian makes her angry when they first meet because he accuses her of some unfair things and refuses to accept her warnings about Hank. She sticks to her guns though and doesn't gloat when Sebastian finally realizes that she's right. She's attracted to him which worries her because she doesn't do relationships. She doesn't believe she is capable of trusting a man enough that way. Sebastian's plans to leave after the wedding make her feel safe in entering a temporary relationship with him. I like the way she begins to realize that she can trust him and starts to share things with him that she's never told anyone else. As they deal with Hank's issues she tries to ignore the growing feelings she has and reminds herself that he's leaving. She had a lot to overcome to accept that she could have a happy future too. I loved the way that she came to that realization.
I loved seeing the way that Lily and Sebastian worked together to help Hank. They didn't gloss over the problems and dealt with them in a realistic way. There were some wonderful scenes dealing with Hank's forgetfulness and confusion. I also enjoyed the set up for the next book. I had a feeling that things had been going too smoothly for Sophie and Colton.
Series:
A Valley Ridge Wedding (Book 1)
Valley Ridge, New York's most unlikely couple
For Mattie Keith it's the best and the worst of times. She should be
reveling in the joy that one of her closest friends is getting married.
Instead, she's being sued. All because of the three kids she recently
inherited. She's trying to do what's best for them...even if it means
fighting in court with the children's uncle, Dr. Finn Wallace. None
other than Mattie's first and last crush.
Yes, Finn's heart is in the right place. But can't he see that by living
with him, the kids won't have what they have here in Valley Ridge-a
real home? While Mattie's trying to show Finn what he's missing, she's
also trying to fight her growing feelings for him. Is he standing in the
way of her happiness, or is he her happiness in disguise?
This was a fantastic book with some very emotional moments. There were also some pretty funny things to help offset some of the angst. I really liked both Mattie and Finn, though he wasn't very nice at the beginning. Mattie gave up her gypsy-like existence when Bridget got sick and came home to Valley Ridge to take care of her friend and her children. When Bridget passed she left Mattie with custody of the children. Now she has to learn to be a parent instead of the favorite aunt and she is feeling really overwhelmed. When Finn sues for custody her confidence takes a nosedive. He is their uncle, has a great job as a respected surgeon, and has the financial resources to do a lot for them. As much as she wants to shut him out of their lives and let the court decide, she knows that the kids need him in their lives too. I really liked the way that she sucked it up and invited Finn to spend as much time as he could with the kids. She tried very hard not to let her feelings against him influence her actions. She did a great job of keeping things good when the kids were around and I loved the way she was able to tell him what she thought of his actions when they were alone. In spite of her doubts about her abilities she knew that they needed love and stability and she did her best to provide that. There were several times that I couldn't help crying as she talked about their mother with the kids or when she talked about her time with her friend. She was also dealing with feelings of not belonging, of being an outsider in her own hometown. I loved the way that the more time she spent there and with the kids the more settled she felt. She also found as time went on and Finn spent more time with them that he was getting better with the children. She is sure that means that he will win and she'll lose the kids. But she also finds that she has come to like him and depend on him. There is a relationship growing between them that also scares her because she doesn't think that anything can come of it. I really liked the way that they went from antagonists to friends and then beyond.
Finn started out as a distant somewhat cold man. He only saw what he could do for the kids financially, not seeing that they needed the love and connection to their home that they had with Mattie. As a doctor he had great experience at locking away his emotions and didn't know how to let them out again with the kids. He was also dealing with his guilty feelings for not being there for his sister when she was sick because he didn't know how to deal with not being able to fix her problem. All he could see in Mattie was the woman who didn't stick at anything and was known for packing up and leaving at a moment's notice. It took him awhile to see that she provided something for the kids that he had no clue about. He knew he had to spend time with them and get to know them before uprooting them and taking them back to his home. As he spent time with them he began to open himself up to those feelings again. He began to see that what he saw as a perfect solution really wasn't and had to decide what to do. He also realized that when he was away from them during the week he missed them all and that his attitudes had changed. I loved seeing him grow closer to the kids and see more about what they needed. I also loved his growing feelings for Mattie that he didn't really understand until the end. I loved seeing them as each tried to come up with a solution that would work for them and the kids. The ending was terrific and so satisfying.
